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Stretch, 29
 
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Stretch, 29 (Paperback)

by Damian Lanigan (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (20 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 320 pages
  • Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd (19 Jun 2000)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0006514286
  • ISBN-13: 978-0006514282
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 495,651 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Synopsis
An outstanding debut novel -- an original and engaging black comedy about an angst-ridden twenty-something Londoner whose main achievement in life seems to be that he can prove that he's a loser. 'If I had a business card there's only one thing it could say on it: Frank Stretch -- less successful than my friends' Now, you may think you're less successful than your friends, and you may well be right. The difference between you and Frank, however, is that he has a system that proves it. Everyone he knows or meets is given a 'life score' -- marks out of ten for the ten 'important' areas of life: money, love, sex, work, car etc. His best friend Tom scores an impressive 73, his flatmate Henry 59. Even his oily and more-than-likely criminal boss Bart scores a hefty 68. But Frank -- with his going-nowhere job managing one of Bart's yuppie bars, his rusting 1977 Cavalier and the fact that he hasn't pulled for months -- weighs in with a paltry 29. Frank finally decides that things must change. But with Frank's luck, there's every chance that things will get a lot worse before they get better...

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Customer Reviews

20 Reviews
5 star:
 (12)
4 star:
 (3)
3 star:
 (3)
2 star:
 (2)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.2 out of 5 stars (20 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A very original and brilliantly funny "lads" read., 14 Jul 2000
By A Customer
This really is a very good book indeed.

Damian Lanigan has created a character in Frank Stretch that approaches a Homer Simpson-esque degree of doing, saying and thinking things that make men cringe with embarrasment because they can see a bit of Frank in themselves.

I reckon I score in the mid forties myself. Could do better on the wheels, home and popularity front!

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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Best of class, 5 Aug 2002
By simon gurney - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
I agree with many other reviewers here, this would appear to fit in with the 90s lads genre, but is actually a deeper and richer experience.
Expertly written, the style carries the reader along effortlessly, never quite knowing what to expect next, Frank Stretch establishes his ability to do the worst possible thing at almost every turn, and how easy it is to relate.
The book follows an almost classic template, including the flight, which brings back memories of Allan Partridge amongst others.
Strecth almost continually projects a blind optimism and acceptance to his continued spiralling descent, and in this respect it is a more honest and entertaining book.
very highly recomended, and cant wait to read more from Lanigan.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Corrupt with wit, 31 Aug 2000
By A Customer
Frank Stretch is 29, well educated and considers himself a loser, constantly and consistently. He employs his ferral intelligence and humour to keep us apprised of the fact.

"My sort of party had grave gender imbalances and not enough booze and tended to sift down to four pasty lads arguing bitterly about D.H Lawrence.'

In this stunning first novel, Lanigan provides us with a portrait of London in the 1990's that is articulated using the power tools of rudeness and booze, and uses those to cut through and lay the human condition bare. Peculiarly, it is touching at times. This book is both universal and exact.

Intelligent, corrupt with wit, it's actually gutter funny. It cracks you up, page by page.

'Stretch,29' is as vivid and vivacious as 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels', provides a different and perhaps larger cross section of London, one that is paralyzed by self-consciousness, and arms you with a new moral imperative, to be as rude as you can be.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars 29 going on 15
I saw this books many years ago during a trip to England and have been trying to track down a copy ever since. Read more
Published 7 months ago by A. Ross

2.0 out of 5 stars Fairly formulaic
Entertaining in places, quite well written but ultimately this is a rather dissapointing novel. I think I may have read too many of these 90's blokey attempts at angst novels... Read more
Published on 7 Jun 2004 by Mr. K. M. Chesters

5.0 out of 5 stars Entertains throughout!
Having started the book with no knowledge of Damian's talents, i was captivated by the books easy reading, as it guides you through the life of 'Franky Boy'(whom, as Paul Calf... Read more
Published on 16 May 2002 by Mr. C. Howroyd

3.0 out of 5 stars A bloke in the pub recommended it...
Well, perhaps I'm getting too old (32 now) but these Turning-30-Angst type books are all getting a bit tiresome. Read more
Published on 30 May 2001 by Richard Cutler

5.0 out of 5 stars Great pub consersation fodder. Bril
I'm sure I'm not the first or last person to rank my friends and acquaintances in the same way as Frank. Read more
Published on 4 May 2001 by vdarcy

5.0 out of 5 stars Completely Engrossing - Start to Finish
Having not read a book for two years my new years resolution was to get back to reading. What a place to start! Having glanced at a review in a magazine it caught my eye. Read more
Published on 6 Mar 2001

4.0 out of 5 stars Just try to hate this
I wanted to dislike this so much: yet another lad writer, over-educated, young and with the sickeningly trite idea of marking everyone out of 100. Read more
Published on 7 Oct 2000

4.0 out of 5 stars Damian Lanigan delivers
With a vitriolic wit straddling the Atlantic, Mr. Lanigan gives us Francis Dean Stretch, Oxbridge loser and poster-boy for 90's Britain. Read more
Published on 23 Sep 2000 by mrjohnnylingo@hotmail.com

5.0 out of 5 stars Sharp and funny
At first sight, you might think this is yet another addition to the swollen ranks of lad fiction, but it rises way out of that league. Read more
Published on 13 Sep 2000

5.0 out of 5 stars What I thought
It made me laugh / It made me think / It almost made me turn to drink / the type of book you always lend / to a non returning kind of friend / But I won't lend this out, it is... Read more
Published on 1 Sep 2000

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