A novel about life, art and death (but mainly art and death)
The Late Hector Kipling
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Review
'A fine study in character disintergration and a very funny satire on the contemporary art world.' -- David Baddiel, The Times
'A queasily entertaining carnival of art and self-destruction.' -- FT Magazine
'All of Thewlis's vigour and his prose is pungent and splendidly sweary can't relive [Hector's] downward trajectory...Recklessly, exhausingly energetic.'
-- Art Quarterly
'The novel gains in its conviction as Hector's life starts to unravel, and its conclusion is hideous and merciless'
-- Timeout
'Thewlis has a driving, spiky prose style and a way with blackly comic scenarios.' -- New Statesman
'Thewlis has an eye for grotesque minutiae and, unsurprisingly for an esteemed actor, a real feel for dialogue and wordplay.'
-- The List
'Thewlis...has successfully transferred his talents to the page, displaying a sharp ear for dialogue and a scabrously satiric prose style.' -- Daily Mail
'[Thewlis] great debut novel is a wry account of a spoilt middle-man's collapse.' -- InStyle
'hugely inventive and entertaining tale...often laugh-out-loud funny. An exceptionally fine debut.' -- Morning Star
'wonderful entertainment...a funny and successful satire of the contemporary art world...written with a black and cynical honesty.' -- Observer
'A queasily entertaining carnival of art and self-destruction.' -- FT Magazine
'All of Thewlis's vigour and his prose is pungent and splendidly sweary can't relive [Hector's] downward trajectory...Recklessly, exhausingly energetic.'
-- Art Quarterly
'The novel gains in its conviction as Hector's life starts to unravel, and its conclusion is hideous and merciless'
-- Timeout
'Thewlis has a driving, spiky prose style and a way with blackly comic scenarios.' -- New Statesman
'Thewlis has an eye for grotesque minutiae and, unsurprisingly for an esteemed actor, a real feel for dialogue and wordplay.'
-- The List
'Thewlis...has successfully transferred his talents to the page, displaying a sharp ear for dialogue and a scabrously satiric prose style.' -- Daily Mail
'[Thewlis] great debut novel is a wry account of a spoilt middle-man's collapse.' -- InStyle
'hugely inventive and entertaining tale...often laugh-out-loud funny. An exceptionally fine debut.' -- Morning Star
'wonderful entertainment...a funny and successful satire of the contemporary art world...written with a black and cynical honesty.' -- Observer
Book Description
Hector Kipling is an artist. He has his health, loving parents, a beautiful girlfriend, good mates, and talent in abundance (or at least, more abundance than most, and certainly more than his friend Kirk, if not quite as much as their other friend, Lenny -- although, actually, Hector would argue that while Lenny's received more recognition for his art, most of that recognition is misplaced). What more could he ask for (besides the same level of recognition that Lenny gets, that is)? But once Hector's life starts to unravel, it doesn't take long at all for it to fall completely and irreparably apart. In fact, as Hector discovers, it's amazing just how quickly a life can disintegtrate. From settees to stalkers, con-men to corpses, S&M to the Tate Modern, The Late Hector Kipling is a warm and witty novel about the not so warm and witty world of art. And death.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I bought this because I've always liked Thewlis's acting and I have an interest in the London Art scene. I had no idea that I was picking up such a work of genius. Debut or not, this is a masterpiece. Will Self must dream of getting this good. Such ballsy and honest writing addressing all the big subjects beautifully: Life, Death, and Art. All from the point of view of this strangely lovable, dysfunctional, selfish, immature wretch of a man. The plot is great, but it's the writing that really drives it. Hector's voice is unforgettable and painfully of-the-moment. What a portrait of the pretentious, solipsistic, empty-hearted gets that society's avant-garde is birthing. Hilarious climax, too. Don't delay! Buy! Read!!
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By Eileen Shaw
TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback
Deeply scurrilous, wickedly funny and ultimately horrifying - this is a novel with attitude. It concerns the Emin and Hirst school of art, productive of works more conceptual than painterly. Hector has had some minor success and is creating a self-portrait for a prestigious gallery showing as the novel opens. He has a wonderful girlfriend, Eleni, and often goes back to Blackpool to see his Mum and Dad. But there's something missing from his life. What he finds most interesting is death (his first successful drawing was of his Auntie Pat's dead budgie). He wonders how death, someone else's death, might contribute to his artistic sensibilities. Hector would like somebody to die, somebody close enough for him to care about - and that, of course, makes him feel terrible.
When things start to go wrong, involving a foppish stalker, a large ugly settee, and a sadistic female American poet, Hector becomes locked in a spiral of disaster that leads to the breakdown of his relationships with everyone, and to a huge hole in the floor of the Tate Gallery. Hector is splendid in a rather horrifying way. He is the epitome of the self-absorbed artist, but he is also very self-knowing, so the reader quickly becomes complicit in his outrageous thought-patterns, if not in his equally outrageous behaviour.
