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Review
Praise for Sixteen Shades of Crazy:
‘This anti-romantic portrayal of modern valley life rings with musical dialogue and hangover humour.’ THE INDEPENDENT
‘Trezise opens up the lives of her characters with surgical skill, making you wince as well as laugh.’ THE WESTERN MAIL
‘We in the know have come to expect brilliance from Rachel Trezise, and Sixteen Shades of Crazy doesn't disappoint. This is a powerful, unflinching and extremely funny novel. It's a beauty.’DAN RHODES
‘Seamless and thoroughly enjoyable…A keen observer of contemporary culture, Trezise has penned yet another winner.’ THE SUN-HERALD
‘Sixteen Shades of Crazy is a dirty but Day-Glo slice of modern Valleys life.’ NEW WELSH REVIEW
‘written with great energy and verbal skill and its characters … are immediately engaging.’ SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
‘Trezise sings a sharp and suffocating song.’ THE AGE
‘On the one hand Sixteen Shades of Crazy finds Trezise sticking to her literary award-winning formula; unflinching yarns about the lifestyles, aspirations and collective hustle of working class characters (caricatures you might think on occasion) from her native Welsh valleys. On the other, her use of multiple narrative voices – switching between three women whose friendship seems fuelled by convenience rather than closeness – ramps up the interest factor of an already highly readable book.’ BUZZ MAGAZINE
Praise for Rachel Trezise:
‘Trezise is an outstanding young writer, with a wonderfully sharp,cynical take on contemporary Wales.’THE TIMES
‘The new face of literature.’HARPERS & QUEEN
‘A major new literary talent.’THE WESTERN MAIL
‘Trezise writes with an irresistible self-indulgence…the same complete command of the English language as the heavyweights of contemporary fiction.’THE BIG ISSUE
Product Description
Went out, got pissed. Same shit, different day.
Aberalaw, a tiny South Wales valley village where nobody ever arrives and nobody ever leaves. The new police chief has declared war on recreational drugs, resulting in an eighteen-month drought. The party-loving wives and girlfriends of local punk band, The Boobs, are getting desperate, both for drugs and thrills: Ellie, factory girl with dreams of a better life in New York; Rhiannon, hairdresser with a taste for violence and designer clothes and Siân, unappreciated, obsessive compulsive mother of three.
Into their lives, enter the languid dark stranger, Johnny: Englishman, drug dealer and shameless seducer. In the space of just a few months, three women's lives will be changed forever.
Prize-winning writer, Rachel Trezise, dissects the morals and mores of a small Welsh village community with a scalpel-sharp pen and an incisive wit.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Unlike the other reviewers I'm not Welsh (I'm Irish) and I totally 'got' this book - the hopelessness, the pointless sex, the drugs, the boredom with life. The characters are well drawn especially the lunatic, pathalogically selfish Rhiannon. The book is both tragic and funny and proves Rachel T to be the able writer she is. (I have also read 'Fresh Apples' which is superb.)
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I was in the audience when an extract from the first chapter of Sixteen Shades of Crazy was read at the Green Man Festival. A fan of Rachel Trezise's' writing, I'd waited for its release with curiosity. Her debut novel, In and Out of the Goldfish Bowl, was a triumph over the usual carbon-copied misery memoirs you'd find at Tesco. Within its pages, the pain of a neglected childhood and spoilt innocence reduced to a spectre through a strength for passionate objectivity. Fresh Apples followed, setting the bar even higher; leading this reader to question whether Sixteen Shades of Crazy could satisfy readers' expectations.
Initially I was disappointed: the prose of the first chapter creaked with self-consciousness in its love of simile and description. But 'though I had a few concerns along the way - was there, for example, too much show and not tell for a plot which seemed to lack momentum - these nit-picks were rapidly resolved by the author's succinct depiction of valleys' tedium. And, as the narrative unfolded, it became clear the three main characters, Ellie, Rhiannon, and Sian, were a vehicle for a polemic on how tragic and disturbing childhoods constructed messed-up, fragile and dysfunctional adults. With a mixture of seriousness and humour, Sixteen Shades of Crazy lived up to the standards set by In and Out of the Goldfish Bowl; demonstrating how an outstanding debut novel doesn't necessarily result in anti-climax.
Initially I was disappointed: the prose of the first chapter creaked with self-consciousness in its love of simile and description. But 'though I had a few concerns along the way - was there, for example, too much show and not tell for a plot which seemed to lack momentum - these nit-picks were rapidly resolved by the author's succinct depiction of valleys' tedium. And, as the narrative unfolded, it became clear the three main characters, Ellie, Rhiannon, and Sian, were a vehicle for a polemic on how tragic and disturbing childhoods constructed messed-up, fragile and dysfunctional adults. With a mixture of seriousness and humour, Sixteen Shades of Crazy lived up to the standards set by In and Out of the Goldfish Bowl; demonstrating how an outstanding debut novel doesn't necessarily result in anti-climax.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Being from the valleys of South Wales, it's rare to see my life and experience reflected in print. Rachel Trezise captures valleys humour perfectly. Her descriptions of Sunday dinner, boredom, life in the pub and on the street are spot on. 16 Shades of Crazy is a roller-coaster of a story, featuring characters who seem unable to get off a fast-moving train of self-destruction. This book had me laughing out loud then crying within a few sentences. Trezise understands and is able to reflect hardship, not in a morose way but with an incredibly dry humour. And she is able to write about experiences which don't feature anywhere else. There's no sign of singing, coalmines or any other romantic valleys stereotypes. Rachel writes it like she sees it, and her voice is very powerful and strong.
Well done for yet another superb read Rachel - keep writing!
Well done for yet another superb read Rachel - keep writing!
Most Recent Customer Reviews
A Good Read
Haven't read this yet as I bought it for a gift. Hoping they will let me read it when they have finished with it. Prompt delivery in time for Christmas.
Published 16 months ago by M. Harris
Beautifully written
If you've ever wondered what happens in the Welsh valleys then you should read this book. Full of wit and beautifully written, this is your chance of finding a great new(ish)... Read more
Published 22 months ago by rhysthomashello
Fantastic!!!
Thoroughly enjoyed this book as it is fuuny, entertaining and so realistic. As I am from a town very near to where the book is set in the South Wales Valleys, I could relate to... Read more
Published 24 months ago by G. E. Jones
How suffocating was my valley
A friend recently told me that only African American women writers such as Angela Davis, Toni Morrison and Alice Walker spoke to her in a way that made sense of her upbringing in... Read more
Published on 16 May 2010 by Land of Song
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