The Mookse and the Gripes discussion

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The Future Future
The Goldsmiths Prize
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2023 Goldsmiths shortlist - The Future Future
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Hugh, Active moderator
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Oct 04, 2023 12:39PM


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It's an oddly detached work though - reminded me more of Tom McCarthy who was previously shortlisted for the prize the same year as Thirlwell.
My take: /review/show...
And for those into podcasts - Thirlwell with Adam Biles from Shakespeare & Co:

It has an average Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ rating of just over 2.5 which is really bad by GR standards - but that’s actually flattered by ratings without reviews.
From some quick totting up I make the average ranking from the 40 or so actual reviews as a shade under 2 stars.
That’s astonishing.

The full quote in the novel from which the title is taken is much more representative of the tone of the book, but presumably the title "Gruesome, Tender, Needy, Sleazy, Boring, Lurid & Cute.� was rejected by the publishers as less commercial.
It's not that Thirlwell is a bad writer. It's just that he, rather deliberately, even provocatively, writes bad books.