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Dirty White Boy: Tales of Soho [Paperback]

Clayton Littlewood
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
RRP: £10.99
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Book Description

2 Oct 2008
Is it appropriate to speak to television personalities when they're buying underwear? How should you react when a transsexual wants to show you her latest surgery? What is the correct etiquette for visiting a brothel?

These are the questions that matter in London's Soho neighbourhood, where Clayton Littlewood and his partner Jorge Betancourt run a designer clothing store Dirty White Boy. From his window on one of the busiest street corners in the world, Clayton watches the daily parade of fashion queens, prostitutes, gangsters and celebrities that make up the population of this strangest of villages.

His Soho diary is a snapshot of modern London, caught between the ghosts of the past and the uncertainties of the future. The cast of characters range from Sue and Maggie, the girls from the brothel upstairs, to Angela the feisty trannie, to Pam the Fag Lady, begging for money and cuddles and Chico, the campest queen on Old Compton Street. Not to mention cameo appearances from stars (Kathy Griffin, Janice Dickinson and Graham Norton).

And amidst all this madness occurs one of the strangest and most touching love stories you will ever read.


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Dirty White Boy: Tales of Soho + Goodbye to Soho + Dandy in the Underworld
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Product details

  • Paperback: 350 pages
  • Publisher: Cleis Press (2 Oct 2008)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1573443301
  • ISBN-13: 978-1573443302
  • Product Dimensions: 2.1 x 12.7 x 20 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 96,509 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Product Description

Review

"A hilarious and poignant fly-on-the-wall view of Soho. Clayton Littlewood is the wisest fly you will ever meet." -- Josh Kilmer-Purcell, author of I Am Not Myself These Days

"Clayton Littlewood recreates the real Soho, from its beauty to its underbelly...insightful, humorous, heartbreaking." -- Arthur Wooten, author of On Picking Fruit and Fruit Cocktail

"Like the queer descendant of Samuel Pepys, Clayton Littlewood captures the day-to-day drama of his London in all of its demented glory." -- Michael Thomas Ford, author of Alec Baldwin Doesn't Love Me and Last Summer

"When writers try to make art that is universal and not personal they always fail - it's being personal which makes it universal in the end. Clayton Littlewoods book is tender, warm and full of humanity. Soho is like an upturned dustbin and he like a drunk rummaging through it. He shows us all that glitters is not gold. And all that smells is not garbage. Living in Soho is like coming all the time. Reading his book is too." -- Sebastian Horsley, author of Dandy in the Underworld

'Downright hysterical.' -- QX Magazine, November, 2008

'Funny, perceptive, sexy, exquisitely observed.' -- Stephen Fry

'His novel truly shines.' -- Gay Times, November, 2008

'Tender, warm and full of humanity. He shows us all that glitters is not gold. And all that smells is not garbage.'
-- Sebastian Horsley, author of Dandy in the Underworld

`A collection of witty and piquant vignettes.' -- The London Paper, October 21, 2008

`Original anecdotes told with a Hogarthian incisiveness - evoking a vivid portrait of an area that is like no other.' -- The West End Extra, November 7, 2008

Review

"Like the queer descendant of Samuel Pepys, Clayton Littlewood captures the day-to-day drama of his London in all of its demented glory."

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Customer Reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5 stars
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Just so real! 23 Oct 2008
Format:Paperback
Littlewood gives a great insight into to the real world of life in Soho , the drugs the sex and the prostitutes.Littlewood also chronicles the victims of all this headonism with his touching portrayals of there daily struggle to survive .The fact is that the book is so very real is so refreshing in this fictionalized world we live in.
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Soho So Wonderful 30 Jan 2009
By Simon Savidge Reads TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback
Clayton Littlewoods book started life as a blog on myspace, the cult of blogging having led to several book deals it seems to be an area to watch `Wife in the North' and `Belle Du Jour' to name two. Hmmm why would I have two blogs? The blog started when Clayton and his partner rented shop space on Old Compton Street in London and started their clothes store `Dirty White Boy' he started making notes on the people who came in, the crazy landlady, the brothel upstairs and the sights and sounds of a street that never sleeps. This blog got a huge following leading to a column in the London Paper and now the book.

The comparisons it has had made to it are things such as Armistead Maupin and also Samuel Pepys diary but from the noughties. You can see why the comparisons to Tales of the City, his prose is sumptuous and witty and the characters that he tells you all about are fascinating and quirky, plus Old Compton Street and San Francisco are both gay Mecca's. The comparisons to Pepys are that it's almost a diary (well I suppose blogs are `the new diary' to a degree) charting the life of London and in particular one of the streets at the heart of it.

The street itself is pretty much the star of the show, the lead character if you will, with all the regular shoppers, tramps, prostitutes at becoming great secondary characters, only they aren't characters, they are real.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars a modern classic 7 Nov 2008
Format:Paperback
from laugh out loud to deeply poignant. i hope & trust this wonderful journey will go way beyond
the gay and lesbian audience. it's themes are universal plus it's filthy, funny & celebrity packed.

what more do you want!!

hermionegingold. x
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
1.0 out of 5 stars how dull
this really is a very dull and boring book it just the diary of someones rambling observations of others who are eaquilly dull
Published 7 months ago by johnk
5.0 out of 5 stars DON'T MISS THIS FANTASTIC BOOK
Outrageously funny achingly sad it's touching it's fascinating and you won't want to put it down. All human life is here expertly described by Clayton Littlewood. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Mr. Dk Barrett
5.0 out of 5 stars A TRUE CULT CLASSIC!
Clayton Littlewood had the perfect credentials as an observer to write this book from his base (fashion clothing shop) in Old Compton St, Soho: His richness of a plethora of... Read more
Published 16 months ago by R. M. Greenfield
4.0 out of 5 stars most enjoyable
lots of laugh out loud moments about life in soho . As ex shop girl I particulary enjoyed the mad cap characters that came in to buy or not to buy . Read more
Published 23 months ago by cartoon
5.0 out of 5 stars Definitely five stars!
I love London, I love wandering in Soho, but I don't live in the UK so this book was my window to Soho's everyday life. Read more
Published on 21 May 2011 by Pafsilipi
5.0 out of 5 stars Great sense of humour and character descriptions
I just loved Clayton's sense of humour and his character descriptions. I was rooting for him to succeed against the odds.
Published on 14 Nov 2010 by Shaun Attwood
5.0 out of 5 stars Dirty White Boy - Get it. Read it. Love it.
You just HAVE to buy and read this entirely brilliant book: it is a deliciously compelling and captivating page-turner, beautifully crafted at all times! Read more
Published on 4 July 2010 by S. Foxhall
1.0 out of 5 stars dirty white yawn
I guess this may have been an effective blog and newspaper column but it did not work for me as a book, with little character development and few interesting insights. Read more
Published on 23 April 2010
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful read
This has got to be the best and warmest chronicling of Soho life. Dirty White Boy has a fabulous stock of great characters, glorious charm and heartwarming wit. Read more
Published on 27 Mar 2010 by Aiden S
5.0 out of 5 stars A must read!!!!
This is a hilarious, no holds barred account of the true Soho. Fabulously accurate and a real birds-eye view of the Soho we love and hate. Read more
Published on 21 Feb 2010 by Scott London
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