Staying Alive
Published on 23. May 2005
Book
Paperback/Softback
448 pages
978-0-00-716703-6 (ISBN)
Description
From the bestelling author of 'e' comes a hilarious and moving novel of a very normal life becoming extraordinary
Murray's living life to the full - and it might just kill him. He's started telling the truth at work. He's borrowed a stack of cash from a man with a gun, a speech impediment and no grasp whatsoever of APR. He's also taking drugs and - God help him - he's started dancing. Badly. To trance. And now he's on the run with a human version of Muttley and a teenage girl called Fish.
Which is strange, because a few weeks ago Murray didn't even burn the candle at one end. But when his doctors tell him he has only months to live, he gives his boring old self the boot, relaunches a new, improved Murray and falls in love with a passion he didn't know was in him.
His old self, of course, would tell him he's digging his own grave. But he'll be needing one of those soon enough anyway, won't he?
Murray's living life to the full - and it might just kill him. He's started telling the truth at work. He's borrowed a stack of cash from a man with a gun, a speech impediment and no grasp whatsoever of APR. He's also taking drugs and - God help him - he's started dancing. Badly. To trance. And now he's on the run with a human version of Muttley and a teenage girl called Fish.
Which is strange, because a few weeks ago Murray didn't even burn the candle at one end. But when his doctors tell him he has only months to live, he gives his boring old self the boot, relaunches a new, improved Murray and falls in love with a passion he didn't know was in him.
His old self, of course, would tell him he's digging his own grave. But he'll be needing one of those soon enough anyway, won't he?
Reviews / Votes
'Beaumont is an unflaggingly funny writer with a great facility for teetering on the edge of credibility and coming down on the correct side' Guardian'A rip-roaringly funny read [from] the brilliant Matt Beaumont...full of colourful characters and cinematic scenes...A brilliant read' Heat
Praise for THE BOOK, THE FILM, THE T-SHIRT
'Beaumont is the sort of writer you wish would knock books out quicker.' Closer
'Beaumont...is a technical whiz at his craft...He succeeds. Humour, feelgood factor, mild suspense...it is one airport novel that is definitely designed to take off' Guardian
'Delicious knockabout comedy...this is funnier [than e]' Bookseller
'Toe-curlingly good...makes you laugh out loud' Campaign
'It's very funny from first to last. Infectiously enjoyable and energetic' Time Out
Praise for 'e'
'A brilliantly plotted comic novel...it gave me more sense that literature is alive and kicking than anything else I've read in these 12 months' Humphrey Carpenter, Sunday Times Review of the Year
'Lively, viciously funny and about as switched on as a novel can be' Mirror
'Hilarious' Cosmopolitan
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
HarperCollins Publishers
Product notice
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 129 mm
Thickness: 32 mm
Weight
304 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-00-716703-6 (9780007167036)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Matt Beaumont is a copywriter and has been fired by some of London's leading ad agencies. He lives in North London with his wife and children.