- Hardcover: 312 pages
- Publisher: Sceptre; First Edition edition (19 July 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0340818689
- ISBN-13: 978-0340818688
- Product Dimensions: 19.8 x 13.4 x 3.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 679,225 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Review
"'An excellent collection of dark, funny and bizarre short stories... brutally, cynically and honestly written... all in all a lot better than anything David Baddeil could ever manage.' Loaded on Barcelona Plates; '14 bleak funny pitiless tales... This is life looked at through the wrong end of a telescope, the vision of Nathaniel West in Miss Lonelyhearts, and to my mind just as good... Inside every fat git there's a poet trying to get out. Well, he's out.' Observer on Barcelona Plates; 'Sayle is a funny man, and these tales of pensioners-turned-hitmen, mysterious white Fiat Unos, and inveterate hypochondriacs defy you not to smile at the incremental absurdity of ordinary life.' The Sunday Times on Barcelona Plates; 'A cracking read.. dense with smart ideas, sour observations and loony rant's Independent on Sunday on Barcelona Plates; "Barcelona Plates will put a smile on your face and a chill down your spine" Time Out on Barcelona Plates; Alexei Sayle's manner on the page is the same as it is on screen and stage: arch, dessicated and menacing... 'The Last Woman Killed in the War' is a thrilling and sensitive meditation on history, race and identity; confirming Sayle as a brilliant chronicler of big stories set in small worlds." The Times"
Independent on Sunday on Barcelona Plates
'A cracking read .. dense with smart ideas, sour observations and loony rants'
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A 'celebrity' writer who can actually WRITE!...,
By
This review is from: The Dog Catcher (Paperback)
...Monsiuer Sayle being the only example thereof apart from Stephen Fry I can think of. He's especially valuable when you consider the likes of Ben (shudder) Elton and David (ugh!) Baddiel clogging up the genre...I've read and enjoyed all his stuff but I think this one might be bestest. It's worth it for "The Mau Mau Hat" alone; a beautifully observed character study with a terrible, lonely undertow. It's about ageing, and inevitably, death, yet crams in a motherlode of salty one-liners as well. The other highlight is "The Only Man Stalin Was Afraid Of", which uses a jaunty, almost simplistic style (something Sayle happens to be very good at - light but knowing, and never patronising) to rip apart the absolutely disgusting individual Uncle Joe really was, with none of the slightly histrionic moralising of Martin Amis' otherwise excellent "Koba The Dread". My only beef is that the construction - the grammar and so forth - is often shoddy. Believe me, I'm the last person to give a s**t about split infinitives and the like normally, but it's noticeable in Sayle's stuff more often than not, and this is a shame when you consider how otherwise talented he is. The impression given is of someone who thinks for months, maybe years, about the content of his stories, but when it comes to writing them, takes a couple of afternoons at most. Suggested targets for your next collection/novel, Alexei: Ben Elton, Ricky Gervais, Ariel Sharon, and a story about the BNP might be good as well. Cheers!
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A dark mix of the bizzare and the hilarious,
By
This review is from: The Dog Catcher (Paperback)
After 'Barcelona Plates' I was left feeling that Sayle was in serious danger of being a very credible writer of short stories. In the 'Dog Catcher' he, in my view, cements his reputation.It is often the case that celebrities who turn to writing trade too much on their fame and not enough on their writing talent. Alexei Sayle, however, has produced a work of such quality that it stands alone from his talents as a comedian and script writer. He still teases his readers; he still launches into scything polemics against despots and people in 'the media'. Yet every story in this collection is carefully crafted & thoroughly researched. None of these stories is dashed off in an afternoon, yet each has a freshness which is more than tinged with danger. Some are downright sinister (the title story, for example) and others are wicked parodies (Clive Hole). My advice. Read Barcelona Plates first - the stories here, while still dark, are more 'jaunty'. Then brace yourself for 'The Dog Catcher'. Not only will you be shocked and gripped by the characters and the plots, you will be impressed by the way Alexei Sayle has developed into a short story writer of considerable standing. Bring on the next volume!
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dark, Comic, Fascinating Story Telling,
By bigcalm@hotmail.com (Birmingham, England) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Dog Catcher (Paperback)
I know it's a cliché, but as soon as I picked up this book, I just could not put it down. In some ways the story telling is reminiscent of Dahl's Tales of the unexpected, in that the stories are dark, comic, and frequently surprising. They're also extremely well written - certain phrases leap off the page at you making (at least me anyway) you wonder why you haven't read any of his stuff before. All of the short stories in this volume are inventive and funny, though the last one (Hillary Wheat) meanders a bit without the characteristic surprise at the end. "Descending" and "Cicely" are simply masterpieces. Two thumbs up!
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