Here are the voices of London - rich and poor, native and immigrant, women and men - witnessed by Craig Taylor, an acclaimed journalist, playwright and writer, who spent five years exploring the city and listening to its residents. From the woman whose voice announces the stations on the London Underground to the man who plants the trees along Oxford Street; from a Pakistani currency trader to a Guardsman at Buckingham Palace - together, these voices and many more, paint a vivid, epic and wholly fresh portrait of Twenty-First Century London.
Londoners
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Review
"A splendid oral history of the city... On occasions Londoners attains a level of eloquence as beautiful and blue as anything to be found in the works of Jean Rhys or Samuel Selvon ... A remarkable volume" -Guardian
"Craig Taylor tunes in to the multi-tongued, self-justifying noise of the streets. And he leaves us with a substantial account, not just of our imaginary riverside capital, but, more vividly, of himself: as inquirer, investigator, part of a long and valuable lineage"-Iain Sinclair, Observer
"Londoners must be 2011's most ambitious and creative book about London ... This is a book to deepen your relationship with London and make you fall in - or out - of love with it all over again ... I can't tell you how much I enjoyed it" - Evening Standard
"Memorable, funny and occasionally melancholy... a rich, satisfying tapestry of metropolitan life" - Sunday Times
"Ranging from the shocking to the poignant, 80 London voices produce a vivid collage of this impossible city" - Independent
"A cacophonous testimony to the multiple lives of the capital... all life is here in all its dirty, exuberant glory" --Metro
"Its brilliance lies not in the way Taylor frames the concept but in the way he lets people talk without obvious motive or direction. Five stars." --Time Out
"Craig Taylor is the real deal: a peerless journalist and a beautiful craftsman. He'd be a household name already if he wasn't so modest. He'll be one anyway in due course." --David Rakoff, bestselling author of "Fraud" and "Half Empty"
"Craig Taylor tunes in to the multi-tongued, self-justifying noise of the streets. And he leaves us with a substantial account, not just of our imaginary riverside capital, but, more vividly, of himself: as inquirer, investigator, part of a long and valuable lineage"-Iain Sinclair, Observer
"Londoners must be 2011's most ambitious and creative book about London ... This is a book to deepen your relationship with London and make you fall in - or out - of love with it all over again ... I can't tell you how much I enjoyed it" - Evening Standard
"Memorable, funny and occasionally melancholy... a rich, satisfying tapestry of metropolitan life" - Sunday Times
"Ranging from the shocking to the poignant, 80 London voices produce a vivid collage of this impossible city" - Independent
"A cacophonous testimony to the multiple lives of the capital... all life is here in all its dirty, exuberant glory" --Metro
"Its brilliance lies not in the way Taylor frames the concept but in the way he lets people talk without obvious motive or direction. Five stars." --Time Out
"Craig Taylor is the real deal: a peerless journalist and a beautiful craftsman. He'd be a household name already if he wasn't so modest. He'll be one anyway in due course." --David Rakoff, bestselling author of "Fraud" and "Half Empty"
About the Author
Craig Taylor is the author of two books, Return to Akenfield and One Million Tiny Plays About Britain, which began life as a column in the Guardian newspaper. He is the editor of the literary magazine, Five Dials. His third book, Londoners: The Days and Nights of London Now - As Told by Those Who Love It, Hate It, Live It, Left It and Long for It will be published autumn, 2011. Born in Edmonton, Alberta, he grew up on Vancouver Island. He now lives in London.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
60 of 62 people found the following review helpful
By Becky Shep
Format:Hardcover
An oral history of `real' London, written by a Canadian geezer? No I wasn't convinced either.
But I'd read rave reviews about Londoners and so I decided to give it a whirl regardless. Thank god I did. This is a fantastic collection of candid tales about our metropolis. And while completely contradictory in their sentiments, all the voices feel genuine and unembellished; whether their account is bleak, loving or plain bizarre, you can guarantee that the narrator means every word.
The leg work in itself is impressive, five years worth of interviews, spanning all thirty-two boroughs and notching up around a million words of material. The hard work has paid off, because however you feel about modern London, you'll be accounted for by Mr. Taylor. He hasn't tried to sway the collection towards any particular conclusion.
Full of laugh-out-loud anecdotes, just as many angry and sinister rants, with some beautiful and poetic depictions of the city which come from the unlikeliest of sources.
Every time I put the book down I had the urge to jump on the tube and have a wander for myself!
But I'd read rave reviews about Londoners and so I decided to give it a whirl regardless. Thank god I did. This is a fantastic collection of candid tales about our metropolis. And while completely contradictory in their sentiments, all the voices feel genuine and unembellished; whether their account is bleak, loving or plain bizarre, you can guarantee that the narrator means every word.
