Going Out [Paperback]

Scarlett Thomas (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 7, 2003

'Fans of Coupland and Murakami: here is your new favourite author.' Matt Thorne He wants to go out. She wants to stay in. For some reason, they are best friends. Luke is allergic to the sun. Tewnty-five and housebound, he's stuck in his bedroom where the world comes to him through TV, the internet and Julie's nightly visits. It is October 2000, and he has vowed to find a cure for his allergy by the end of the year. While Luke searches the internet for healers, Julie is happy living with her dad, working at the local retail park and thinking about maths theorems that no one else understands. As long as she doesn't have to leave home, everything's OK. When a healer contacts Luke and claims that he can cure him, the two have to face their fears and embark on a journey that might just change their lives. With four friends -- Charlotte, David, Leanne and Chantel, and armed with rolls of tin foil, wellies and a homemade space suit -- they set off in a VW Camper van in the rain, driving on B-roads through the October floods, not knowing what they might find.

Editorial Reviews

From The New Yorker

Thomas is one of a group of young British writers who call themselves the New Puritans and advocate telling stories as straightforwardly as possible. Here a young man allergic to sunlight spends his days in a heavily curtained suburban bedroom, his impressions of the outside world entirely mediated through American TV sitcoms. Meanwhile, his best friend, a math whiz, languishes as a waitress at a local pizza parlor because she's terrified of everything beyond her home town. When these misfits hear of a Chinese healer, they decide to find him, and they venture out in an old VW van. The heliophobe wraps himself in tin foil and the coward sticks to low-speed roads that appear "yellow" on the map, so that we can't miss the "Wizard of Oz" parallel. The novel succeeds as a quirky, affectionate satire of brand-saturated Britain, but its antic plot veers toward the cutesy, and the prose, deliberately—indeed, puritanically—banal, never lets the characters burst into Technicolor.
Copyright © 2005 The New Yorker --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

From Booklist

Slacker lit is so 1992--the year of Coupland's Generation X--but Thomas, a dewy talent much touted in the UK, gives smirking satire a warmer heart in this contemporary quest novel. Its twentysomethings languish in the suburban wastelands of Essex, engaging the world primarily through e-mail, the Internet, and American sitcoms and movies. Luke, at least, has an excuse for his narrow existence: he's allergic to sunshine and can't leave his bedroom. When a distant spiritual healer claims to have a cure, Luke and his friends set off on a road trip that symbolizes breaking free, taking risks, living. The theme of self-discovery weighs a bit heavily, as does the Wizard of Oz framework (Luke wears a tinfoil suit; his best friend, Julie, is a clinical coward; and they're all off to see the guru). Gen Xers will probably skip this nostalgia trip, but members of Gen Y are likely to embrace the pop-culture references and the characters' rambling conversations on everything from crap jobs to New Age lifestyles to imaginary numbers. Jennifer Mattson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Harpercollins Pb (April 7, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1841157627
• ISBN-13: 978-1841157627
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 4.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,726,340 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Scarlett Thomas was born in London in 1972. Her other novels include Bright Young Things, Going Out, PopCo and The End of Mr.Y, which was longlisted for the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction 2007. She teaches creative writing at the University of Kent.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A gentle coming-of-age story, December 1, 2007

By 

Peter Fletcher - See all my reviews

This review is from: Going Out (Paperback)

I first discovered Scarlett Thomas when I read "The End of Mr Y", which has to be my favorite novel of the last five years. I've been working my way through everything she's written, and "Going Out" is number three for me. It's a very pleasant read, with a small dose of the kind of wacky existential philosophy which made Mr. Y such a good read, and plenty of well-observed characters from unfashionable Essex who I'm sure are very close to Ms Thomas's heart.

I find her novels to be deliciously escapist, and full of pop-culture references: who on the internet could forget that "The Dark Side Of The Moon" makes such a good alternative soundtrack for "The Wizard of Oz"?

I'd recommend any of her novels, even those I've not read yet ...

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Yellow Roads, June 29, 2004

By 

"stephcandance" (Atlanta) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Going Out (Paperback)

Contrary to the editorial review, I'm a "Gen Xer" and very much appreciated this book's nostalgia. The story is as unrealistic as they come, but quite entertaining. Thomas did a fine job with the characters. And the Wizard of Oz touch was very charming.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Cute story, likable characters, March 4, 2008

By 

Scarlett Brontė (Portland, Oregon) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Going Out (Paperback)

Likeable, quirky, twenty-something, English characters trying to find their way, by deciding to go on a Wizard of Oz type quest.

Thomas writes odd and honest characters in a way that exposes truths about being human, while keeping the narrative light and fast paced.

I read her book Popco, too and will check out whatever else she writes.