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Submarine [Paperback]

Joe Dunthorne
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
RRP: £8.99
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Book Description

3 Mar 2011

Submarine is the wickedly funny first novel by Joe Dunthorne

NOW AN ACCLAIMED FILM BY RICHARD AYOADE

Meet Oliver Tate, fifteen years old. Convinced that his father is depressed ('Depression comes in bouts. Like boxing. Dad is in the blue corner') and his mother is having an affair with her capoeira teacher, ('a hippy-looking twonk'), he embarks on a hilariously misguided campaign to bring the family back together. Meanwhile, he is also trying to lose his virginity - before he turns sixteeen - to his pyromaniac girlfriend Jordana. Will Oliver succeed in either aim? Submerge yourself in Submarine and find out . . .

'Brilliant . . . laugh-out-loud enjoyable. The sharpest, funniest, rudest account of a troubled teenager's coming-of-age since The Catcher in the Rye' Independent

'A richly amusing tale of mock GCSEs, sex, death and challenging vocabulary . . . Excruciatingly funny incidents and cracking gags' Time Out

'Excellent . . . the wonderful, Day-Glo certainties of adolescence have rarely been so brilliantly laid out' Independent on Sunday

'Perfectly pitched . . . transplants The Catcher in the Rye to south Wales . . . Dunthorne can make you laugh like did during double physics on a wet Wednesday afternoon' Observer

'A brilliant first novel by a young man of ferocious comic talent' The Times

Joe Dunthorne was born and brought up in Swansea. His first novel, Submarine, won the Curtis Brown prize, has been translated into ten languages and in spring 2011 was made into an acclaimed film by Richard Ayoade. His second novel, Wild Abandon, was the winner of the Encore Award 2012. His stories, poems and journalism have been published in the Guardian, the Independent, the Financial Times, the Sunday Times, Vice and Poetry Review. He lives in London.


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Product details

  • Paperback: 304 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin; Film Tie-In edition (3 Mar 2011)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0241955157
  • ISBN-13: 978-0241955154
  • Product Dimensions: 12.9 x 1.8 x 19.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 10,493 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Product Description

Review

A brilliant first novel by a young man of ferocious comic talent (The Times )

Dunthorne captures the mores of Britain today better than novelists twice his age (New Statesman )

Brilliant . . . laugh-out-loud enjoyable. The sharpest, funniest, rudest account of a troubled teenager's coming-of-age since The Catcher in the Rye (Independent )

Transplants The Catcher in the Rye to south Wales . . . Dunthorne can make you laugh like you did during double physics on a wet Wednesday afternoon (Observer )

A richly amusing tale of mock GCSEs, sex, death and challenging vocabulary . . . Excruciatingly funny incidents and cracking gags (Time Out )

Excellent . . . the wonderful, Day-Glo certainties of adolescence have rarely been so brilliantly laid out (Independent on Sunday )

