- Unknown Binding
- Publisher: Penguin Books (4 May 2000)
- ISBN-10: 0149027818
- ISBN-13: 978-0149027816
- Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
White City Blue
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Frankie Blue has an overwhelming desire to fit in somewhere. Up until now, his friends have kept him grounded, but, with his wedding day fast approaching, Frankie starts to question his relationship with the lads as well as his relationship with Vronky, his glamourous, sexy but suddenly nagging fiancee.
White City Blue could so easily have fallen into the makeshift-Nick Hornby-throwback trap, but is saved by the fact that it is actually quite an articulate study of a man made of little more than the suit he wears and the car he drives.
Frankie is as sharply observed as a character with little to offer can be, and he and his cronies present a darkly comic yet ultimately tragic insight into the nature of friendship between men. His relationships with Nodge, Colin and Tony seem to consist of little more than a few beers and the annual piss-up in August, yet as Frankie's time-warp of a life moves gradually forward, the real nature of their relationship is blown apart and the truth about how little they really know each other becomes apparent.
White City Blue begins with a sprinkling of familiar humour that lulls the reader into a false sense of security. By the end of the novel, the mood has darkened and the vulnerability of the hitherto cock-sure Frankie and his mates peeps through.
One for the boys, certainly--but beware: once they see there is more to this than birds and booze they may start shifting uncomfortably in their boxers.--Susan Harrison --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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First Sentence
The one and only thing you could have predicted about my meeting the woman who changed my life was that it would happen while I was trying to sell her something. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
The one and only thing you could have predicted about my meeting the woman who changed my life was that it would happen while I was trying to sell her something. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
. . . BUT, I loved reading about him and I really cared what happened to him. More than that, it wasn't so much what happened to him but who he became. That is, to my mind, largely what this book is about. Frankie is trying to become someone he can like and admire. This is why he is so desperate to hold on to his friends from childhood, who he sees as a reflection of himself, and why he is determined to marry his upmarket girlfriend even though he is not really sure if he loves her.
Frankie isn't sure if he loves anyone, he doesn't even know what love is. It was his awareness of this and his growing suspicion that this was a regrettable way to be, that made the book so moving for me. I hope it isn't a true portrayal of what goes on inside all men, but I do believe that it represents some . . . in fact, I'm pretty sure I've dated one or two!!
I laughed a lot, I spend entire tube journeys with an unsuppressible grin branded on my face. At other times I felt so sad for them all that I wanted them to be real so that I could comfort them. (What a soppy girlie thing to say!)
There is much to learn from this book, not all pleasant, and a lot to discuss with friends who read it too.
Buy it, read it, pass it around!
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Tim Lott's novel about growing up and growing apart was an extremely enjoyable read. It doesn't matter that the characters are often unpleasant - they are plausible and it is Lott's particular gift that he always manages to make his reader feel involved with what happens to them. The last few chapters had me on the edge of my seat with suspense and were also very affecting. The story is bleak at times but that only serves to heighten its emotional impact. A clever, original novel with that flair essential to the true novelist: the ability to describe thoughts and ideas in a freshly-minted way.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I have never before been tempted to write an online review. But this book deserves to be read. Downright unpleasant in places, LOL funny in others, it paints a stunningly honest picture about the transition into male adulthood. (The author is spot on in pointing out it actually takes places a lot later than we think it does!)
London, beer, mates, football - if it all sounds too LOADED, it's not. Believe me - it's a a great read.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Beautifully put together.
There are some brilliant literary devices; such as how he knows so much about peoples' houses and how he and his wife choose who to invite to the wedding. Read more
Published 3 months ago by D. Smith
I Guess That's Why They Call it the White City Blues
Lad Lit, a genre to conjure with. Unfortunately, rather than conjuring up pleasant images, the genre is a field of literacy landmines. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Sam
Unlikely friends
I'm not as enthused by this book as most other reviewers, and I would certainly not rank Lott above Hornby (well it does beat 'Being Good' but that's another story). Read more
Published on 4 Jun 2006 by Dominic Buschi
Lott better than Hornby
White City Blue is the best book I have read for years. It is real European Cup winning stuff compared to the solid Premiership performance of Nick Hornby, Jonathan Coe's first... Read more
Published on 6 Oct 2003 by S. M. M. Donaghy
Is this what blokes really talk about in the pub?
Frankie Blue's long-time friends from his schooldays seem straightforward to begin with:don't we all know a cocky , loud Tony and a sad-bloke loner like Colin ? Read more
Published on 20 Mar 2003 by phajiantoni
Painfully realistic tale of male friendship and growing up
What a superb book this truly is. It out Hornby's Nick Hornby and is even better than the brilliant Tony Parsons book 'About a Boy', in comparison to similar genre books. Read more
Published on 7 July 2002 by Thorped
Superb
I have just finished White City Blue and I was gob smacked. I thought the author's evocation of west London was stunningly accurate. Read more
Published on 26 Feb 2001
Honesty is the best policy
I have never read Loaded, and clearly quite a few of my fellow 'reviewers' have never read anything else. Read more
Published on 12 Feb 2001
worst book since sliced bread?
Who are the reviewers who recommended this incredibly irritating book? Although many of the author's observations were insightful, that did not detract from the fact that, for me... Read more
Published on 29 Jan 2001
Terrific read - more serious than "High Fidelity"
Despite popular belief, Tim Lotte's award winning debut novel "White City Blue" isn't a redundant read for those who loved Nick Hornby's hugely entertaining bestseller... Read more
Published on 16 Dec 2000
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