Eight Minutes Idle - Softcover

Thorne, Matt

3.17

83 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0340738820 ISBN 13: 9780340738825

Publisher: Sceptre, 1999

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When his father gets knocked over in a car accident, Dan is forced to economise, give up the bedsit the two of them share and secretly move into the call centre where he works. He takes with him a Ginger Tom called John and the telephone numbers of seven women. Soon, the boundaries between Dan's life and work dissolve completely, and, if weren't for the secrecy, his twenty-four hour residency at the call centre would mark him out as the perfect employee.

EIGHT MINUTES IDLE focuses on the flip side of office existence, examining the strange things that can happen to the human brain after one too many hours in front of a terminal. It also explains how to turn your workplace into a dating agency, why it's a bad idea to sleep with your boss and exactly what's going on at the other end of the phone while you're left waiting on hold.

Bold, sexy and constantly inventive, EIGHT MINUTES IDLE is an addictive, urbane treat.

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Review:

"This young writer's first novel [ TOURIST ] is a seaside snap of rootless life, his 'Bit More Than Zero': amusing, poignant, frequently sexy and remarkably sussed" THE OBSERVER

The most entertaining study in boredom and emptiness I have ever read. Thorne gives us a convincing vision.. and is perceptive observer of his characters' emotional lives (Andrew Biswell, THE DAILY TELEGRAPH on TOURIST)

"In an accomplished first novel...occupying an emotion no-man's land between RITA, SUE & BOB TOO and WISH YOU WERE HERE, Thorne describes sex, boredom and a lifetime of morning-afters in a British seaside town" THE INDEPENDENT

A memorable debut (Boyd Tonkin in THE INDEPENDENT on TOURIST)

Tells you everything you need to know about English seaside towns. Damn alien and exotic (Nicholas Blincoe in THE OBSERVER on TOURIST)

"Warped, sordid fun!" TIME OUT

"His book captures perfectly the bleak spirit of English seaside towns, and its troubled hedonistic heroine is a memorable creation"

ANDREW BISWELL'S 'BOOK OF THE YEAR', DAILY TELEGRAPH

"A tour de force of accurate and sharp writing about sex from a woman's viewpoint. Astonishing."

MAIL ON SUNDAY

"An accomplished first work of fiction" TLS

"Wickedly insightful, although peculiarly insular"

"This is an exercise in true escapism."

"Treading on similar territory to his highly acclaimed debut Tourist, Thorne manages to pull together a convincing argument against spending too many hours infront of the computer screen"

NICKY MILSOM, JUNE 1999

From the Author:

Eight Minutes Idle
This is a semi-autobiographical novel about a man called Dan and his father (who is much like my father) who live together in a one-bedroom apartment. When Dan's Dad is knocked over in a road accident, Dan is forced to move into the call-centre where he works. His Dad also gives him the phone numbers of seven women he has been involved with, and this is the start of a thriller plot that grows steadily stranger. The book has been bought by Feelgood Fiction and FilmFour, and should soon be appearing as a film.

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