Review

'Brilliant...The sharpest, funniest, rudest account of a periodically troubled teenager's coming-of-age since The Catcher in the Rye' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
It may have been because I was reading this alongside the headspinning, quantum theory-heavy "The End Of Mr Y' by Scarlett Thomas, that I found this a bit of a slight, frothy, inconsequential read at first. On reflection, however, there are many brilliantly observed set-pieces that capture the excruciating nature of adolescence and the literal, one-track pubescent mind of its precocious narrator, Oliver, perfectly. It is set in 1997-8, possibly no accident, as this arguably represents the point at which the Internet went truly mass-market: there followed a generation for whom sexuality suddenly became "learnt" via the readily available, highly fantastical imagery of online porn. While this has arguably made today's youth less repressed than their predecessors, Joe Dunthorne rightly poses the pertinent question of at what cost this has taken place. Oliver is erudite, witty, and verbose - and for those who are bothered by verisimilitude, like in the film "Juno", it is sometimes hard to reconcile such a sharp narration with our own memories of what we and our peers were like as 15-year-olds. For those happy to wallow in the fiction, however, there are moments of anti-heroism so startling that Oliver seems to be tipping into autistic territory, a la "The Curious Incident Of The Dog At Night-time". Dunthorne's poetic background - and the inevitable metaphor and simile-heavy effects it has on its writing - started to grate a little towards the end. That said, this is an engaging, mostly well-paced story with hidden depths. One suspects - or hopes - that Dunthorne's best work is yet to come however.
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17 of 20 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A stunning debut by a supremely gifted writer 20 April 2009
Format:Hardcover
Finally! A book that can stand shoulder to shoulder with Martin Amis's the Rachel Papers (which, if you loved Submarine, you must also read). Joe Dunthorne, who is, I understand, also a well regarded poet, has created, in Oliver Tate, a compelling and loveable hero; if you have teenaged boys in your life you will wince, cry and applaud - often all at the same time - and if you've recently been one I suspect you might offer up thanks that you no longer are.
This is a book with a clear sense of purpose; to document - unflinchingly (again, Amis springs to mind here) every detail of the business of being a teenager; the emotional, the physical, the metaphysical, the sexual. All set against a backdrop of a lovingly described Gower, peopled with characters who also resonate with truth, and situations (first love, sexual exploration, the anxiety of seeing cracks form in the security of his parents' marriage) that have universal relevance. I can't believe Dunthorne's parents (who MUST have been partly distilled to form Oliver's - if he denys it, I won't believe him) aren't still cringing, rictus grins in place, at the acuity with which their middle-aged peccadillos have been observed.
Don't, however, just expect humour (though there is much). This is a book with a dark side, and plenty of poignant and upsetting moments; darker, definitely, than Adrian Mole. A different animal altogether, to my mind.
It's also written in prose that manages to be that rare thing; beuatifully poetic without ever feeling pompous or overworked.
I can't wait to see what Joe Dunthorne does next.
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9 of 11 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars Picks you up, then puts you down again. 14 Sep 2009
Format:Hardcover
I'm about two thirds of the way through Submarine, and thought I'd pause, briefly, to decide whether or not I'm enjoying it.

I see what another reviewer means, that at about this point, this novel starts to lose its way. Though for me, the fault is that it rather over-finds it. I get the impression that Dunthorne feared nothing remarkable was happening in the trivial life of its hero, Oliver Tate, and so overcompensated with the 'retreat' scene, and other related scenes, later on.

In fact, it's that very trivia, which spookily evokes memories of one's own earlier days, which makes Adrian Mole, Black Swan Green-type novels so engaging.

Submarine has it in places, and that's when the pages turn. Unfortunately, when it loses grip with reality, it loses my attention.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Fast delivery, great item
The book was dispatched very quickly, the item was in great condition. It was a great read, couldn't put it down, and worth reading to compare the story's differences with the... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Elouise Malin
5.0 out of 5 stars Submarine
Excellent book! I saw the film and was quite disappointed it wasn't as good as I had been told. Finally read the book and it is so much more clever and a fantastic read!
Published 3 months ago by Sam Benham
4.0 out of 5 stars Unusual. Different. Excellent.
Submarine by Joe Dunthorne is a very unusual book.
I loved the main character: he totally made this book for me. He's witty, strange and interesting. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Wendybell
1.0 out of 5 stars Utterly depressing
How can a book which describes a fifteen year old boy tricking a seven year old into performing a sex act on him be a comedy? Read more
Published 15 months ago by Middle aged person
5.0 out of 5 stars Very enjoyable; full of humour.
What a great coming-of-age novel. Reminded me of The Perks of Being a Wallflower and It's Kind of a Funny Story in the fact that the narrator, a typical teenager, is a bit cynical... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Joe L
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant
This film was like watching a young teenager from the inside, with all the brilliant and terrible things that would entail. Read more
Published 18 months ago by S. Robinson
3.0 out of 5 stars Not up to expectation
I really had high hopes of this book. Having read Veron God Little I thought it would be of same quality but it wasn't. I wanted to like it. It was set in Wales - I love Wales. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Miss K. Wilshaw
5.0 out of 5 stars if you enjoyed the film, you will love this book
After watching the film several times, and loving it, i decided i had to read the book it was based on. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Brown Review
5.0 out of 5 stars Submarine
My non-reading sixteen year old has not put this down even after watching the recent film.
He has really enjoyed the book and has shared lines from it with me, reading and... Read more
Published 20 months ago by D. L. T. Hallows
3.0 out of 5 stars Enter the mind of a 15-year-old boy
Oliver Tate loves using obscure words. He's worried about his parents' sex life, his girlfriends skin condition, why a schoolmate gets bullied and the possibility of developing a... Read more
Published 21 months ago by Ian Barker
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