Deadkidsongs [Paperback]

With his novels Corpsing and Beatniks, young Brit Lit gunslinger Toby Litt showed he had mastered the essentials of the trendy bestseller. With this poignant, odd, confusing, moving, heartfelt, troubling book he's tried to do an even trickier thing: extend his range and readership upmarket.

The tenor of deadkidsongs is Just William meets Lord of the Flies with a nod to the latter-day works of Nick Hornby, which gives you some idea of what a different-but interesting-book it is. The story concerns four pre-pubescent boys, all members of a gang called Gang, growing up in darkest Devon in the 70s. Against a background of Cold War rumours and Last War memories they play their conkers and cowboys an' injuns, their war and show-us-yer-willy games. Then their clumsy and wistfully innocent Arcadia is overturned when one of them dies; from there the narrative unravels until the reader is not sure who is telling what to whom, nor quite how reliable the teller might be.

To recapture a lost childhood is ambitious enough; Litt's aim is to do that and then some: he wants to say profound things about masculinity, nostalgia, violence and nationhood. Whether he succeeds or not is moot; anyone sincerely interested in the modern British novel will want to read this to decide for themselves. --Sean Thomas --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

'Toby Litt has taken us back into the secret and brutal lair of childhood... wickedly, wittily scary' Observer

In the tradition of THE CEMENT GARDEN and THE WASP FACTORY, this is a compelling and shocking journey into the dark heart of boyhood, as four boys play war games deep in the English countryside. With the death of one of the Gang (as they call themselves), the war games escalate, directed now against the adults they hold responsible for the loss of one of their soldiers. Like Toby Litt's previous novel CORPSING, DEADKIDSONGS is unputdownable, highly original and deeply thought-provoking.

WHAT THE CRITICS THOUGHT - PRAISE FOR DEADKIDSONGS
'Should put him firmly and deservedly in the big league. This is an extraordinary book, one of the most disturbing I have ever read...Litt is very much his own creature, equally adept at building tension and at coming up with a haunting phrase. Perhaps most impressive of all is the richness of his imagination. This is a writer who doesn't quail at taking big risks and who possesses the talent to bring them off...Do give it a go - it's dauntingly good.' Daily Telegraph

'Litt has always been a smart writer, but deadkidsongs shows signs of something more than that. There is an effortless felicity in his prose and a discreetly happy invention in almost every sentence...not merely an essay on the dark heart of childhood but on the dark heart of adulthood too.' Guardian

'Litt takes us spinning through this crazy kid's world at a cracking page-flipping pace... an immensely spirited work, whose moral melodies linger long after the last page is turned. Is it really about childhood? Or is it about parenthood? Whatever the reader decides it is wickedly, wittily scary.' Observer

'Litt has tapped into a modern-day horror story that can't fail to send shivers down your spine.' Daily Mirror

'A wonderful book that is really hard to put down. Recommend it to as >many friends as possible.' Punch

'The page-turning drive of the narrative carries all before it.' Daily Mail

'The giddy overlapping of shifting stories and unreliable narrators is truly nightmarish...Girls beware, this is an unrepentantly boyish book, but don't be scared off - unless you're squeamish. To discover that little boys are grotty, nasty fibbers who never grow up is no real shock. Bless.' Evening Standard

'Just William meets A Clockwork Orange in this Golding-esque tale of prepubertal angst and cruelty. The slang and swagger of 10-13 year olds is expertly captured, and thre dreary grandparents make an entertaining target for the boy's malice.' Independent

'deadkidsongs more than reinforces Litt's power as a writer...disturbing and accomplished.' The Times

'A highly individual work. Litt has captured the sheer strangeness of boys of a certain age: their argot, their mannerisms; their warped value systems. And he has expressed that vision in a story that is quietly gripping and laced with humour.' Sunday Telegraph

'Lord of the Flies for the Airfix generation.' Sunday Times

'Very readable...compelling... vividly horrifying.' TLS

'A powerful disturbing read, a concentrate of all the brutality our children are capable of. Though it's largely set in summer, there's no sun in it. Are you ready to shiver?' The Herald

'A compelling tale of tainted childhoods told by its victims.' Later

'Orginal and brutally compelling, Toby Litt perfectly captures the sense of teenage self-hatred that can lead to violence.' The List

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Born in 1968, Toby Litt is the author of ADVENTURES IN CAPITALISM, BEATNIKS and CORPSING.