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He Wants (Salt Modern Fiction)

He Wants (Salt Modern Fiction)

by Alison Moore (Author)

  • Used

    Paperback 2014

    $3.25
Synopsis

Observer Book of the Year 2014 Lewis Sullivan, an RE teacher at a secondary school, was approaching retirement when he wondered for the first time whether he ought to have chosen a more dramatic career. He lives in a village in the Midlands, less than a mile from the house in which he grew up. He always imagined living by the sea. His grown-up daughter visits every day, bringing soup. He does not want soup. He frequents his second-favourite pub, where he can get half a shandy, a speciality sausage and a bit of company. But when a childhood friend appears on the scene, Lewis finds his life and comfortable routine shaken up. In Moore's inimitable, haunting style, this seemingly simple but in fact multi-layered narrative unfolds with compelling assurance. Moving between Lewis's current life of cosy habit, his memories of childhood, and his aged father agitating away in a nursing home, plot twists thicken and weave with stealthily increasing tension. Always unexpected, sparely written and beautifully crafted, He Wants deftly dissects the themes of loneliness, anxiety, the weight of recollection and the complex nature of friendship and family ties. A surprising, lingering and intensely moving tale which reflects the prodigious talent of one of our most exciting novelists.

$3.25

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Quantity

4 in stock

More Information

Format: Paperback
 Pages: 192
 Publisher: Salt Publishing
Published: 15 Aug 2014
ISBN 10: 1907773819
ISBN 13: 9781907773815

Media Reviews

The best novels are the ones that leave you with a sense of yearning, and in He Wants, Alison Moore proves her mastery of the medium... As Lewis's desires are revealed, the reader is drawn into a compelling series of regrets, coincidences and reminders that life doesn't often bestow second chances... Moore's tightly wreathed prose and assured plotting ensure a bittersweet longing for more once the final page is turned.

-- Lynsey May * The List *

How she achieves such big impact with such small ingredients is a mystery to me, but she does. She bloody well does.

-- Gav Collins * Gav's Book Reviews *

brave and rigorous

-- Rachel Cusk * The Guardian *

Moore movingly mines the aching gap between aspiration and actuality.

-- Anita Sethi * The Observer *

He Wants is a funny, touching, life-affirming novel about desire.

-- Anne Goodwin * Annecdotal *

An elegant story.

-- Sue Magee * The Bookbag *

As entertaining as it was gripping; Moore walks a tightrope between tragedy-cum-thriller and deadpan comedy and she does not fall.

-- Clare Fisher * Litro Magazine *

It is difficult to pinpoint exactly how she creates such compelling (though often unlikeable) characters, turning their everyday doings into a page-turning story, the atmosphere quietly unsettling.

-- Marija Smits * For Books' Sake *

Moore is a serious talent. There's art here. There's care.

-- Sam Leith * The Financial Times *

He Wants is an assured and confident second novel which deserves to be reread to fully appreciate its complexities. With sparse prose, astute descriptions, and subtle humour, Moore has cemented herself as one of my favourite authors.

* The Perfectionist Pen *

it is a short novel but needs no further chapters; its impact lies, in part, in its brevity and in its silences... There are dark aspects to He Wants and an intensity of emotion that will pull you in until the last page.

-- F.C. Malby

He Wants will easily be one of my books of the year... He Wants left me feeling both completely uplifted and utterly devastated, all at once.

-- Simon Savidge * Savidge Reads *

Alison Moore is very good on modern alienation... She doesn't so much lay bare a life as shine blinding pinpricks into its darkest corners.

-- Claire Allfree * Metro *

It's a quick, compelling read with real depth and heart, and I loved it.

-- Ali Hope * Shiny New Books *

a witty and very moving novel

-- Jonathan Edwards * New Welsh Review *

I really loved this book... I read it greedily and quickly; I had to force myself to slow down and savour it. And what she's so good at is conjuring a sense of atmospheric, quiet unease. I think it's the kind of book that will really get under people's skin.

-- Kiran Dass * Radio New Zealand *
Author Bio
Alison Moore's first novel, The Lighthouse, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the National Book Awards (New Writer of the Year), winning the McKitterick Prize. Both The Lighthouse and her second novel, He Wants, were Observer Books of the Year. Her short fiction has been included in Best British Short Stories and Best British Horror anthologies, broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra and collected in The Pre-War House and Other Stories. Born in Manchester in 1971, she lives near Nottingham with her husband Dan and son Arthur.