This very funny novel is full of bile and spleen on the subject of the modern art scene. David Thewlis is better known as an actor and was seen relatively recently playing identical twin brothers in the BBC series The Street.
When things start to go wrong, involving a foppish stalker, a large ugly settee, and a sadistic female American poet, Hector becomes locked in a spiral of disaster that leads to the breakdown of his relationships with everyone, and to a huge hole in the floor of the Tate Gallery. Hector is splendid in a rather horrifying way. He is the epitome of the self-absorbed artist, but he is also very self-knowing, so the reader quickly becomes complicit in his outrageous thought-patterns, if not in his equally outrageous behaviour.
This very funny novel is full of bile and spleen on the subject of the modern art scene. David Thewlis is better known as an actor and was seen relatively recently playing identical twin brothers in the BBC series The Street.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By Ian Cadman
Format:Paperback
Having enjoyed David Thewlis's role in Mike Leigh's Naked I bought the book on the strength of that.
Wondering if I was falling into the trap of reading something by a 'celebrity' somebody I 'know' rather than a 'proper' author.
However, celebrity or not, the work stands on it's own, I like the way it's written and to my mind D. Thewlis is a 'proper' author.
If you've had any brush with the art world at all you're going to love this, either way it'll make you laugh and appeal to your self destructive side. Enjoy!
Wondering if I was falling into the trap of reading something by a 'celebrity' somebody I 'know' rather than a 'proper' author.
However, celebrity or not, the work stands on it's own, I like the way it's written and to my mind D. Thewlis is a 'proper' author.
If you've had any brush with the art world at all you're going to love this, either way it'll make you laugh and appeal to your self destructive side. Enjoy!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By A. Kennedy
Format:Paperback
One of the best, if not THE best book I've read in years, had me laughing out loud on the tube (which can be quite embarrassing). A brilliant read, though I was picturing David Thewlis as Hector throughout.
Buy it Buy it Buy it! It must be read.
Buy it Buy it Buy it! It must be read.
6 of 8 people found the following review helpful
By A. Ross
TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback
One prominent print review casts the protagonist of this debut novel from British actor Thewliss as an "appealing" hero. I had to reread that particular line several times, because to my mind, a more accurate description would be "appalling." And it's that difference between appealing and appalling that made this book an ultimately frustrating read for me. I'm not suggesting that a protagonist has to be nice, or likable, or "appealing" to be worth spending 300 pages with -- there are plenty of example of awful, nasty, completely compelling characters who can carry a book along. But the middle-aged painter named Hector Kipling, whose antics this story revolves around, becomes so annoyingly selfish and self-destructive that as his world collapses all around him in the final third of the book, one is hard-pressed to care.
Which isn't to say the book isn't worth trying. For one thing, it's pretty funny -- at least the first half or so. I wouldn't rate it as laugh-out-loud funny as many others seem to, but the wordplay is awfully sharp in that way that seems comes so effortlessly to British writers. At the same time, it's a sharp skewering of the modern art scene, with plenty of name dropping and inside jokes. So if you find the art of installations and video montages to be generally worth mockery, then this may be the book for you.
Another potentially interesting element is how Thewliss takes a standard comedy template (the flawed but likable 25-45 male who makes a few mistakes in the first act and then must spend the rest of the book/film redeeming himself, winning success and the girl by the end) and subverts it. What starts off as another journey down this well-trodden path starts to veer off the map, as Hector's missteps lead him down some very dark roads.... Read more ›
Which isn't to say the book isn't worth trying. For one thing, it's pretty funny -- at least the first half or so. I wouldn't rate it as laugh-out-loud funny as many others seem to, but the wordplay is awfully sharp in that way that seems comes so effortlessly to British writers. At the same time, it's a sharp skewering of the modern art scene, with plenty of name dropping and inside jokes. So if you find the art of installations and video montages to be generally worth mockery, then this may be the book for you.
Another potentially interesting element is how Thewliss takes a standard comedy template (the flawed but likable 25-45 male who makes a few mistakes in the first act and then must spend the rest of the book/film redeeming himself, winning success and the girl by the end) and subverts it. What starts off as another journey down this well-trodden path starts to veer off the map, as Hector's missteps lead him down some very dark roads.... Read more ›
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Like other readers I bought this on the promise of it being written by David Thewlis. The dark hunour that is throughout the book had me laughing out loud whilst on a train. He has captured a very tormented soul and created beautifully into Hector Kipling. The characters are so diversified and all bring such a story together to a dramatic ending for Hector. The portrayal of the art world is modern and in-your-face and gives you a new appreciation for that area of creativity. David Thelis's first novel is a mind shattering experience for the imagination, where you come out shattered but satisfied by one hell of a read.
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