Wayne Foster is fed up. How long can you work a dead-end job as a full-time burger-flipper in a small town in Scotland before you start to wonder what comes next? Add a likeable geek with a love of political theory, and an angry French anarchist, and suddenly you have a rebellion on your hands. Rife with dry wit and disaffected humor, Peace, Love, and Petrol Bombs is the perfect antidote to "serious" political fiction.
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'Peace, Love & Petrol Bombs' Is a Humorous and Poignant Novel About Anarchism - Possibly a First... Johnston illustrates deftly the predicament of how we consume, how few options many workers have for meals and for shopping, how we work for the chain store and how we eat at the logo-laden franchises. He vividly dramatizes the automated regimen behind the grill, as relentless as any endured in Dickensian times… this genial, engaging, yet serious search for meaning in a commodified global culture deserves wide acclaim… thoughtful, modest, and winning. ******* Damn good --John L Murphy, PopMatters website
A well told and exceptionally well written coming of age novel that draws the reader in to a life that will be alien to many: and spits you out again at the other end feeling entertained, informed, and more than a little curious to know what happens to Wayne next... --Undiscovered Scotland
Shot through with deadpan humour, it's both hilarious and heart wrenching... It's also unflinching in its honest depiction of Scottish working class life... A great debut novel. --Culture Burn
A well told and exceptionally well written coming of age novel that draws the reader in to a life that will be alien to many: and spits you out again at the other end feeling entertained, informed, and more than a little curious to know what happens to Wayne next... --Undiscovered Scotland
Shot through with deadpan humour, it's both hilarious and heart wrenching... It's also unflinching in its honest depiction of Scottish working class life... A great debut novel. --Culture Burn
About the Author
D. D. Johnston is a retired burger-flipper. He is currently a lecturer in creative writing at the University of Gloucestershire.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By Alex Lee
Format:Paperback
This is a striking and thought-provoking debut that took me by surprise. There are a number of things that set it apart from your average coming-of-age novel (a label which in itself a bit misleading). For one, you have the backdrop, which starts out in working class Scotland in the lead-up to the year 2000, but also takes in post-millenium London, Paris, and Athens, among a variety of social milieus. In that way the novel is as much a picaresque as a Bildungsroman. On top of that, though, there are the political undertones - always present but never domineering. From the microcosm of the work environment at Benny's Burgers (hilariously modeled on McDonald's) to the wider realm of political protest, Johnston examines the nature of individuality, group mentality, and society itself. This is all done in an entertaining way, taking in the lives and loves of Johnston's narrator Wayne and his crowd of friends. Along the way, alliances shift, friends fall out, hearts are broken, battles are waged, and death comes knocking. For me, one of the most interesting aspects of the novel is the contrast between the gritty dialogue (a blend of international accents and dialects) and Wayne's more elegant (and elegiac) descriptions of the world of his youth. A wounded protestor sprays `a speech-bubble of blood around every syllable,' and in a snowstorm the flakes `swirl up and down, as if searching for a place to land.' In this way the author skillfully brings his story and characters to life, so that we feel for them despite their flaws. It is not a happy-ever-after tale, but it's one that rings of real experience and emotional truth. It hits hard and leaves a melancholy aftertaste - like a stiff shot of Scotch with a lager chaser.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By AnnieReader
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Peace, Love and Petrol Bombs is one of these books in the 'difficult to put down' category. Following the exploits of young people fighting against the establishments, you become engrossed in their private and complex lives. The accounts of the burger bar work is very funny, the love story element quite touching and the political viewpoints are thought provoking. There are excellent descriptive passages and superb characters. I particularly enjoy the writer's style and how he manages to speak personally to the reader.
By MCDee
Format:Paperback
This novel was read in less than two days, it was that captivating a story. Yet, as with most postmodern novels it is not overwhelming.
You are allowed to read the story as an observer, without feeling too responsible for getting the plot right. There are moments of banality, suspense and jeopardy just like any archetypal prose, but the key is Johnston's deployment of wry and clever humour and the cultivation of the characters which adds something extra.
Characters revolve in various sub-plots, and although they are all connected in some way, to varying degrees, with either the workers struggle or activism, or both in some cases, they are at their best when simply living their lives. Most people can relate to the majority of situation in this work. Those events which the reader can't relate to, are explained in such a well structured way.
This novel, despite its individual characteristics fits well amongst the modern Scots works.
The most striking thing about it though is that is manages to satirise the activist movement whilst being produced by an activist press in a very eco-friendly activist way.
Quite simply, its worth a read.
You are allowed to read the story as an observer, without feeling too responsible for getting the plot right. There are moments of banality, suspense and jeopardy just like any archetypal prose, but the key is Johnston's deployment of wry and clever humour and the cultivation of the characters which adds something extra.
Characters revolve in various sub-plots, and although they are all connected in some way, to varying degrees, with either the workers struggle or activism, or both in some cases, they are at their best when simply living their lives. Most people can relate to the majority of situation in this work. Those events which the reader can't relate to, are explained in such a well structured way.
This novel, despite its individual characteristics fits well amongst the modern Scots works.
The most striking thing about it though is that is manages to satirise the activist movement whilst being produced by an activist press in a very eco-friendly activist way.
Quite simply, its worth a read.
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