
Naw Much of a Talker Translation Edition
Author(s): Pedro Lenz (Author)
- Publisher: Freight Books
- Publication Date: 1 Aug. 2013
- Edition: Translation
- Language: English
- Print length: 240 pages
- ISBN-10: 1908754222
- ISBN-13: 9781908754226
Book Description
An award-winning comic novel about truth, lies, and storytelling, with an unforgettably unreliable narrator, translated from its innovative Swiss vernacular back into the Glaswegian that was its original inspiration
Known only as “the goalie,” the novel’s narrator is always taking the blame. He’s just been released from jail, having kept quiet during a drug bust at his local pub. The goalie is a sucker for a good story, he lives and breathes them, is forever telling stories to himself and anyone who’ll listen. He returns to his hometown broke, falling in love with Regi, a barmaid. On a trip together to Spain, to hook up with his shady friends, Regi realizes that this obsession with storytelling has its downsides, the goalie all too ready to believe the yarns his so-called friends spin. This novel is a charming, hilarious tour through the goalie’s anecdotes. Storytelling is his way of avoiding problems and conflict, his crowning achievement and tragic flaw. Regi concludes that it isn’t a woman the goalie needs, but an audience. Pedro Lenz harnesses his considerable powers as a performer and oral storyteller in this powerful and unforgettable celebration of the rhythms and musicality of the spoken word.
Editorial Reviews
Review
‘Lenz uses language so brilliantly, it sounds like a live broadcast from real life.’ –Der kleine Bund
‘…this story’s heart clearly belongs to Glasgow, and Lenz taps into the Glaswegian temprament perfectly… in language that is raw and poignant, and positively glows with humanity.’ — –The List
‘The question of whether we call McLaughlin’s language dialect or vernacular will hopefully not interest most of his readers in the slightest; they might well just be hooked on and running through an understated, charming, stoical story.’– Goethe’s Gonna Getya
‘A welcome change from having the Queen’s English as the default mode of translation.’ –The Herald
‘This is a novel that should be proclaimed, spoken aloud… once you’ve tuned in you won’t switch off… Lenz’s book is a verbal spree, a tour de force, its glass perpetually half empty, yet, somehow raised in its final paragraph to toast Goalie’s future. A little guy lost, who would be profound.’ –Scotland on Sunday
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