Kissing England - Softcover

Thomas, Sean

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0006514448 ISBN 13: 9780006514442

Publisher: Flamingo, 2001

Synopsis

Three men and their rock ‘n’ roll friendship from university through to their thirties.

Alex does sex, Eddie does drugs, Tony does nine-to-five. They all want Elizabeth. She’s Tony’s wife. And Eddie’s sister.

Eddie is a privileged, drugged-up dole cheat; Alex is a lazy, cynical lad-magazine hack bored with writing articles on Why Men Like Burping; Tony has a wife he suspects of sleeping with the entire world except himself. Fifteen years ago they were just three undergraduates sharing hallucinogenic drugs in the lyrical beauty of the English countryside, now they are three semi-professionals sharing worries about love, death, politics, sport, money, children, art, religion, race and schoolgirls. Together and apart they assess their lives, their desires, their sexual exploits, their prejudices and their pride, with a candour and wit that will have the reader squirming with amusement, shock, and recognition.

About this title

Review:

The New Lad's luck has just run out. There had to be a limit to how long the unholy trinity of birds, booze and badinage could sneak past under our indulgent smiles, and in Kissing England, his second novel, Sean Thomas exposes New Lad's underbelly. And what a lager-bloated evil sight it is too.

Three schoolfriends are reaching their thirty-ish first life crisis. Alex is a consultant for the likes of Cosmo with an overactive omnipresent sex drive "always hanging around, embarrassing and crowding him, like a crap flatmate with no friends"--which explains why he spends his spare time getting his 18-year-old girlfriend to play Nude Homework. Landed Eddie is a pathetic heroin addict, scoring in the most sordid conditions. Tony is ostensibly the most settled, married to Eddie's beautiful sister Elizabeth with two adorable children, but he's racked by fears that Elizabeth is being unfaithful. Stylistically, Kissing England is powered by the friends' effortless repartee. At times relaying its characters' banal misogyny, the novel is by no means a seamlessly pleasant read, but it does provide a fluent, unflinching exploration of what it means to be a man today--and, through Alex's ponderings, the new national obsession, what it means to be an Englishman today.--Alan Stewart

Review:

'Lifts the lid on the maelstrom that is modern man ... Wry, dry, it's White City Blue meets Brideshead Revisited' Daily Mirror

'To say this is eloquently written would be an understatement; the unique essence of England, and being English, is captured perfectly. Imbued with a delicate blend of humour and irony, Kissing England evokes as many personal memories as the ones it creates.' Time Out

'Thought-provoking and moving.' London Metro

'Thomas balances unremitting explicitness with acutely observed set pieces ... it has hidden depths.' The Times

About this edition

• Publisher: Flamingo
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0006514448
• ISBN 13: 9780006514442
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 384