The leg work in itself is impressive, five years worth of interviews, spanning all thirty-two boroughs and notching up around a million words of material. The hard work has paid off, because however you feel about modern London, you'll be accounted for by Mr. Taylor. He hasn't tried to sway the collection towards any particular conclusion.
Full of laugh-out-loud anecdotes, just as many angry and sinister rants, with some beautiful and poetic depictions of the city which come from the unlikeliest of sources.
Every time I put the book down I had the urge to jump on the tube and have a wander for myself!
29 of 30 people found the following review helpful
By astrogurl
Format:Hardcover
Really loved this, as much for the British social history aspect as the London-specific stories. A real variety of vividly-painted characters, with stories told around different themes and aspects of life in London
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This book is a collection of 80 or so personal experiences of London as told to the author and published using their own words. Some contributors are predictable, even inevitable, such as a taxi driver, a publican, a paramedic and a market trader. They represent traditional London. Others come from more recent arrivals, such as immigrants, and yet others from people that most of us never meet, such as a dominatrix and a long-time protestor against the invasion of Iraq, camped out in Parliament Square. Some of the stories are mundane, others quirky (such as those of the nurse in a STD clinic and the LT lost property clerk). Others are very moving, particularly one from the eyewitness of a Tube train suicide of a young girl. Most show the determination of those who live here to survive and prosper. If you want evidence that the entrepreneurial spirit is not dead, read the contribution by the East End funeral director.
As someone who was born in London and has lived here for more than 60 years, although not continuously, I was very dubious that a collection of short experiences from a very small number of people (the population of London is about 7.5 million) could possibly give a balanced view of the city. Were my original doubts vindicated? No, they were no. Obviously, a different choice of contributors would have produced different stories, doubtless with contradictory views, like the current ones, but overall the chosen contributions have a ring of authenticity and hang together well. They give a good feeling of what it is like to live and work in this great city. It is an excellent book and I thoroughly recommend it.
As someone who was born in London and has lived here for more than 60 years, although not continuously, I was very dubious that a collection of short experiences from a very small number of people (the population of London is about 7.5 million) could possibly give a balanced view of the city. Were my original doubts vindicated? No, they were no. Obviously, a different choice of contributors would have produced different stories, doubtless with contradictory views, like the current ones, but overall the chosen contributions have a ring of authenticity and hang together well. They give a good feeling of what it is like to live and work in this great city. It is an excellent book and I thoroughly recommend it.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
london
It is an interesting book about London. If you have ever stayedin London for a long period of time, you would definetly like it.
Published 5 days ago by Elif
4.0 out of 5 stars
Londoners for an American
that was a good bye present for an American and reluctant temporary resident of London. I would recommend it as some of the stories are bound to please.
Published 8 days ago by Mrs. Marie-france R. Brown
4.0 out of 5 stars
Book Club read
Heard a review on BBC radio 4 and sounded good so chose it for Book Club. Big read and not 100% approval but I enjoyed it by 'dipping' into it. Read more
Published 19 days ago by Moyra Purnell
5.0 out of 5 stars
Intriguing
Great vignettes of so many different facets of London and people's experiences of and in it. First heard it serialised on the radio and the full version lived up to expectations. Read more
Published 23 days ago by Bridgemagoo2
4.0 out of 5 stars
A bedtime read
One of the reasons that I like this book is because you can pick it up, read a section and put it down, so it makes excellent bedtime reading. Read more
Published 24 days ago by Shiroi
5.0 out of 5 stars
Insightful and fascinating glimpse into the rythmn of London life
Craig Taylor does an excellent job of deciphering segments of individual's lives, each story contrasting so vastly from the other, providing us with fragments of lucidity amongst... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Galaxy_Blue
4.0 out of 5 stars
A review from a foreigner
Generally, this is a book I would recommend to people who are so interested in London and urged to know its story. Read more
Published 1 month ago by luvmeow
5.0 out of 5 stars
Londoners
Superb book into the folk who live in London, and tell their tales with a degree of humour and sadness. So diverese in the people chosen to give their story. Read more
Published 1 month ago by John
4.0 out of 5 stars
People watching
For anyone living in London this book is a must, and for anyone visiting I would highly recommend.
The vignettes of varying length were all interesting in their own way. Read more
The vignettes of varying length were all interesting in their own way. Read more
Published 2 months ago by LJP
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not about real Londoners really
Three stars because I felt it did not really focus on 'real' Londoners. The characters were Cherry Picked for the authors preference rather than the reader. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Foodie.Herts
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