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"Sukhdev Sandhu s extraordinary echo-sounding of the contemporary London night lyrical, hallucinatory and harrowing by turns not only reveals the persistence of various forms of urban night-time in the face of the official image of a light-polluted, 24-hour time-zone of handy consumption, but makes an honourable addition to the literature of London as a space layered and haunted with the ghosts and traces of its history." --Times Literary Supplement
"With a writing style that mixes down- to-earth reportage with lyrical flights of fancy, Sandhu simultaneously builds up and dispels the mythology of London. Its more seductive qualities are revealed to be the workings of a great machine, devoted to the accumulation of capital and supported by legions of people who are there to mop up the aftermath. Night Haunts grew out of a project commissioned by the arts organisation Artangel. Like Artangel's best-known commission, Rachel Whiteread's 1993 plaster cast of an East End terrace, it turns the city inside out, exposing its innermost workings to the light of day." --The New Statesman
Seeing with a film-maker's eye and reporting in sharp language laden with pithy metaphors ... Sandhu offers some of the greatest insights we have into rarely described aspects of contemporary London ... This laconic, beautifully produced book is an enduring portrait of a city that manufactures fresh narratives as rapidly as they are revealed. Sandhu joins a small group of outstanding investigators into what remains in so many ways the world's richest city. --Michael Moorcock, Daily Telegraph
"With a writing style that mixes down- to-earth reportage with lyrical flights of fancy, Sandhu simultaneously builds up and dispels the mythology of London. Its more seductive qualities are revealed to be the workings of a great machine, devoted to the accumulation of capital and supported by legions of people who are there to mop up the aftermath. Night Haunts grew out of a project commissioned by the arts organisation Artangel. Like Artangel's best-known commission, Rachel Whiteread's 1993 plaster cast of an East End terrace, it turns the city inside out, exposing its innermost workings to the light of day." --The New Statesman
Seeing with a film-maker's eye and reporting in sharp language laden with pithy metaphors ... Sandhu offers some of the greatest insights we have into rarely described aspects of contemporary London ... This laconic, beautifully produced book is an enduring portrait of a city that manufactures fresh narratives as rapidly as they are revealed. Sandhu joins a small group of outstanding investigators into what remains in so many ways the world's richest city. --Michael Moorcock, Daily Telegraph
Product Description
London at night, from Shakespeare's time to Dickens to Jack the Ripper, was always seen as a lawless orgy of depravity and pestilence, teeming with rogues and bandits. But is it now as bland and unthreatening as any new town? Sukhdev Sandhu journeys across London to find out whether the London night really has been rendered neutral by street lighting and CCTV cameras. Sandhu's forays see him prospecting in the London night with the people who drive its pulse, from the avian police to security guards, zookeepers and exorcists. He wades through the sewers, hangs out with pirate DJs and accompanies the marine patrol looking for midnight corpses. In a beautifully written and wonderfully illustrated book he seeks to reclaim the mystery and romance of the city - to revitalise the great myth of London for a new century.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
A curious set of vignettes featuring people who work at night in
contemporary London. Very poetic, and some of the best malapropisms
I've seen for a long time. At times it almost feels like it's almost trying too
hard to live up to its illustrious forbearers such as Mayhew, but it's still
worth giving this slim volume a read.
Recommended.
contemporary London. Very poetic, and some of the best malapropisms
I've seen for a long time. At times it almost feels like it's almost trying too
hard to live up to its illustrious forbearers such as Mayhew, but it's still
worth giving this slim volume a read.
Recommended.
13 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Very enjoyable collection, describing the author's meetings with various Londoners who work through the night. I thought the subjects were well-chosen and well-drawn. I particularly enjoyed the chapters on graffiti artists, the sleep technicians and the final chapter on the Nuns of Tyburn
This is a slim volume, and the treatment of each subject is correspondingly brief. This meant that after having finished a chapter I did occasionally find myself wanting a little more. Nevertheless, Sandhu writes with great lyricism and I enjoyed the language a great deal. I generally prefer relatively straightforward writing, but felt that the book almost always managed to be expressive and exuberant without unnecessary complication or fussiness.
This is a slim volume, and the treatment of each subject is correspondingly brief. This meant that after having finished a chapter I did occasionally find myself wanting a little more. Nevertheless, Sandhu writes with great lyricism and I enjoyed the language a great deal. I generally prefer relatively straightforward writing, but felt that the book almost always managed to be expressive and exuberant without unnecessary complication or fussiness.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
From the Radio 4 introduction with the writer prior to release this book was clear in it`s intentions of a journey behind the nightlife of a 24-7 city throughout it`s history as a commercial centre. A poetic and informed eccentric and rather wonderful journey of vast imagination and fact. I found it thrilling and informative but then I was clear what the book would be from the Radio 4 programme. Thoughtful and inspired and a real shared journey. No one should view London night life the same. I agree with the reviewer about never looking at one`s fellow commuters again in the same light. It really brings you behind the scenes and into a new way of looking at things.Ideally read at night or one for the tube. I thought this book was excellent and well worth buying. Wonderful language, ideas,characters ( real people ) and food for thought throughout. An excellent read. I really enjoyed it.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
London like you've never seen it before...
Those criticising the book for its poetics are missing the point. It seems to me that the whole idea of Night Haunts is to reclaim the poetry of the night. Read more
Published 26 days ago by Jahnell
Illuminating
Sukhdev Sandhu's slim but enlightening volume is an anthology of essays about those whose job it is to keep London working during the night. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Sarcosuchus
nocturnal rambling
Brief account of some aspects of those who live in London by night. Evocative and subjective, it contains a bibliography unreferenced to the text. Read more
Published on 1 Mar 2009 by barbicandy
great idea. terrible everything else
Dyson's review is spot on so there's no point repeating. i gave up way before page 100 after reading about the plight of cleaners at the start of their working day... Read more
Published on 26 Feb 2008 by Ajs Merry
Rat race
I love London and its many different facets and layer upon layer of experience and history, so I love books about London that explore these facets, which is why I picked up Night... Read more
Published on 21 Feb 2008 by Ms. K. Hall
So pretentious it's funny
I can't believe the New Statesman et al takes this absurd, self-indulgent little book seriously....
I picked it up because the subject matter is fascinating. Read more
I picked it up because the subject matter is fascinating. Read more
Published on 2 Feb 2008 by R. N. Dyson
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