See buying choices for this item to see if it's one of the millions that are eligible for Amazon Prime.

Ready to Buy?
fairandfast1
Price: £1.00
In stock
15 used & new from £0.96
See All Buying Options
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
Sick Notes
 
 
Share your own customer images
Publisher: learn how customers can search inside this book.

Sick Notes (Paperback)

by Gwendoline Riley (Author)
3.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)

Available from these sellers.


4 new from £1.00 11 used from £0.96

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Cold Water

Cold Water

by Gwendoline Riley
3.5 out of 5 stars (8)  £5.99
Joshua Spassky

Joshua Spassky

by Gwendoline Riley
3.0 out of 5 stars (6)  £5.99
Swimmer

Swimmer

by Bill Broady
4.8 out of 5 stars (9)  £5.49
Tuesday Nights and Wednesday Mornings: A Novella and Stories

Tuesday Nights and Wednesday Mornings: A Novella and Stories

by Gwendoline Riley
Tender is the Night (Penguin Popular Classics)

Tender is the Night (Penguin Popular Classics)

by F Scott Fitzgerald
4.2 out of 5 stars (32)  £2.25
› Explore similar items

Product details

  • Paperback: 220 pages
  • Publisher: Jonathan Cape Ltd (4 Mar 2004)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0224064290
  • ISBN-13: 978-0224064293
  • Product Dimensions: 21.2 x 13.4 x 1.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 519,992 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Product Description

Review
"Riley writes with shivering urgency, in goosebumps."
--"Guardian"

Product Description
Returning to Manchester, her broken home, Esther is on the lookout for love. But love, it seems, is not looking out for her. Back in the flat she shares with her best friend, Donna, surrounded by empty gin bottles, with her past life taped up in stacked cardboard boxes, she writes DON'T GO OUT on her hand in biro, and seems to have closed the door on the world. Then Newton appears, and the world opens. A singer from Vermont, Newton has bad skin, a straggly beard and a drinker's face - but a fantastic smile. Newton changes everything. But for how long? Following on from her highly praised first novel, Gwendoline Riley has written a powerful and moving study of urban disaffection, female friendship and the longing for love and redemption. Stylish, original and beautifully written, Sick Notes reminds us of the awkwardness, the urgency of romance - and what it feels like to be young.

See all Product Description

Suggested Tags from Similar Products

 (What's this?)
Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
Check a corresponding box or enter your own tags in the field below
(7)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Sick Notes
83% buy the item featured on this page:
Sick Notes 3.1 out of 5 stars (7)
Cold Water
17% buy
Cold Water 3.5 out of 5 stars (8)
£5.99
Explore similar items
 

Customer Reviews

7 Reviews
5 star:
 (1)
4 star:
 (3)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:
 (2)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.1 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful, true and tragic, 18 May 2006
By N. Gower-Jones "northern_jonesy" (Manchester, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Sick Notes (Paperback)
There are few books which really touch me in the way that this one does. It is gorgeous and painful, wonderful and tragic all in the same breath. Most importantly and skillfully of all, it captures that once-in-a-lifetime moment that we all experience - the moment where we should stop, act, grab hold of the things that are precious to us and hold onto them with religious fervour, but somehow we don't. We keep walking on, abandoning the beauty in front of our face, in the vain hope that there is something better round the corner.

At the heart of this novel lies one question. What if this moment, the one that is happening here, now, is the only chance I'll get? What if this is the only time I might ever find the one person who can make me happy? Should I gamble everything on this moment? What if I'm wrong? Worse still, if this is the moment - if this is "the one", what happens if I do nothing? Will I have lost the only chance I EVER had to be happy?

This book makes me feel 19 years old again, makes me cry and yearn and wish for salvation all at once. I haven't read anything as touching or as true in a long long time.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
6 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars sick?maybe, 11 Dec 2004
i think this was a lovely detailed description of people and place but mostly the main character whose realy disfunctional.she doesn't do a good job of coping with life but while she's floating about writing notes on her arm with her biro you realy warm to her and want to wrap her up and look after her.
i haven't read cold water yet so i don't know if i'd feel different if i'd read that first.
you realy get a feeling your reading about the author in this book.but personaly i like the sound of her,it made me want to meet her.so i did.well kindof.i went to an event she did in london with two other authors(helen walsh and clare sudbury(sp?))and she mumbled into her book and she was just like you'd think the character would be.i didn't talk to her though coz she didn't look like she wanted people to talk to her.
if you liked this book you'll probably like the books by the other two authors:brass by helen walsh and the dying of delight by clare sudbury(sp?)
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
6 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars "I don't want a lover, I just want to be sick", 10 Mar 2004
By H. L. Barrell "helendansette" (Birmingham, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I loved 'Cold Water' - ok, most people did. And so I should be glad that 'Sick Notes' is pretty much 'Cold Water 2' or 'Return to the Cold Water'. I am, oh, I am... but...

