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The News Where You Are [Paperback]

Catherine O'Flynn (Author)
3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)

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Book Description

Publication Date: 1 July 2010

Set in Birmingham, The News Where You Are tells the funny, touching story of Frank, a local TV news presenter. Beneath his awkwardly corny screen persona, Frank is haunted by disappearances: the mysterious hit and run that killed his predecessor Phil Smethway; the demolition of his father’s post-war brutalist architecture; and the unmarked passing of those who die alone in the city. Frank struggles to make sense of these absences while having to report endless local news stories of holes opening up in people’s gardens and trying to cope with his resolutely miserable mother.

The result is that rare thing: a page-turning novel which asks the big questions in an accessible way, and is laugh-out-loud funny, genuinely moving and ultimately uplifting.

Product details

  • Paperback: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Viking (1 July 2010)
  • Language: Unknown
  • ISBN-10: 0670918555
  • ISBN-13: 978-0670918553
  • Product Dimensions: 15.3 x 2.2 x 23.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 357,177 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Catherine O'Flynn
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Product Description

About the Author

Catherine O’Flynn was born in 1970 and raised in Birmingham, the youngest of six children. Her parents ran a sweet shop. She worked briefly in journalism, then at a series of shopping centres. She has also been a web editor, a postwoman and a mystery shopper.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
22 of 22 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Good News 28 July 2010
By Denise4891 TOP 100 REVIEWER VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback
I don't envy Catherine O'Flynn having to follow up the success of the brilliant Costa Award-winning What Was Lost and, while I didn't think this one was quite as good, I still really enjoyed it.

The central character is Frank Allcroft, a genial, middle-aged local TV news presenter whose cheesy one-liners have made him a cult figure amongst students. When we meet Frank he seems to be undergoing a minor mid-life crisis, examining the meaning of his existence and his role in various people's lives. He is particularly touched by the regular reports of people who die alone and lay undiscovered for several weeks (usually until the neighbours start complaining about the smell) and he embarks on a mission to make sure they're not forgotten by leaving flowers at their houses, helping to track down relatives and even attending their funerals.

Another central theme of the book is the regeneration of our towns and cities (in this case, Birmingham) and the tearing down of some of the Soviet-style 1960s architecture for which the city is famous, including most of the buildings designed by Frank's architect father. But, as Frank ponders, are the souless apartment blocks and model villages they're being replaced with any better?

Catherine O'Flynn has a wonderful ear for both mundane and surreal dialogue (reminiscent at times of Jonathan Coe and Magnus Mills) and this book is shot through with touches of humour and pathos. I fear it might not be fast moving or action packed enough for some people, but if you enjoyed What Was Lost you'll know what to expect and I hope you won't be disappointed.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars Soft-centred hero 7 Aug 2010
By Clive A. H. Still TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback
The concrete buildings designed by his late architect father in the sixties are gradually being torn down and replaced. Frank, the hero of this book, devotes time and energy to attempting to save them from their fate. A parallel preoccupation is paying tribute to people found dead, often many weeks after their actual decease, without anyone to mourn them. As a local television presenter in Birmingham, Frank comes across many such stories which never make it onto his programme and he has started leaving bunches of flowers at the sites of such sad passings.

A slight mystery unfolds when he decides to investigate the connection between an ex-colleague, killed in a hit and run accident and a man found dead on a park bench. In his search for mourners to attend the latters' funeral, many contemporary issues are explored - the superficiality of celebrity culture, the impenetrability of human motive, the importance of family relationships, the need to balance respect for the past with enjoyment of the present ...

His daughter, Mo, is one of the most appealing children in modern literature with a sweet, but not sickly, relationship with her father and grandmother, a depressive character with a quick, sharp tongue and an ability to extract enjoyment from her life in a care home which she is careful to keep hidden from her son.

This book is full of light and humour with a great cast of characters.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommended.... 13 Oct 2010
By Wynne Kelly TOP 1000 REVIEWER VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback
I have always found something a bit ludicrous about local television news. When the main national newsreader announces "And now the news where you are...." you know that the whole tone of broadcasting changes. Out go the challenging questions to people in power and reports on serious world issues and in come the charity events, the sick children seeking funds for treatment abroad and the pensioner robbed by yobs. And local television news is virtually the same throughout the country - just different hairstyles, different puns and different settees.

I don't think I have read another novel that is based in a local television news room - it's surprising that no-one thought of the idea before. But O'Flynn doesn't belittle her subject but instead treats it with good humour and affection. Her main protagonist is Frank - and unambitious journalist with a terrible line in (purchased) jokes who nonetheless has a substantial local fanbase. His co-presenter Julia is bright but cynical and clearly feels she is meant for better things than local news.

The themes running throughout this novel are loss and change. Frank's father had been the architect of many of Birmingham's brutally modern sixties civic buildings. But now things are changing and one by one they are being demolished - and Frank feels sad about their loss but comforted by his chirpy and optimistic young daughter Mo. Frank also takes it upon himself to attend the funerals of people who have been reported as dying alone - often as the only mourner. He is hardly able to articulate why he does this but feels it is his responsibility - but we see it as evidence of his "goodness".

There is a plot - nothing like as complex as What Was Lost - about the unexplained death of his predecessor. But it is not the plotting that is important in this book. It is the vibrant characters, the great dialogue and a superb evocation of a changing city.

I am a huge fan of Catherine O'Flynn's debut novel What Was Lost so I approached her new book with some trepidation. But I was not disappointed - it really is an excellent novel.

Highly recommended.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars Not the Birmingham I've seen
Two short points about this novel: First, it takes place in and around Birmingham and transformation of the city is important part of and metaphor for the plot. Read more
Published 16 days ago by Martin Klima
4.0 out of 5 stars Great Book - Small details superbly chuckle-worthy!
The mystery plot almost remains in the background but, in a way, is just an added bonus, because the small details of everyday life and the cleverly drawn characters keep it... Read more
Published 7 months ago by store55
3.0 out of 5 stars Not all news is good news
Try as I might I cannot get enthusiastic about Catherine O'Flynn's second novel, and I say try as I might because her first, What Was Lost, was an excellent debut. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Mick Read
3.0 out of 5 stars A Birmingham story
I read this as I'd enjoyed Catherine O'Flynn's first novel What Was Lost and also because it's set in Birmingham - not many books are and it's where I live. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Reddy
4.0 out of 5 stars Lovely likeable characters
The News Where You Are is one of those books that is not bad at all, it won't blow anyone away and could be described as a gentle, inoffensive read. Read more
Published 17 months ago by J. Willis
5.0 out of 5 stars The News is Very Good...
Frank is a local television presenter in the Midlands where he is seen as a bit of a joke, because like his predecessor Phil has built his career on making rather lame knowing... Read more
Published 18 months ago by Simon Savidge Reads
4.0 out of 5 stars Engrossing novel about what defines us
Second novels are always difficult territory, especially if your first won both plaudits and prizes. Read more
Published 21 months ago by ian m farrell
5.0 out of 5 stars More News Please
I read this book and loved it. The characters are so well drawn and the atmosphere created is totally absorbing. I did laugh aloud on more than one occasion. Read more
Published 21 months ago by JackieW
5.0 out of 5 stars A gentle, unusual novel - very thought provoking
I really enjoyed this book. It was unusual in that its subject matter was not the normal stuff of novels. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Maeve
4.0 out of 5 stars Ideal holiday read
I kept on having to stop myself laughing out loud to avoid disturbing sunbathers when I read this beside a pool on holiday. Read more
Published 22 months ago by S. M. M. Donaghy
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