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Lanark: A Life in Four Books (Canongate Classics)
 
 
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Lanark: A Life in Four Books (Canongate Classics) (Paperback)

by Alasdair Gray (Author), William Boyd (Introduction)
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
RRP: £8.99
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  • This item: Lanark: A Life in Four Books (Canongate Classics) by Alasdair Gray

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  • How Late it Was, How Late by James Kelman

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Product details

  • Paperback: 573 pages
  • Publisher: Canongate Books Ltd; New edition edition (31 May 2007)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1841959073
  • ISBN-13: 978-1841959078
  • Product Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.8 x 4.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 8,326 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #1 in  Books > Fiction > Cult Authors > Gray, Alasdair
    #1 in  Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Authors, A-Z > G > Gray, Alasdair
    #5 in  Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > B > Boyd, William

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Product Description

Review

"Remarkable... Lanark is a work of loving and vivid imagination, yielding copious riches." Times Literary Supplement " 'It was time Scotland produced a shattering work of fiction in the modern idiom. This is it." Anthony Burgess "I was absolutely knocked out by Lanark. I think it's the best in Scottish literature in the twentieth century" Iain Banks"


Product Description

"Lanark", a modern vision of hell, is set in the disintegrating cities of Unthank and Glasgow, and tells the interwoven stories of Lanark and Duncan Thaw. A work of extraordinary imagination and wide range, its playful narrative techniques convey a profound message, both personal and political, about humankind's inability to love, and yet our compulsion to go on trying. Widely recognised as a modern classic, Alasdair Gray's magnum opus was first published in 1981 and immediately established him as one of Britain's leading writers. Comparisons have been made to Dante, Blake, Joyce, Orwell, Kafka, Huxley and Lewis Carroll. This new edition should cement his reputation as one of our greatest living writers.
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Lanark: A Life in Four Books (Canongate Classics)
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Customer Reviews

5 Reviews
5 star:
 (3)
4 star:    (0)
3 star:
 (2)
2 star:    (0)
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Average Customer Review
4.2 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent. Loved it., 18 April 2009
By Peter J. Fleming "...evening" (Glasgow, Scotland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I bought this book after trawling the internet for a copy of Gray's 'Unlikely Stories, Mostly' collection and coming up fruitless. I'm glad I got this instead. I don't like to get into the plot or try to summarise a book too much in recommending it to others, and try to avoid cliches like 'social commentary', 'vivid imagery' and 'imaginitive', but Lanark is all of these and alot more (another cliche, sorry). I'm sure some people wouldn't like the odd separation of the four books that make up the titular 'life', but it's worth getting past this. I can't recommend this book highly enough.
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10 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A truly immense book, 6 Sep 2007
By Leo McMarley (Edinburgh) - See all my reviews
My words can't even start to convey the enormity of this magnificent novel, one of the landmarks in twentieth century fiction. Just please read it and you'll then understand why Alasdair Gray has a growing legion of fans.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Not for me, 8 Sep 2009
By Peter Lee (Manchester ,United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)      
As a fan of "experimental fiction" who loves the work of the likes of BS Johnson and Mark Z Danielewski, I decided to read "Lanark" on holiday this year. Sadly it wasn't really my cup of tea.

First of all, it has to be said that the book looks and feels lovely - lavish illustrations (albeit a little explicit on the front, which provoked a few looks around the swimming pool!) on the cover and the title page of each "book", plus the covers are made of a slightly floppy paper so it's actually quite nice to hold for a big book, which makes reading a little easier.

But what of the novel? The four books essentially cover two stories, that of Duncan Thaw (set in Glasgow), and secondly the story of Lanark (set in the fictitious Unthank). When you open the book you'll probably think there has been a binding error as it starts with book three, but this is intentional. Books three and four deal with Lanark, whereas one and two focus on Duncan Thaw, so you effectively have one story within the other. Personally I quite enjoyed the Thaw sections, but I really couldn't warm to the Lanark sections, and sadly these form the greater part of the book. There are parallels between the two narratives, some obvious, some obscure, and maybe I was expecting some triumphant conclusion where it all came together, but sadly this didn't come. Yes, it was very well written, but sadly as a whole it just didn't appeal to me.
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