Headgames [Import] [Paperback]

Nick Earls (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Pan
• ISBN-10: 0330481215
• ISBN-13: 978-0330481212
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)

More About the Author

Nick Earls is not technically gifted, so his photo often ends up sideways, typically when he least expects it to. Give him some words to work with, though, and it's a different story.

Reputable reviewers have compared his work with that of Nick Hornby, Raymond Carver, Martin Amis, VS Naipaul, JD Salinger, Woody Allen and Jeffrey Eugenides, which just goes to show that, if you write enough and publish enough, anything can come your way.

Nick Earls writes long, short and medium-sized fiction, so far including twelve novels and numerous shorter works.

He is the winner of a Betty Trask Award (UK) and Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Award. Perfect Skin was the only novel to be a finalist in the Australian Comedy Awards in 2003, and was adapted into a feature film in Italy (Solo un Padre, Warner Brothers/Cattleya). 48 Shades of Brown was a Kirkus Reviews (US) book of the year selection, and was adapted into a feature film in Australia (Buena Vista/Prima). Five of his novels have been adapted into stage plays.

He has also written for newspapers, including the New York Times, the Australian and the Sydney Morning Herald.

He was born in Northern Ireland, but has spent most of his life in Australia, where many of his books have been bestsellers.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Hilarious, February 18, 2012

By 

Benjamin (UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Headgames (Paperback)

A collection of short stories interspersed with a series of the adventures of Frank and Philby, two students who meet at med school. Many of the stories are hilarious, while some verge on the surreal.

The adventures of Frank and Philby follow their first meeting at med school and how their friendship started, and after a number of funny and often embarrassing incidents to the final instalment when the two young men are in their thirties and somehow involves fish and Keanu Reeves. Frank and Philby are two opposites, Frank super cool - and although he often gets it wrong he still manages to get the girl, while Philby has a confidence problem and never seems to have success. But they make a team, and an inseparable pair. (Frank and Philby's adventures of their 5th year at med school are told at length in Nick Earls' World Of Chickens)

Other stories feature the problems of sharing an apartment with a jealous unicorn, lions that roam the wards at night, a guy who fixates on the woman who cuts his hair, the family in witness protection that cannot settle, a shopping mall that appears to go on forever, and the man who wants to change his name, to the more thoughtful story about the young student with a heat condition.

Nick Earl has a great sense for the comic especially where it concerns young men and their preoccupations. But there is also a touch of satire to be found here and a sure perceptiveness. The writing is confident and assured, the stories varied but always entertaining, a worthwhile read.