A cracking story and well told, with a bunch of characters who could easily have walked out of your local.
Call me shallow, but I'm a sucker for a book that starts with a bit of swearing. The opening scene, where our young narrator throws a man out of the pub, sets the tone for what is to come.
The King George is in Sutton Coldfield and, like all such pubs, it has its motley band of regulars from old boys supping their halves of mild to racist, misogynist bullies swilling pints of lager. This crew of misfits form the supporting chorus to the main story - that of our hapless barman.
Aged only twenty, he's fast becoming the one thing he never wanted to be - someone who goes to work, comes home, gets drunk, wakes up with a hangover and starts the whole sorry cycle all over again. He's feckless, self-absorbed, obsessed with his ex Gemma and always late for work, but he's also endearingly naive, shy and self-conscious.
When Amy, an attractive student, comes to work at the King George during her summer break, he senses the possibility of a new start. And as his 21st birthday approaches, he tries to work out who he wants to be and what it is that he actually wants out of life.
It's a cracking story and well told, with a bunch of characters who could easily have walked out of your local. The post-teenage navel-gazing is lightened by some truly comic set pieces, as well as some real pathos courtesy of the dramas in the drinkers' lives. The novel flits between the present and the past as we look back over his year behind the bar and learn what happened to end his relationship with Gemma.
The life of a young man revealed in a job he dislikes. His loves, his hates, but with a keen romance. The King George provides the backdrop to an ordinary life, but with an underlying sense of realism
An ordinary twenty year old gives an account of his life. Recalling the joys and hates of working in a job that does not fully satisfy him. Boring, not a bit, Shaun Hand has crafted a realistic tale for today. Characters are well drawn and each is realistic, with their ups and downs mirrored well within the narrative. Sometimes difficult to read, (use of basic language throughout!), it is well worth staying to the end. The title is a good play on words as there is sadness, or more precisely pathos, throughout.
A tale of our times that was a joy to read.