For The Good Times - Softcover

Keenan, David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0571340520 ISBN 13: 9780571340521

Publisher: Faber & Faber, 2020

Synopsis

WINNER OF THE GORDON BURN PRIZE 2019

From the author of This Is Memorial Device.

'A gasp-inducing thrill of a ride.' i Independent

'An exhilarating novel, burning with rage, danger and dark humour.' Literary Review

'Remarkable . . . demented brilliance.' Scotland on Sunday

Belfast, 1970s: Sammy and his three friends live in an impoverished area of the city that has become the epicentre of a country seemingly intent on cannibalising itself. They love sharp clothes, a good drink, and the songs of Perry Como, whose commitment to clean living holds up a dissonant mirror to their own attempts to rise above their circumstances. They dream of a Free State, and their methods for achieving this are uncompromising. But For the Good Times is not just a novel about the IRA. It is about the heartbreak and devastation that commitment to 'the cause' can bring; of violence and betrayal, breakdown and rebirth.

About this title

Review:

A gasp-inducing thrill of a ride., i independent

An exhilarating novel, burning with rage, danger and dark humour., Literary Review

Remarkable . . . demented brilliance., Scotland on Sunday

Fantastic . . . Keenan crawls inside history, heading straight to the heart of darkness . . . An extraordinary tale. -- Suzanne Moore, New Statesman

This is visionary fiction, occult in intent, brilliant in execution. -- Eoin McNamee, Irish Times

A frenzy of Scorsesean gore, paranoia and debasement with a surrealist edge . . . in practically every crackling line of tough, trippy and guiltily laugh-out-loud funny prose., Scotsman

Brilliant . . . One of the most strikingly written novels I have read for a long time., Sunday Times

Stayed with me since I read it . . . a journey into the shattered sound of the voices of damned males hollowing from a bottomless well, New Statesman 'Books of the Year'

Book Description:

Award-winning author David Keenan's second novel plunges the reader into the dark night of Belfast in the 1970s: an era of military terror and sectarian violence, of occult visions and religious intensity.

About this edition

• Publisher: Faber & Faber
• Publication date: 2020
• ISBN 10: 0571340520
• ISBN 13: 9780571340521
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 368