There's a lingering sensation whilst reading this novel(la) that I'm reading Riley's diary. It doesn't seem all that fictional. Esther used to work in a bar, and now she's had her first novel published... I think you know what I'm talking about. Whilst people smile wryly at any novelist's first work being autobiographical, one starts to panic when the second one is as well.

But I love the way Riley spins her images out at us like someone throwing quoits. She is amazing at crystalising a moment, or a fleeting picture, in an economy of words.

Unlike 'Cold Water', there seems to be more of a plot in 'Sick Notes'... which is always good (yet the timbre of Riley's writing is so magical that I got to the end of 'Cold Water' before realising that... errr... there wasn't much in the way of a plot). It was intriguing, too, to be taken into Esther's childhood, which helps to explain, perhaps, why she finds it so difficult to love. She cannot believe in Newton's love, which is such a fleeting joy... she just wants to be sick.

She wanders the city, a Mancunian flaneuse, the concrete and the clatter of the of the pavement, and the puddles round her feet all feed into the texture of the prose.

(Intriguing, however, is the news that in June we will have 'Tuesday Nights & Wednesday Mornings: A Novella & Stories' by Riley, which is apparently a novella called 'TN&WM' and some short stories. But how very odd - the description of the novella is identical to 'Sick Notes'! Is this the American version, and our cousins over the pond get some short stories flung in as well? Lucky them! Oh, help me someone, I need advice!)

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Weightless and faceless
A narrator is struggling to come to terms with... what? Life...? Love...? I'm left uncertain. Nothing happens, nothing is resolved, nothing is changed, gained, learned and so I... Read more
Published 5 months ago by A. Furse

1.0 out of 5 stars Oh dear me
This is pretentious drivel. I'm really angry that I spent money but, more importantly, time on something with so little heart. No story, no craft, no soul. Read more
Published on 12 Nov 2004

4.0 out of 5 stars Maybe even five stars..
Contrary to general belief, I actually found Sick Notes much better reading than Cold Water. I felt that Cold Water was at times a little affected, and as somebody who resides in... Read more
Published on 10 Jul 2004

3.0 out of 5 stars Duvet reading
Essentially Sick Notes is a companion piece to Riley's debut Cold Water, in that the main characters, scenarios and settings are so similar. Read more
Published on 25 Mar 2004 by A. Slatcher

Only search this product's reviews


Customer Discussions

 Beta (What's this?)
This product's forum (0 discussions)
  Discussion Replies Latest Post
  No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
  [Cancel]


Active discussions in related forums
   
Related forums

Listmania!

Create a Listmania! list

Look for similar items by category

Feedback

The Body Shop

The Body Shop - Vitamin C Skin Boost
Protect and boost your glow with The Body Shop Vitamin C Skin Boost.

›Shop The Body Shop

  

More From Gwendoline Riley

Cold Water

Cold Water by Gwendoline Riley

Carmel McKisco is wry, volatile and full of longing: a twenty-year-old... Read more
£7.99 £5.99

 

Boys Smell

Lynx Africa Body Spray and After Shave Gift set
But we make sure they smell good...

›Discover male grooming at Amazon.co.uk

  

Treat Someone

Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificates--available in any amount from £5 to £500 With an Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificate, you can get them what they want (even if you don't know what that is).

›Learn more about Gift Certificates

  
Ad

Where's My Stuff?

Delivery and Returns

Need Help?

Your Recent History

  (What's this?)
You have no recently viewed items or searches.

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.

Look to the right column to find helpful suggestions for your shopping session.
Continue Shopping: Top Sellers
The Girl Who Played with Fire
The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
4.5 out of 5 stars (72)£3.86
 Breaking Dawn (Twilight Saga)
Breaking Dawn (Twilight Saga) by Stephenie Meyer
4.1 out of 5 stars (460)£6.49
 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
4.1 out of 5 stars (162)£3.99
 The Host
The Host by Stephenie Meyer
4.2 out of 5 stars (80)£3.86

amazon.co.uk Amazon Home
International Sites:  United States  |  Germany  |  France  |  Japan  |  Canada  |  China
Business Programs: Sell on Amazon  |  Fulfilment by Amazon  |  Join Associates  |  Join Advantage
Customer Service  |  Help  |  View Basket  |  Your Account
About Amazon.co.uk  |  Careers at Amazon
Conditions of Use & Sale |  Privacy Notice  © 1996-2009, Amazon.com, Inc. and its affiliates