- Paperback: 224 pages
- Publisher: Yellow Jersey Press (11 Feb 1999)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0224051490
- ISBN-13: 978-0224051491
- Product Dimensions: 21.2 x 13.2 x 2.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
681,810 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #93 in Books > Biography > Social & Health Issues > Gambling Addiction
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
I'll get straight to the point: you probably have to be a gambler to really enjoy reading this.
The book is all about indulgence, mainly on the betting front, although sex, booze and drugs are also high up on the inebriated agenda. The other caveats (do you need any more?) are that swearing and blasphemy feature regularly.
But the most frustrating aspect of the book is that the author sometimes uses abbreviations for common words. It is not always obvious what he means, although you get the general gist.
The main character is clearly in a state of (alcoholic) decline as he relates what he does with the £12,000 given him by a publishing company (coincidentally, Yellow Free Press, the book's publishers) to fritter away on gambling. He ends up waging a "silent war" against a lot of things in his life, some of them imaginary; a state of mind induced by his almost-perpetual intoxicated condition?
Despite its obvious faults, it is a clever and sometimes humorous book that gets you thinking.
It neatly alternates between the past and present, until the twain inevitably meet, and it is an interesting read on the whole, as long as you do not mind the bad language, etc.
You (eventually) end up feeling sorry for the writer and applaud his raw honesty, although you sometimes feel intoxicated yourself reading the book, particularly the fuzzy ending.
Review
"A clever book, with a vulnerable heart inside its tough outer shell." - "Independent"
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Jonathon Rendell did not get ahead of the curve. He wrote a first book (despite it being his second) and not a third. Being offered £12k to write a book, with the sole condition that he use the money to gamble, and the book being based on the result, he alternates between a life history of events and his current existence. With the vulnerability of the child, he places the pieces in the jigsaw that lead us to the person who will ultimately conclude the tale. We develop a sympathy for the writer who has few redeeming features, through our understanding of the route he took. Introducing friends and characters who also sit well in this slightly malodorous lifestyle, the reader is encouraged to view them all with a distaste matched by the Publisher, who made the initial proposal. Many seem to have arrived at the same soiled point in life as the writer, (from much the same point of origin) and it is this journey, interwoven with the recurring quest for his first love, which enthralls the reader. Starting the book with a tenuous grip on life, the journey increases in pace and urgency as you rush to return to the conclusion, unsure as to whether his health or morals have enabled him to conclude the challenge. If you can ignore his apparent distaste for vwls. and insistence on abbrev. which is clearly designed to encourage haste and indicate a degenerating state of mind, and yet just irritates, Jonathon Rendell satisfies yet leaves you wanting more. Richly comic, bleak and suprisingly touching, I can genuinely recommend this as a fine read.
Format:Paperback
Ok, so I like this book, very much. I don't think you have to be a gambler to enjoy it. Just go along with the ride which Rendall takes you on and enjoy something pretty unique. Twelve grand to be gambled in a unique format which sends the author on a journey which takes in his life. The book absorbed me and the result at the end was, well, read it and find out for yourself.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Basically, when all is said and done, the guy is a shithot flatout ballbusting writer. Just when I had given up hope of ever having a great English writer who could stand up to the American giants of the new journalism, Wolfe and the mighty Hunter S, along comes Jonathan Rendall under the radar. The guy has written a heroic tale with such touchingly raw emotional truth that I'd never thought I'd see the likes of escape the pen of an Englishman.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
An absolutly superb book.
The book for me was both exciting and honest. Not only did Jonathan gamble with twelve grand, but with much of his life.
Gripping. Read it now.
Gripping. Read it now.
Published on 19 Nov 2001
The tale of a hero, who bet against himself, and won.
This is the heroic tale of a man who takes on the world, and recieves a severe beating! The bookies would have laid odds against him, and they'd have been right. Read more
Published on 8 Jan 2001 by Ms. J. Jacques
Only for the hardened gambler
This book is based on the premise that the author is given a twelve grand advance which he must gamble, then regardless of whether he has any winnings to live on he must write a... Read more
Published on 8 Aug 2000
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