- Paperback: 384 pages
- Publisher: Arrow Books Ltd (6 Sep 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0099416689
- ISBN-13: 978-0099416685
- Product Dimensions: 19.7 x 12.9 x 2.7 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 383,773 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Until now Andy's interest in the London Underground has been relatively harmless. Rachel, his long- suffering fiancee, has long since learnt to put up with it. But on the eve of their wedding, in a fit of last-minute nerves, Andy makes a drunken bet which threatens to ruin everything. His task is to travel to every tube station on the system in a single day. As part of the challenge his passport, his honeymoon tickets and his credit cards have been hidden in various places along the way - he has just 20 hours to find them all and complete his journey or the wedding is off. Tired, hungover, amazed at his own foolishness, he sets out on his journey at 5am with Brian, a drunk he picks up in Morden. He knows he can win his bet, and at first he seems to be making good progress. But then everything starts to go wrong...A touching and perceptive debut novel about why men have obsessions and women tolerate them.
About the Author
Keith Lowe was born in 1970. After studying English at Manchester University, he spent two years travelling before starting to work in publishing. He is currently a non-fiction editor at Cassell. He lives in north London.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
First Sentence
I'm standing outside Morden tube station at five o'clock in the morning with a hangover and a plastic bag full of Kodak Fun cameras. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
I'm standing outside Morden tube station at five o'clock in the morning with a hangover and a plastic bag full of Kodak Fun cameras. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The story here is your run of the mill problem... whilst in a drunken state, a soon-to-be-married guy (Andy) bets he can visit every underground station within a day. Sure enough, his "mate" takes him up on his offer and Andy starts the day without honeymoon tickets, passport, credit cards and lots of other useful things, only able to retrieve them should he win the best - oh yeah, and for winning the bet he can also get some collectable train tickets.
Needless to say his wife-to-be (Rachel) is thoroughly unimpressed, unable to fathom why the guy she believes she wants to spend the rest of her life with, is in fact... a TRAIN SPOTTER, is proud of it, and is willing to jeopardise everything over a stupid bet.
The story takes you through the day in question, with extra little challenges along the way, a tramp for Andy's company for most the journey, derailed trains, a gentle jog around North-west London, and a train timetable which isn't running quite to schedule.
The book seems to be remarkably well researched, and although there is another thread to the story about why Andy's mate wants Andy's marriage to end in failure, it's fairly weak and doesn't add much to the story. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, which I didn't really expect to be as good as it was.
Will he make it or will he fail? Well, there's only one way to find out - read the book!
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a very enjoyable novel about a young tube-enthusiast on the eve of his wedding. He has had a bet with his "friend" that he can visit every single tube station on a single day and still make his 1 a.m. appointment at Waterloo Station where he is to take his Eurostar train with his fiancée to Paris, where they are to get married.
The problem is, his "friend" has forfeited the hero's passport, Eurostar tickets, honeymoon tickets and other things, and has placed them strategically around the London Underground, leaving clues at each place with the location of the next items, thereby making it much harder for our hero to follow a working route.
Accompanied by a tramp who has nothing better to do, our hero sets off from Morden station early in the morning, and begins to panic almost immediately.
This novel will appeal to everyone who travels frequently on the London Underground, and has been subjected to the various delays. It will be particularly appealing to tube-enthusiasts who will surely wonder whether they too would have taken the same route, given the obstacles. But don't let that put you off reading the book. It has just the right balance of humour and trainspottery to keep every Londoner amused.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This novel was much darker than I expected; not the usual 'treasure hunt' type of thing. The plot has been explained elsewhere, so I won't repeat it.
I quite enjoyed it, but I did find it vaguely depressing at times! It was interesting; it's useful to have the 'Way Out Tube Map' beside you to appreciate what the main protagonist and his companion are going through.
What did irritate me was that it wasn't written in English, but in American. This edition was printed in the USA, so perhaps it was a translation, although I doubt it. It's the one with white spots on the cover, if that helps; softcover. Lots of American spellings and word usage; this for a book written in the 'first person' where the narrator is English.
Slightly imperfectly researched; I'm not a Tube geek but I noticed a couple of things. You don't generally go up to the main line station when changing from the Victoria line to the Circle Line at Victoria; this is a minor point but as it happens it's the station I know best. And when you arrive at Fenchurch Street on the overground, you don't usually run through City streets to get to Tower Hill tube. Never mind!
All in all, a good read.
I quite enjoyed it, but I did find it vaguely depressing at times! It was interesting; it's useful to have the 'Way Out Tube Map' beside you to appreciate what the main protagonist and his companion are going through.
What did irritate me was that it wasn't written in English, but in American. This edition was printed in the USA, so perhaps it was a translation, although I doubt it. It's the one with white spots on the cover, if that helps; softcover. Lots of American spellings and word usage; this for a book written in the 'first person' where the narrator is English.
Slightly imperfectly researched; I'm not a Tube geek but I noticed a couple of things. You don't generally go up to the main line station when changing from the Victoria line to the Circle Line at Victoria; this is a minor point but as it happens it's the station I know best. And when you arrive at Fenchurch Street on the overground, you don't usually run through City streets to get to Tower Hill tube. Never mind!
All in all, a good read.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Surprise Hit
I was a bit dubious when I picked this up - whether a book about an underground trip could really be that interesting, but after a slightly slow start this had me gripped. Read more
Published 5 months ago by MarkW
Tunnel Vision
One of the recommended titles of the Booktrust's Get London Reading campaign, the story is of a guy who on the eve of his wedding has a bet to travel to every station on the London... Read more
Published on 28 Dec 2008 by Allen Tsui
An intresting and completely different read.
I really enjoyed this book it was very different from anything else that I have read. I found the plot hilarious and couldn't wait to see how it all ended up. Read more
Published on 4 Mar 2003 by "chelleblock"
Down the tube
The fascinating premise aside, 'Tunnel Vision' has four or five two-dimensional characters which are not as clever, interesting or as rounded as Lowe would have us believe. Read more
Published on 21 Feb 2002 by bloodylummox@hotmail.com
Ludicrous but fun
This is a very light, entertaining novel with a few major faults. The thought of anyone actually going through every single station on the network in one day is almost too mind... Read more
Published on 3 Jan 2002 by Charles
Very funny, very pacy read
I am genuinely surprised by the reviewer here who didn't like Tunnel Vision. There are one or two bits where the author gets a bit too involved in tube trivia, but the main... Read more
Published on 16 Nov 2001
Nice idea, poor characterisation, weak plotting
Despite the potentially dramatic concept, I felt that it had not been done justice. The protaganist is a hard person to sympathise with, since he is in a situation of his own... Read more
Published on 19 Oct 2001
A top read for all tube-travellers
This is a great read - ideal for whiling away those long hours spent on the Northern Line every day. Read more
Published on 1 Oct 2001
Original idea and very funny.
For a first book this is promising. The presentation has immediate involvement with the reader. Every line needs to be read in order to follow the story which is something one... Read more
Published on 11 Sep 2001 by v.lowe@talk21.com
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
