Keynote
"Wreckage is really a remarkable piece of work. In the foreground is a caper story; in the background, a poetically expressed, apocalyptic history of Liverpool."--Daily Telegraph
Book Title
Wreckage
Cover Image
- “Griffiths evokes a rigorous lyricism; his continuing explorations of natural and human brutality also call to mind the poetry of Ted Hughes and Seamus Heaney. Highly recommended.”—Library Journal
Body
After their botched and brutal mission to punish a one-armed man in a small Welsh village, Darren and Alastair head back to Liverpool to report to their mob boss. On the way home, Darren robs a rural postal office in Wales that serves as a bank and needlessly cracks the skull of a little old postal lady. Darren's eyes are full of fire, "We're rich Alastair! Do wharrever the fuck we wanner do now!" But Alastair sees his own nain in this elderly woman and falls victim to his conscience. Darren has finally gone too far.
As Alastair and Darren weave their way through the lowlife milieu of Liverpool, we hear many voices: the alky, the crack addict, the busman, the whores, and the gangsters, Darren's many victims. But we also hear the voices of their ancestors going back generations of unthinkable grief and poverty.
A fascinating sequel to Stump, who Irvine Welsh calls "a magnificent novel of loss and obsession by a major talent."
List Price
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About the Author
Credit: Toril Brancher
Praise
- “[An] intensely lyrical tale of ruined lives…wry humor crackling character studies, and achingly poetic ruminations on the tough ways of a world in which ‘only friction burns on your face froma the speed of the passing air because that’s how fast you fall.’”—Booklist
- “Exuberant wordplay enacts a dynamic of conflict…A tragicomic lament for the generations of rejects and hopefuls who fetched up in the erstwhile ‘muddy pool’ of Liverpool.”—The Guardian
