The Late Hector Kipling

by David Thewlis (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  2008

  $3.41

  Hector Kipling has everything to live for: he is a talented artist with loving parents, a beautiful girlfriend, dependable mates and good health. But when Kirk Church, one of his best friends, and a habitual painter of cutlery, announces that he may have a brain tumour, the prospect of a character-building bereavement, with all the attendant suffering and sympathy, is a little too difficult for Hector to resist. Will it make him a better artist? Will it make him as successful as his friend Lenny Snook, who fills limousines with blood and has just been nominated for the Turner Prize? As events begin to unravel it doesn't take long for Hector's charmed world to fall completely and irreparably apart. From settees to stalkers, con men to corpses, paranoid self-portraits to S&M, The Late Hector Kipling is an irreverent and candid exploration of life, death, art and everything in between. 'Wonderful entertainment ...A funny and successful satire' Observer Review 'Exquisitely written with a warm heart and a wry wit, this is a stunning debut.' Elle 'David Thewlis has written an extraordinarily good novel, which is not only brilliant in its own right, but stands proudly beside his work as an actor, no mean boast.' Billy Connolly 'I laughed and laughed until I read my own name amongst the carnage of Thewlis's unfortunate characters. This book is a disgrace it's mean, cruel and refreshingly cynical.' Jake Chapman

• Used

  Hardcover
  2007

  $4.70

  Hector Kipling is an artist. He has his health, loving parents, a beautiful girlfriend, good mates, and talent in abundance (or at least, more abundance than most, and certainly more than his friend Kirk, if not quite as much as their other friend, Lenny - although, actually, Hector would argue that while Lenny's received more recognition for his art, most of that recognition is misplaced). What more could he ask for (besides the same level of recognition that Lenny gets, that is)? But once Hector's life starts to unravel, it doesn't take long at all for it to fall completely and irreparably apart. In fact, as Hector discovers, it's amazing just how quickly a life can disintegtrate. From settees to stalkers, con-men to corpses, S&M to the Tate Modern, The Late Hector Kipling is a warm and witty novel about the not so warm and witty world of art, and death.