Jerusalem
Published on 4. February 2010
Book
Paperback/Softback
416 pages
978-0-14-104002-8 (ISBN)
Description
'He looks like a Brit, this guy. Full of good intentions and bad ideas.'
Straddling two continents and two centuries, Patrick Neate's Jerusalem is a sweeping and hilarious epic of English misadventures abroad and at home. It features a self-serving MP lost and alone in an African dictatorship; a young, ultra-hip entrepreneur looking for something (or someone) new to exploit and an English veteran of a colonial war trying to save England from itself. With a host of other brilliant and brilliantly drawn characters, this is the funniest and most moving story of Englishness as it never was, isn't now and, hopefully, will never be.
Straddling two continents and two centuries, Patrick Neate's Jerusalem is a sweeping and hilarious epic of English misadventures abroad and at home. It features a self-serving MP lost and alone in an African dictatorship; a young, ultra-hip entrepreneur looking for something (or someone) new to exploit and an English veteran of a colonial war trying to save England from itself. With a host of other brilliant and brilliantly drawn characters, this is the funniest and most moving story of Englishness as it never was, isn't now and, hopefully, will never be.
Reviews / Votes
An excellent writer, a marvellous novel. A thrilling read * Daily Telegraph * The most thought-provoking novel of the year. An utterly essential read -- Irvine Welsh Extraordinary, ambitious, bitingly, laugh-out-loud satirical . . . quite simply, a must-read * Daily Mail * Wildly inventive, funny and superbly original * The Times * Funny and exciting, Neate is never less than vivid, whether describing the hideous conditions of an African prison, or a run-down pub in London. Excellent * Daily Telegraph * A corrosive and blistering satire on colonialism and an eloquent, angry and relevant novel that speaks its own truth to power * Sunday Telegraph * A multi-layered, jam-packed and often satirical novel rich in ideas and argument. Neate's most inventive book to date . . . invites comparisons with David Mitchell's genre-busting Cloud Atlas * Guardian * Wonderful, impressive, fascinating. Neate is always an engaging and sharp writer * Independent on Sunday * Witty and acerbic dialogue, an unflagging comic plot, upbeat entertainment * Independent * A very funny take on Englishness, colonialism and the search for authenticity * Financial Times *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 129 mm
Thickness: 25 mm
Weight
496 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-14-104002-8 (9780141040028)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Patrick Neate is the author of four previous novels: Musungu Jim and the Great Chief Tuloko, which won a Betty Trask Award, Twelve Bar Blues, which won the 2001 Whitbread Novel of the Year Award, The London Pigeon Wars, and City of Tiny Lights. His nonfiction includes Where You're At, which won the NBCC Award for Criticism in the USA.