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Amazon.co.uk Review
However, it is the quality of the writing and the affecting, deeply personal narrative that should be stressed, and is so often forgotten, when discussing Johnson's most moving work. Jonathan Coe's informative introduction explains the origins of this (semi-)autobiographical work and situates it as a forerunner to hugely successful books by the likes of Ruth Picardie and John Diamond. Certainly this conveys what an emotionally engaged book The Unfortunates is, and is a useful rejoinder to the barely veiled negativism of the charge of being avant-garde, but it doesn't place Johnson alongside the peers with whom he should be judged. Johnson is a writer in the league of Beckett and William S Burroughs, an experimentalist but one whose humanity, and sheer skill, shine through. The Unfortunates, the book he wrote as a response to his friend Tony Tillinghast's death, on the back of a promise to him to "get it all down, mate," is a wonderfully honest book about friendship and loss. That it comes in a box should not blind us to the fact that as a writer Johnson was peerless and as a novel this is truly first-rate. --Mark Thwaite
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent. Human. Honest,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Unfortunates (Paperback)
This is a right odd book - it comes in a box and consists of 27 loose leaf sections which, apart from the first and last sections, the reader is encouraged to read in a random order. The story begins when the narrator steps off the train in an unidentified East Midlands City on his way to an assignment to report upon the City V. United match. He begins to recognise the city and, upon searching his memory, reminisces about how his old friend Tony had once lived here. What follows (in an entirely random order) is a heart-rending tale about his friend's battle against cancer. The narrator's respect for Tony and his battle is apparent thoughout the book, yet his honesty about his own selfishness in his attitude to Tony's slowly fading life is, at times horrifying - largely because we can probably see a part of ourselves in the character traits he displays. This is one of my favorite books partly because of the way it portrays a city that I have known and loved, but primarily because it is so human
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A marvellous experimental novel about time & loss,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Unfortunates (Paperback)
So, is this timely reprint produced in a box of loose sections like the original? I hope so. This is Johnson's infamous 'random' novel; the first and last sections are specified, the other twenty-odd can be read in any order. But, more than just an experiment for the sake of it, this is a very fine novel indeed, the form arising organically from the subject matter. Johnson's subject is bereavement, time and loss. The narrator, a football reporter, is sent to the city where his friend once lived. His friend is now dead from cancer. The book's form echoes the random workings of memory, as, through interior monologue, a story of regret and immense sadness is slowly unpeeled. Perhaps the random form is also an attempt to defy the finality and linearity of time? Ironically, at the end of this day of painful recollections, the (public) result is a succinct report of a very dull football match. Johnson's ear for language is spot on as ever. Highly evocative, the book is never sentimental, yet always poignant. And somehow it also manages to avoid being depressing. This is my second favourite novel of all time (after Alasdair Gray's 'Lanark') - highly recommended. Mike Alexander, Brighton
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A handsome example of an experimental novel that works,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Unfortunates (Paperback)
Books which monkey around with the reader's affections and attention - by all sorts of people, from Sterne to Italo Calvino - infuriate and inspire in equal measures. Johnson's novel is an example of a book of this type that actually delivers an emotional punch. What's more, the interactive format (which allows the reader to shuffle all sections save the first and last into an order of his or her choosing) says something genuinely profound about the way our minds work: it's strange how we construct linear story even when the elements of story are crazily jumbled. Johnson's is a brilliant yet also deeply human novel, and it would be a fitting tribute to this fine but neglected writer if Picador were to enhance the initiative they've taken in reissuing the title in harback by issuing a paperback (or should that be "paper bag"?) version.
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