Strides - Softcover

Foster, Stephen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0571201024 ISBN 13: 9780571201020

Publisher: Faber and Faber, 2001

Synopsis

'Being in love with someone else's girlfriend should be of slightly more concern than the size of your trouser-band relative to your own actual girth . . . shouldn't it?' Philip Marlowe would never have played it this way. But then Philip Marlowe hadn't just stolen an ancient relic from the city museum. Philip Marlowe wasn't in love with a girl who had a boyfriend called Spurs. And Philip Marlowe never, ever gave a thought to the cut of his own trousers. Winger is doing his best to play it cool. He's avoiding job interviews, he's bonding with the cat, he's making a mean zabaglione. But how do you win over a girl you met by bringing her down in an offside tackle? And how do you convince her that you love her when all you can think about is trousers? Strides is a sharp and funny look at the hang-ups and self-deceptions of the modern male, from a writer whose work has been described as 'raw and vital' by the Independent on Sunday.

About this title

Review

'An engaging and breathlessly vital love story of a modern madman.' -- Financial Times

'Foster's inventive and un-cynical take on the dating game places him somewhere between Julian Barnes and Nick Hornby.' -- Guardian

'Revelatory ... With the authentically savvy voice of the disaffected, Winger makes a compelling and often very funny narrator.' -- Daily Telegraph

'Truthful, perceptive and, very funny ... Exposes the hang-ups, disillusionment and fragility so common in the contemporary male.' -- Time Out

Synopsis

In the showers, some of the boys seemed to think I'd made a mistake by managing to get this date set up. She is a footballer, that is quite good for a fantasy, but not suitable for the long view as fiancee/wife. As I sat drip-drying on the wooden bench I examined my burngraze with pride while the boys carried on. I concluded that they were jealous.

Edition details

• Publisher: Faber and Faber
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0571201024
• ISBN 13: 9780571201020
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 272