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Staying Alive [Paperback]

Matt Beaumont
4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)

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Book Description

4 Oct 2004

From the bestelling author of ‘e’ comes a hilarious novel of a very normal life becoming extraordinary

Murray’s living life to the full – and it might just kill him. He’s started telling the truth at work. He’s borrowed a stack of cash from a man with a gun, a speech impediment and no grasp whatsoever of APR. He’s also taking drugs and – God help him – he’s started dancing. Badly. To trance. And now he’s on the run with a human version of Muttley and a teenage girl called Fish.

Which is strange, because a few weeks ago Murray didn’t even burn the candle at one end. But when his doctors tell him he has only months to live, he gives his boring old self the boot, relaunches a new, improved Murray and falls in love with a passion he didn’t know was in him.

His old self, of course, would tell him he’s digging his own grave. But he’ll be needing one of those soon enough anyway, won’t he?


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Product details

  • Paperback: 448 pages
  • Publisher: HarperCollins (4 Oct 2004)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0007190697
  • ISBN-13: 978-0007190690
  • Product Dimensions: 23.2 x 15 x 3.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,358,962 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

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Product Description

Review

‘A rip-roaringly funny read [from] the brilliant Matt Beaumont…full of colourful characters and cinematic scenes…A brilliant read’ Heat

Praise for THE BOOK, THE FILM, THE T-SHIRT
‘Beaumont is the sort of writer you wish would knock books out quicker.' Closer

‘Beaumont…is a technical whiz at his craft…He succeeds. Humour, feelgood factor, mild suspense…it is one airport novel that is definitely designed to take off’ Guardian

‘Delicious knockabout comedy…this is funnier [than e]’ Bookseller

‘This is Jeffrey Archer with irony…you’ll be highly amused.’ Daily Mail

‘Toe-curlingly good…makes you laugh out loud’ Campaign

‘It’s very funny from first to last. Infectiously enjoyable and energetic’ Time Out

Praise for ‘e’
‘A brilliantly plotted comic novel…it gave me more sense that literature is alive and kicking than anything else I’ve read in these 12 months’ Humphrey Carpenter, Sunday Times Review of the Year

‘Lively, viciously funny and about as switched on as a novel can be’ Mirror

‘Hilarious’ Cosmopolitan

Praise for ‘e’
‘A genuinely enjoyable page-turner’ The Times

‘e is the most enjoyable, addictive read I’ve had since Bridget Jones’ Lisa Jewell

‘Here’s a book that recognises our true priorities: blame-shifting, arse-covering, personal enhancement, shagging – and, oh yes, the odd advert. Matt compresses into a few weeks a dazzling cascade of events, most of which have either happened at one agency or another or are otherwise completely believable. A finer observer of agency politics you’ll never meet.’ Andrew Cracknell, Campaign

'Depicts the Machiavellian scheming and summary sackings of the ad world in withering detail and with no shortage of dead-eye wit' The Times

'Groundbreaking…an internet-enabled Clarissa for the 21st century' Evening Standard

'Hysterical, sensationally funny' Arena

'Read it, wipe away your tears, then read it again' Company

'Fab debut…lock eyes with Matt Beaumont. Your career may depend on it' Kirkus

About the Author

Matt Beaumont is a lover, not a fighter.
He is a six-foot, high-tensile writing machine.
His favourite colour is blue and his favourite Sugababe is Mutya.
For many, many years he has wanted to write the definitive account of the Bee Gees’ disco period.
STAYING ALIVE is not that book.


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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
20 of 20 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Terminally Funny 5 Oct 2004
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
The funniest book about terminal illness I have ever read. OK, the only funny book about terminal illness I have ever read, but still massively hilarious. Matt Beaumont's other books (especially e) have been good but this is the best yet. Staying Alive is part thiller, part love story and all comedy. And though I'm still not sure how he does it, the hero, one of life's losers, wins! Highly recommended.
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars He keeps getting better 21 Jan 2005
Format:Paperback
I've read mattt's previous two books 'e' and 'e for christmas' (I think ?). The first two were originally formatted and funny. This book is my favourite. I've been reading it on the Tube and laughing out loud. The characters are very well developed, and the plot smacks of an advertising crative with too much time on his hands ! If, as he says, all creatives have a novel they are working on, I wish more of them would publish ! Fantastic book that I can't recommend highly enough.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Funny about terminal cancer ??? 17 Jan 2006
By S. Shaw
Format:Paperback
You wouldn't think it were possible to write a funny book about terminal cancer, but Matt B pulls it off.

This book has some hilarious laugh out loud moments and I found the characters fairly well developed.

I didn't enjoy it as much as "e" but it's well worth a read.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars A book of two halves
This has been a book that was on my 'must get around to' list for some time. For long periods of reading the book I was doubting whether I should have bothered, so to get the... Read more
Published 2 months ago by CRD1980
3.0 out of 5 stars Not as good as it could have been
Staying Alive sees Mat Beaumont ditch his usual epistolary style in favour of straight prose and, while the subject matter (a formerly straight-laced guy going off the rails when... Read more
Published 7 months ago by daveinbrum
1.0 out of 5 stars Bad subject
Having read all three "e" books I was ready for a good laugh. The back of this book suggests an illness to the main character. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Baggie Blog
4.0 out of 5 stars Slow to start but full of laughs!!!
I picked this book up having never heard of the author but thought I would give it a go. Very rarely does a book make me laugh, let alone laugh out loud, but that is what Stayin... Read more
Published on 28 May 2010 by Philippa Leah
5.0 out of 5 stars Inexplicable How It Does It - It's Great!
Couldn't sleep 'til I finished it.

Wonderfully amusing.

Characters are 2-D.

Story line a bit predictable.

And it is a dream read!
Published on 9 April 2010 by D. R. Armour
4.0 out of 5 stars Very funny, very whacky
Classic contemporary metrosexual novel, perfect for a nice lazy weekend. Very funny, classic relationship material with a twist or two that get quite over the top at the end. Read more
Published on 23 Jan 2010 by T. Kesl
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully crafted
Matt Beaumont seems to go from strength to strength. This book is perfectly fashioned: the characters are all engaging and the twists fit together seamlessly. Read more
Published on 11 July 2009 by Julian Mark Self
5.0 out of 5 stars Laugh out loud funny
I picked this book up having never heard of the author but thought I would give it a go.

Very rarely does a book make me laugh, let alone laugh out loud, but that is... Read more
Published on 19 Dec 2008 by Mrs. P. J. Johnson
4.0 out of 5 stars Slow to start but full of laughs
This is the first book I've read by Matt Beaumont and despite a rather slow start it turned into a great read. Read more
Published on 18 Jun 2008 by Joby1
4.0 out of 5 stars A very funny book about terminal cancer, but too much farce at the end
Despite the cover, this book has nothing to do with disco.

After the 'novelty' aspect of his first novel "E" (a story told entirely through e-mails), Matt Beaumont took... Read more
Published on 17 Nov 2007 by Mr. Stuart Bruce
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