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Deadkidsongs (Paperback)

by Toby Litt (Author) "When we looked upwards we saw beneath us a sky of rosebushes, gravel paths, equipment and thick, healthy, but slightly too-dry grass ..." (more)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 464 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin; New edition edition (4 Oct 2001)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0140285784
  • ISBN-13: 978-0140285789
  • Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 12.8 x 3.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 202,352 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #3 in  Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > L > Litt, Toby

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

With his novels Corpsing and Beatniks, young Brit Lit gunslinger Toby Litt showed he had mastered the essentials of the trendy bestseller. With this poignant, odd, confusing, moving, heartfelt, troubling book he's tried to do an even trickier thing: extend his range and readership upmarket.

The tenor of deadkidsongs is Just William meets Lord of the Flies with a nod to the latter-day works of Nick Hornby, which gives you some idea of what a different-but interesting-book it is. The story concerns four pre-pubescent boys, all members of a gang called Gang, growing up in darkest Devon in the 70s. Against a background of Cold War rumours and Last War memories they play their conkers and cowboys an' injuns, their war and show-us-yer-willy games. Then their clumsy and wistfully innocent Arcadia is overturned when one of them dies; from there the narrative unravels until the reader is not sure who is telling what to whom, nor quite how reliable the teller might be.

To recapture a lost childhood is ambitious enough; Litt's aim is to do that and then some: he wants to say profound things about masculinity, nostalgia, violence and nationhood. Whether he succeeds or not is moot; anyone sincerely interested in the modern British novel will want to read this to decide for themselves. --Sean Thomas --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.



Review

'Toby Litt has taken us back into the secret and brutal lair of childhood... wickedly, wittily scary' Observer
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When we looked upwards we saw beneath us a sky of rosebushes, gravel paths, equipment and thick, healthy, but slightly too-dry grass. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews

28 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.0 out of 5 stars (28 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Lord of The Flies meets The Wasp Factory, 30 Oct 2001
Boys games of soldiers turn nasty, very nasty, after the death of one of Gang. Told in the voices of the 4 members, the narrative of Deadkidsongs rushes you through the retaliation taken out on the adults who Gang blame for the death. I had to read parts of the meningitis chapter twice just to take in the shock of what was happening to one of the story's 4 characters. Reading this on the train quite literally left me short of breath and palpatating! Toby Litt posesses an imagination that most of us can only race to keep us with. Absolutely brilliant stuff and the best, and most disturbing, read I've had in years. The end does make sense if you take time to figure it out...
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Until the end, 12 Aug 2004
I thought this book was completely gripping when I read it just after it came out. However looking over my bookcase recently I remembered that at the time I had found it deeply confusing towards the end and endeavoured to read it again assuming that may be the fact I was 17 first time round had been the source of my confusion! However, though like the first time I thought the main body of the text beautifully captured the violence and cruelty inherent in friendships at that age, I still think that Litt lets himself down by the somewhat bizarre conclusion, which I think will more annoy me for months than fascinate, all in all though a good book, for those who aren't easily annoyed!
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars A book for those who like stories on the macabre side . . ., 28 Mar 2004
By kimbofo (London, UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)   
This is a dark, macabre novel about a group of four boys, known as Gang, growing up in rural England during the 1970s. The boys plot the downfall of an elderly couple in their village, blaming them for the death of one of the gang members. As a revenge tale it is both strangely fascinating but deeply appalling. It reveals a world in which childhood allegiances can mean the difference between life and death, where petty grievances are elevated to all-consuming violence and innocence is virtually nonexistent. Litt, through clever and imaginative use of language and narrative, has captured perfectly the bonds between children and their warped sense of justice. deadkidsongs is a deeply disturbing yet totally compelling read.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Should a novel be a brain-teaser?
If we are looking for easy entertainment, we do not necessarily want to be constantly puzzled by such questions as who exactly is telling us the story. Read more
Published 22 months ago by David

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent page turner.
Rather like Lord of the Rings but set in 1970s suburban rural England, this is a very entertaining and thought-provoking read. Read more
Published on 1 Sep 2007 by Lovetoread

3.0 out of 5 stars Until the end
I thought this book was completely gripping when I read it just after it came out. However looking over my bookcase recently I remembered that at the time I had found it deeply... Read more
Published on 12 Aug 2004 by pumpkint

5.0 out of 5 stars A mystery with no showdown
I could summarise what this book's all about with two statements:

(i) it's a tale of childhood, evoking memories of younger days when life was so much simpler and us kids were... Read more

Published on 10 Aug 2004 by dangermash

4.0 out of 5 stars Bad Boys
Deadkidsongs is a very compelling book, transposing from the adventures of normal small town gang of young boys to a dark and frantic ending, almost... Read more
Published on 18 April 2004 by simon gurney

4.0 out of 5 stars Powerful and unsettling
The reader is warned in the preamble that two of the chief protagonists will be dead by the conclusion, but this in no way spoils the tension in Litt's minor masterpiece. Read more
Published on 19 Mar 2004 by Cartimand

5.0 out of 5 stars Creepy...confusing...GENIUS!
I picked this book up in my school library and hardly put it down over the next week that I spent reading it. Read more
Published on 22 Jul 2003 by Jason Edwards

5.0 out of 5 stars Deadkidsongs
I strongly recommend this book to anyone who remembers 'playing out' with your mates when younger. It is adventurous reading material, thirilling and exciting! Read more
Published on 10 Jun 2003 by maryam_uk

4.0 out of 5 stars A clever and disturbing novel
The underlying plot of 'deadkidsongs' is relatively straightforward: four boys absorbed in a fantasy world of heroic battles with invading Russians, until one dies of meningitis,... Read more
Published on 28 May 2003

5.0 out of 5 stars This book does NOT contain typos...
...But it does contain discrepancies.

That, I believe, is the point.

This is a very clever book indeed. Read more

Published on 21 Oct 2002

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