sebastian faulks a week in december review

' handles his topics with witty verve.' -'The New Yorker ' Chatrooms, blogs, reality TV: this is the landscape contemporary fiction must inhabit to stay relevant. 'Precisely what we need to help us navigate these complex times. and a detailed look at the sharp financial practices that led to the collapse.' -'The Guardian '(London) A state-of-the-nation book, a satirical comedy of metropolitan literary life, a sweeping, Dickensian look at contemporary London, a serious examination of Islam and the reasons for radicalism among young Muslims, a thriller, a satire. A blistering social document.' -'Seattle Times ' Clever and convincing.' -'Chicago Tribune ' 'Vigorous, authentic and often hilarious. This, at its heart, is fiction about folks, and it's darned compelling.' -'The Denver Post ' 'Reflects the tumultuous present with both humor and a scathing sensibility. ''A Week in December 'is a formally ambitious, intelligently entertaining, rather provocative novel of contemporary manners.' -'Los Angeles Times ' 'Ambitious, entertaining, and often scathingly angry.' -'The New York Times Book Review ' richly human novel grand portrait of a city.' -'The Washington Post ' 'synopsis' may belong to another edition of this title.

As the novel moves to its gripping climax, they are forced, one by one, to confront the true nature of the world they inhabit. Sebastian Faulks probes not only the self-deceptions of this intensely realised group of people, but their hopes and loves as well. The writing on the wall appears in letters ten feet high, but the characters refuse to see it - and party on as though tomorrow is a dream. Greed, the dehumanising effects of the electronic age and the fragmentation of society are some of the themes dealt with in this savagely humorous book.

With daring skill, the novel pieces together the complex patterns and crossings of modern urban life. Over seven days we follow the lives of seven major characters: a hedge fund manager trying to bring off the biggest trade of his career a professional footballer recently arrived from Poland a young lawyer with little work and too much time to speculate a student who has been led astray by Islamist theory a hack book-reviewer a schoolboy hooked on skunk and reality TV and a Tube train driver whose Circle Line train joins these and countless other lives together in a daily loop.

Sebastian faulks a week in december review