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The Unbearable Lightness of Being in Aberystwyth
 
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The Unbearable Lightness of Being in Aberystwyth (Paperback)

by Malcolm Pryce (Author)
3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 272 pages
  • Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC (4 April 2005)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0747577129
  • ISBN-13: 978-0747577126
  • Product Dimensions: 21 x 13.4 x 3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 323,387 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Product Description

Review

'Pryce's fictional Aberystwyth is a sustained masterpiece of dark imagination' Daily Telegraph 'Bristles with sardonic humour: Malcolm Pryce delivers a hilariously surrealist take on a Chandleresque private eye in a land of druids and whelk-stalls the off-kilter imagination that made Aberystwyth Mon Amour such fun is firing on all cylinders again.' Independent on LAST TANGO IN ABERYSTWYTH 'One of the most inventively comic crime novels of recent years.' Sunday Times on LAST TANGO IN ABERYSTWYTH


Sunday Times

‘Exuberant comic fantasy’ --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

The Unbearable Lightness of Being in Aberystwyth
60% buy the item featured on this page:
The Unbearable Lightness of Being in Aberystwyth 3.9 out of 5 stars (16)
From Aberystwyth with Love
14% buy
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Aberystwyth Mon Amour
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£4.80
Last Tango in Aberystwyth
7% buy
Last Tango in Aberystwyth 3.8 out of 5 stars (16)
£5.99

 

Customer Reviews

16 Reviews
5 star:
 (10)
4 star:
 (2)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:
 (3)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.9 out of 5 stars (16 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A High Quality Continuation Of A High Quality Series, 2 Jun 2005
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.

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33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Like Noir? / Like Pryce? / Know Aber? Well worth a read..., 4 April 2005
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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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Best of three, 8 Sep 2005
By Graeme Wright "book worm" (salford) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)      
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.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars 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 8 months ago by Alun Williams

5.0 out of 5 stars Unbearably Funny
In his third foray into the alter-Aberystwyth of his imagination, Pryce sends Louie Knight even deeper into the underbelly of Aberystwyth's dark side, into the Bed and Breakfast... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Michael Harling

1.0 out of 5 stars 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 19 months ago by Shaky Riel

5.0 out of 5 stars 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 20 months ago by Martin Davies

5.0 out of 5 stars 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

1.0 out of 5 stars 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

5.0 out of 5 stars 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

1.0 out of 5 stars 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

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb
This book is excellent if you don't know the town but it is a wonderful trip down memory lane if you do! Read more
Published on 24 Jul 2006 by Mr. S. J. Bennett

5.0 out of 5 stars Louis saves Wales again:)
I have all three of the Aberystwyth trilogy and from the main charcaters to the bit players every character has something to either endear you or make you hate them or more... Read more
Published on 3 Feb 2006 by Tony Moult

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