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Product Description
Review
`Very funny ... Rupert Thomson is such an attentive writer, and the quality of his attention brings the smallest incidents to life' --Hilary Mantel
`A completely brilliant book. Spikily funny, very dark and beautifully constructed'
--Rob Macfarlane
`Writing so desperately honest, so full of warmth and emotional daring, that you can't help but be pulled along' --Julie Myerson, Observer
'A Masterpiece, in its own modest way ... humanely funny, wryly anarchic, achingly poignant' --Time Out
`Darkly comic, disturbing, strange and ultimately humane, a memoir that discovers love and human kindness in the most unexpected places' --Sunday Telegraph
'Thomson tells his story brilliantly. His language is clear, his dialogue flawless ... a beautifully made literary artifact'
--Irish Times
`A completely brilliant book. Spikily funny, very dark and beautifully constructed'
--Rob Macfarlane
`Writing so desperately honest, so full of warmth and emotional daring, that you can't help but be pulled along' --Julie Myerson, Observer
'A Masterpiece, in its own modest way ... humanely funny, wryly anarchic, achingly poignant' --Time Out
`Darkly comic, disturbing, strange and ultimately humane, a memoir that discovers love and human kindness in the most unexpected places' --Sunday Telegraph
'Thomson tells his story brilliantly. His language is clear, his dialogue flawless ... a beautifully made literary artifact'
--Irish Times
Product Description
In his first venture into non-fiction, the celebrated novelist Rupert Thomson has produced one of the most extraordinary and unforgettable memoirs of recent years. On a warm, sunny day in July 1964, Thomson returned home from school to discover that his mother had died suddenly while playing tennis. Twenty years later, Thomson and his brothers get word that their father, who suffered chronic lung damage during the war, has died alone in hospital. In an attempt to come to terms both with their own loss and with their parents' legacies, the three brothers move back into their father's house. The time they spend in this decadent, anarchic commune leads to a rift between Thomson and his youngest brother, a rift that will not be addressed for more than two decades. "This Party's Got to Stop" works Thomson's memories into a powerful mosaic that reveals the fragility of family life in graphic and often heartbreaking detail. It is both a love letter to a lost brother and a chronicle of the murderousness and longing that can characterize blood relationships.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is one of the best books I have read in a long time. It's a beautifully written, darkly comic, and heartbreaking memoir about loss and the unexpected responses we can have to grief. You don't know if you're going to laugh or cry from one page to the next. It's up there with the best literary memoirs, Martin Amis' Experience and Lorna Sage's Bad Blood. I was unable to put it down.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Having read the majority of Rupert Thomson superb output I have to say that This Party's Got To Stop is without doubt my favorite. I finished it a few weeks ago and cannot stop thinking about the issues that he dealt with. I'm reminded of conversations overheard, feelings provoked and depths of sadness and mountains of joy. Ruperts details for the things that are so often forgotten are so enlightening. I didn't have brothers, my parents were very different to Ruperts and yet those feelings of growing up in a house with huge events taking over was very powerful and so often put out of ones mind. Rupert brought me back and made me face up to those situations and upheavals. I thank him for giving me the chance to look at his past as well as my own. He deserves all the acolades and more.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Rupert Thomson's memoir depicts a deeply moving story of grief. Tiny details enlivened this harrowing account of lives changed by the loss of parents in childhood and early adulthood. Situations that most of us could not imagine are depicted with such clarity that one is moved by the nature of human behaviour in its most elemental form. Thomson's previous books have always had a dark undercurrent and this memoir sheds some light on how his life has shaped his writing. The book gives a far reaching insight into how misunderstanding of human behaviour shape relationships and almost entire lives. Thomson, with this book has demonstrated that he is one of our finest writers. I would recommend this book to anyone one who is searching for a deeper understanding of human reaction to death and family relationships. An outstanding book in many ways.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
This Party's Got to Stop
The book jumps around a lot over a number of decades, and at times my inability to focus on specific details (i.e. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Kirsty at Book - Love - Bug
A beautifully written and touching memoir
Rupert Thomson writes movingly about his life and his family, centred around the death of his father in the 1980s when he and his two brothers return to their hometown of... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Benjamin
Not as much of a party extravaganza as expected
If you think this is going to be a full on expose of someone's life turning pants due to excess, look elsewhere. A moderate and congenial party following the death of a parent.
Published 12 months ago by Newcastle 73
Memoir of a Very Ordinary Bloke
I know from reading all the rave reviews of Rupert Thomson's fans that i'm going to give offence, but i do feel that a little balance-redressing is in order. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Bookworm
The night seems to stagger. It's made from dark blocks that don't...
A funny and touching memoir of a strange period of Rupert Thomson's life when his father died and he and his two brothers inherited the house they had lived in as children. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Eileen Shaw
Powerful and moving.
I've read all of Rupert Thomson's books. This is a great read and it's powerful and moving stuff. After reading this, I can understand a lot more where his themes and ideas for... Read more
Published on 3 Jun 2010 by T. Williams
That fragile gift bestowed for an uncertain time
The author says that in these 8 words Imre Kertesz captured what it was like to grow up in his family. Read more
Published on 6 May 2010 by Singapore Relic
Powerful, perceptive and moving . . .
This is the most compelling book I've read in a while. Rather like the author, that compulsion comes from the need to get answers to the question "Why?". Read more
Published on 1 May 2010 by Roger Risborough
So this is where he gets it from....
Anyone who is at all familiar with Rupert Thomson's writing knows that he deals with dark and difficult themes, and things are often not as they seem. Read more
Published on 26 April 2010 by MSS
moving
An account written in such a brilliant, detailed manner, describing the kind of experiences that most of us have hidden in some dark and mostly forgotten corner of our minds, can... Read more
Published on 25 April 2010 by Mariette S. Scoop
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