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Amazon.co.uk Review
Meticulously researched, Soft City is an insider's guide to the stresses and strains of city life. Flicking between many cities, but primarily London and New York, the reader is shown the true horror and, to an extent, joy of life in a modern metropolis. The reasons why people flock to cities, why some stay and why some leave are some of the many topics covered. Raban's observations are all too real. His sharp, poignant wit gracefully lightens his factual presentation. Raban's dialogue is truly a joy to read. Overheard conversations in restaurants and muffled voices heard through unsubstantial walls are penned in a lively, if not voyeuristic, form. This is a surprising page-turner from beginning to end, and a real classic in the literature of the city. It may be advisable not to live in or visit a conurbation without a copy. --Jon Smith --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Evening Standard
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Customer Reviews
Victor Benjamin has also written about his fascination with the city but Jonathan brings Benjamin up to date as our cities today change so quickly, sometimes on a daily basis, through construction and demolition, as more and more our remembered city is changed beyond recognition.
I am an artist and photographer and was inspired by this book and it enabled me to come to terms with my feelings of dislocation within the city. Sometimes I would revisit certain loved places in order to photograph them only to find them gone. I will never forget this book as it explains the modern phenomenon of living and surviving in the city and it enabled me to walk around my familiar places with a sense of longing and fondness; a fondness for what they may be in years to come. Those loved and remembered places that would disappear some day.
A text book for all scholars of the city and literature, history and contemporary mythology.
Its ten chapters about 'London living' take salmon-leaps of imaginative narrative prose style along the way; its young author's masterly, breathtaking skill fizzing with youth, verve and enthusiasm.
How London ( and possibly the author,too) have changed since 1973/74. It's a glitzier place now. A Class A city - a contender-
up there with Sydney,Tokyo and New York.
Happily, the 'Envies'have long gone, replaced now by crack-cocaine - fuelled muggers. Plus ca change. In the nineteenth century, men wore steel hoops under their starched collars to protect themselves from gangs of garotters. Darker perils await today.
London has survived Thatcherism,Majorism and Blairism, and today's lavishly-talented, hard-working, well-mannered thirty-year-olds, who contribute so much to London life such as my son( gifted artist/award-winning designer/skilled musician/fine lyricist) and his girlfriend have both still managed to hang on to the left-wing visions and ideals of Raban's generation - in the face of massive social and technological change.
London has emerged from the shabby, grubby shadows of its Victorian past, and has now become reconstructed into a glittering, vibrant place, rebuilt and refurbished as in the time of Wren and Nash ( Georgian London's master-planner). How symbolic that Foster's' Millennium' bridge links St.Paul's to Tate Modern ; and how intriguing it would be to read what the inestimable Mr Raban thinks of London in 2003.
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