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Belonging

Belonging

by RonButlin (Author)

  • Used

    Paperback 2006

    $3.31
Synopsis

Scottish drifter Jack McCall, handyman in an Alpine ski resort, spends his days sneaking into the empty penthouses of the super-rich with his partner Anna, sipping champagne and partying in private jacuzzis. At 29, Jack?s unsure of what he wants from life, but Anna wants commitment. Then one night a man slips on a frozen balcony in a nearby apartment and dies from his injuries. Only one person saw what happened - the man?s lover Therese, a quiet French girl with firework-coloured hair. Looking back, Jack remembers his first sight of Therese as the moment things started to go wrong... Ron Butlin's third novel descends into a 21st century heart of darkness as Jack gravitates first to Paris, then to a hippy commune in Spain's parched northern wilderness, where the subsistence idyll is ultimately shattered by violence, infidelity and death. Amid a society overshadowed by threats of terrorism and natural disasters, Ron Butlin?s characters struggle to put down roots, and pass through ice and fire to achieve redemption ? and finally, a kind of belonging.

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More Information

Format: Paperback
 Pages: 256
 Edition: Main
 Publisher: Serpent's Tail
Published: 17 Aug 2006
ISBN 10: 1852429151
ISBN 13: 9781852429157

Media Reviews
?Here?s hoping Beonging brings Butlin back into the public eye. It?s certainly up to the job... a gripping read - a real page-turner? Guardian ?On the cover of this slim but extraordinarily powerful novel Iain Banks, Irvine Welsh, Ian Rankin and Alan Warner all rave about Ron Butlin, and on this evidence it?s clear why. Belonging is a remarkable book, a seemingly simple tale of wanderlust told in precise, sparing prose, yet with a devastating emotional impact to rival much weightier and more-lauded tomes . . . Butlin expertly bring[s] his landscapes alive with incredible vivacity . . . a terrible psychological heart of darkness which is as terrifying as it is compelling. Harrowingly honest . . . this is a truly moving piece of work.? Doug Johnstone in The List ?An assuredly told but undeniably shocking tale, Belonging is a masterclass in how to portray deep emotion with seemingly simple prose . . . Butlin is much-touted by other authors, and here his use of description and dialogue is amazingly and deceptively powerful, as he examines with brutal frankness what it means to belong.? Gail Williamson in The Big Issue ?As a fast page-turner, Belonging is hard to beat . . . Lovers of fast-paced mysteries will find nothing lacking in Belonging. It takes the finest features of the suspense novel, and combines them with the 20-something metaphyics of Alan Warner. The result is both mesmerising and serious? Peter Burnett in Scotland on Sunday ?Butlin is a novelist capable of making the improbable ring true . . . remarkable powers of description . . .compellingly written? Allan Massie in The Scotsman ?Like a dystopian James Bond, Ron Butlin's third novel ranges between picture-postcard locations only to find horror and dissolution waiting at every turn... Just as [Butlin] can write, and pick off his characters, so handling of plot is deft . . . There is much to praise in Belonging, not least Butlin?s unflinching gaze into the nature of relationships . . . understated and emotionally affective writing.? James W. Wood in The Scottish Review of Books. ?One of Scotland?s most probing writers.? Laurence Wareing in The Herald ?For all it is gripping, precipitous read, the writing a model of clarity and resonance, Belonging is a very odd book that haunts long after it?s done? It is an unusual and profundly pessimistic vision. The point is that, artistically, it convinces. We can live with it because of the quality of the writing, the flickers of wit, the tension and uncertainty? Independent ?The horror invoked in Belonging is akin to the nightmares of The Shining and The Towering Inferno? Butlin creates a tense and acute claustrophobia? Sunday Herald
Author Bio
Before taking up writing full-time Ron Butlin was, at various times, a lyricist with a pop band, a barnacle scraper on Thames barges, a footman attending embassies and country houses, and a male model. His works include the novels The Sound of My Voice, Night Visits and most recently Belonging; two collections of stories, Vivaldi and the Number 3 and The Tilting Room, and six books of poetry. His fiction and poetry have been translated into over ten languages.