The Unbearable Lightness of Being in Aberystwyth
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Product Description
Guardian
‘Marvellously imaginative … You’ll weep and laugh, on the same page. Wonderful’
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
'Malcolm Pryce is the king of Welsh noir he dishes up a dastardly mix of gothic comedy where Edgar Allen Poe meets Phoenix Nights in a flurry of blood-stained absurdity' Sunday Telegraph 'Marvellously imaginative You'll weep and laugh, on the same page. Wonderful' Guardian 'Exuberant comic fantasy The plots entangle with spontaneous combustion, poisoned ice-creams, the cloning of Jesus, buried skulls, sexy nuns, false names and lots of gunfire' Sunday Times 'Packed with witty and original writing things are blacker than ever, involving fast and furious plotting with many gruesome twists the quality of writing is to be relished on every page' Scotland on Sunday
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
23 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
As the third book in this series, I have to say that I feel that this is the best. I know that this is out of line with many readers who feel that the same joke is being stretched too far, but my reasons are as follows;
1) I do not believe that the same joke is being stretched at all. Clearly the first novel had the most out and out laughs, as the comedy of setting noir style writing in Aberystwyth was being established, and so the comedic potential for the town itself was exploited to the full. In the second book (Tango) and now this, that potential has been exploited and the reader is invited to accept it as an alternative reality and see the town as a character in its own right, much the same as LA became a valid character in the Chandler novels.
2) The character development is excellent, with relationships deepening, and histories being revealed. Yes, you should read the books in order to make sense of it all, but that simply suggests a connected series rather than a fundemental flaw. I personally feel that the books have become less out and out funny, but more black in their humour, and more personal in their storytelling.
The two reasons above are for for me strong points, and I enjoy the fact that the author treats his readership as adults who can remember small details from previous books and builds on them. The books are very cohesive and as the laughs become blacker the series becomes more readable for me. It could be compared to something like 'The League Of Gentlemen' where once the settings themselves have been mined for comedy, the characters take over and the viewer becomes more involved.
It has to be said that the plotlines of the books are always entertaining, and in this book, I thought, hightly original. I thought the monkey plotline was genius.
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The Unbearable Lightness of Being in Aberystwyth continues the barely credible and achingly satirical adventures of Louis Knight, Aberystwyth's only Private Detective. Fans of Pryce's previous two Aberystwyth books will need no further motive to read this but for any humour-loving readers in search of something new then they could do a lot worse than become embroiled in this seedy, steamy underworld of Welsh seaside life.
Mr Pryce has developed the knack of writing like a homespun Raymond Chandler while concocting a cast of characters straight out of League of Gentlemen and a plot which marries missing monkeys, a shady orphanage (or waifery), a 140 year old murder and sinister men waiting at Shrewsbury railway station. The result is a book with genuine laugh-out-loud potential and a mischievous, yarn spinning quality which lasts right through to the final page.
JK Rowling famously began her writing career in coffee bars - Malcolm Pryce began his in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Somewhere out there is the open eyed entrepreneur who is going to spot the Rowling potential in Malcolm Pryce and put Aberystwyth firmly on the cinematic map where it belongs - on the west Welsh coast about half way down.
Read this before Mr Pryce achieves cult status and his first editions become collectors items.
Mr Pryce has developed the knack of writing like a homespun Raymond Chandler while concocting a cast of characters straight out of League of Gentlemen and a plot which marries missing monkeys, a shady orphanage (or waifery), a 140 year old murder and sinister men waiting at Shrewsbury railway station. The result is a book with genuine laugh-out-loud potential and a mischievous, yarn spinning quality which lasts right through to the final page.
JK Rowling famously began her writing career in coffee bars - Malcolm Pryce began his in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Somewhere out there is the open eyed entrepreneur who is going to spot the Rowling potential in Malcolm Pryce and put Aberystwyth firmly on the cinematic map where it belongs - on the west Welsh coast about half way down.
Read this before Mr Pryce achieves cult status and his first editions become collectors items.
34 of 35 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
OK, this book might not make much sense unless you've read 'Aberystwyth Mon Amour' and, ideally, 'Last Tango in Aberystwyth' as well. I'd recommend those first, because, in my view, 'Aberystywth Mon Amour' is the best of the three, and you get the backstory which has brought Louie Knight to this new adventure.
That said, this book is as good as 'Last Tango,' although I do wonder just how far Pryce can stretch his parallel-Aber, and there are times in the narrative where I wondered if he might not have tried to stretch it too far. Plot-wise, there's a few loose ends, and I read the ending twice in a bid to get some satisfaction out of it, which I still haven't found.
That's about as far as I can criticise the book, however. From now on it's praise all the way.
I'm not going to give away the plot, but the usual suspects are back, and Louie Knight gets to wise-crack his way through another surreal crime in Pryce's Aber that strange mix of the real thing and a truely corrupt & Chandleresque noir city, complete with police brutality, the distant world of Shrewsbury gaol and a whelk stall.
This is a novel which is funny, gritty and gripping all at once, and, if you enjoyed the previous two novels, you'll enjoy this one. If you're new to Pryce, but like noir or hard-boiled detective stories in general, then buy this by all means, and I'm pretty certain you'll love it, but you might want the background from Pryce's other books first.
In short? Required reading for old fans, and fan-making reading for newcomers.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Made me smile
I enjoyed this book, it was a little surreal, but all the more enjoyable for that. A book that makes you smile while reading it is always worth the effort!
Published 9 months ago by Paulette
Brilliant Written Comedy
This series of books cannot be praised too highly reminds one of Spike Milligan at his best brilliantly conceived and written by an author at the very height of his powers. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Lewis Rudge
The Outstanding World of Aberystwyth
This is the third of the series that I have read and I , also, think it is the best. All the other reviews are at least a year old and I do not have much to add.... Read more
Published 21 months ago by Richard Gollin
Plenty of monkey business
Although my local bookshops usually have the other three volumes of the Aberystwyth series in stock, they don't seem to like this one, so I ended up buying it from Amazon, and... Read more
Published on 11 Mar 2009 by Alun Williams
Too dark to be fun
The Unbearable lightness of being in Aberystwyth is a parody of Raymond Chandler mysteries. The twist is that it's set in Wales. Read more
Published on 3 April 2008 by Shaky Riel
Writing if the highest quality
I was delighted by something on almost every page of this book. The writing is of the highest quality. Read more
Published on 15 Mar 2008 by Martin Davies
Surreal detective adventure in Aberystwyth
Take Mike Hammer from a Mickey Spilline book and put him in a welsh seaside resort in the darkness of the off season. Read more
Published on 30 Sep 2007 by Steve Homer
Depressing
I loved the first book, and the second was still on the light side of noir, but this was too grim.
Published on 2 Jun 2007 by Newcastle Mum
The pinnacle of the series
This is a triumph, having read the Milan Kundera rip-off (fancy just dropping the name Aberystwyth and hoping nobody would notice) I have to say that Malcolm Pryce has managed to... Read more
Published on 5 Feb 2007 by A. J. Wylde
Abysmal
The only saving grace is this book is only ~300 pages long. That said it feels like 3000. The plot is a mess, the characters vary from bizzare to unconvincing, and the storyline... Read more
Published on 2 Feb 2007 by Wibblah
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