The Forensic Records Society
Published on 6. April 2017
Book
Hardback
192 pages
978-1-4088-7837-8 (ISBN)
Description
The award-winning, Booker and Goldsmiths Prize-shortlisted author Magnus Mills is back with his best novel yet, a hilarious and surreal exploration of power, fanaticism and really, really good records
Within a few months we'd witnessed bickering, desertion, subterfuge and rivalry. I was rapidly coming to the conclusion that only a miracle could save us now.
Two men with a passion for vinyl create a society for the appreciation of records. Their aim is simple: to elevate the art of listening by doing so in forensic detail. The society enjoys moderate success in the back room of their local pub, The Half Moon, with other enthusiasts drawn to the initial promise of the weekly gathering.
However, as the club gains popularity, its founder's uncompromising dogma results in a schism within the movement and soon a counter group forms. Then the arrival of a young woman called Alice further fractures the unity of the vulnerable society. As rifts are forged and gulfs widen, Magnus Mills examines the surreal nature of ordinary lives. The master of the comic deadpan returns for his ninth novel, a spectacularly disingenuous exploration of power, fanaticism and really, really good records.
Within a few months we'd witnessed bickering, desertion, subterfuge and rivalry. I was rapidly coming to the conclusion that only a miracle could save us now.
Two men with a passion for vinyl create a society for the appreciation of records. Their aim is simple: to elevate the art of listening by doing so in forensic detail. The society enjoys moderate success in the back room of their local pub, The Half Moon, with other enthusiasts drawn to the initial promise of the weekly gathering.
However, as the club gains popularity, its founder's uncompromising dogma results in a schism within the movement and soon a counter group forms. Then the arrival of a young woman called Alice further fractures the unity of the vulnerable society. As rifts are forged and gulfs widen, Magnus Mills examines the surreal nature of ordinary lives. The master of the comic deadpan returns for his ninth novel, a spectacularly disingenuous exploration of power, fanaticism and really, really good records.
Reviews / Votes
Mills uses his blokes in the back of a pub to tell a massively ambitious story ... A story that could be read as a disguised retelling of the Russian revolution, or the Reformation, or the Sunni-Shia schism, or any great human falling out. As soon as you form any kind of "us", Mills suggests, a "them" will form in response. In this, The Forensic Records Society is like Animal Farm but with blokes for pigs, and much better songs * Guardian * For nearly twenty years Mills has been entertaining and occasionally perplexing readers with his enigmatic tales of thwarted expeditions, projects and schemes ... Tremendously funny. Mills is one of Britain's best comic writers, and this is an excellent introduction to his scrupulously amusing world ... You will love this book. Buy one on Saturday to go with that Toto single * Andy Miller, Spectator * One of our most idiosyncratic voices ... Deceptively genial, eerily comic ... Mills is extremely good on the way obsessiveness is an end in itself for these barely distinguishable chaps ... It also contains some classic Mills hallmarks, including the unsettling impression something sinister is going on, if only you could work out what it is * Daily Mail * An allegory about power, ambition and primal struggles for supremacy. It works wonderfully well because it is so distilled and so funny, but also because of the particular veneer of civilization that Mills has chosen to map ... A novel that feels like an off-kilter Nick Hornby starts to be imbued with the spirit of Harold Pinter. It is quite remarkable how, on such a tiny canvas, Mills can achieve such stunning effects ... Hugely enjoyable * Independent * A drily funny allegory for societal divisions. The spartan nature of the narration and dialogue, the brevity of the book as a whole, and Mills's propensity to omit information, creates a claustrophobic, uneasy sense that things are more than the sum of their parts * Times Literary Supplement * 'One for the pop pickers ... There are some wonderful aspects to The Forensic Records Society ... Bloomsbury have pushed the boat out with the packaging, which is a wonderful pastiche of the sort of vintage 1960s seven-inch single sleeve collectors covet at record fairs, and will really make you think there must be three minutes of music as well as 180 pages of prose to discover inside * Herald * This, his ninth novel, is as odd, simple and parabolic as the first eight ... The theme is unmistakable and unavoidable - when humans can fall out, they will fall out **** * Metro * A true original * Mail on Sunday * A demented, deadpan comic wonder * Thomas Pynchon * He's original, he's eccentric - and I predict that Magnus Mills will still be fascinating his admirers 100 years from now -- Kate Saunders * Saga *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 174 mm
Width: 177 mm
Weight
379 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4088-7837-8 (9781408878378)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Magnus Mills
The Forensic Records Society
E-Book
04/2017
1st Edition
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
€9.49
Available for download
Person
Magnus Mills is the author of nine novels, including The Restraint of Beasts, which won the McKitterick Prize and was shortlisted for both the Booker Prize and the Whitbread (now the Costa) First Novel Award in 1999. His most recent novel, The Field of the Cloth of Gold was published to great critical acclaim and was shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize 2015. His books have been translated into twenty languages. He lives in London.