Author

Publication

2008 - Jonathan Cape, London, England

Language

English

Word Count

86,000 words, Guess

Page Count

344 pages

Identifiers

and 1 more

Classifications

  • DDC823.92
  • LCCPR6119.Z35 L66 2008
  • LCCPR6119

Description

"Paul Rainey, the hapless antihero at the center of this "compulsively readable" (Independent on Sunday) story works, miserably, in ad sales. He sells space in magazines that hardly exist, and through a fog of booze and drugs dimly perceives that he is dissatisfied with his life--professionally, sexually, recreationally, the whole nine yards. If only there were something he could do about it--and "something" seems to fall into his lap when a meeting with an old friend and fellow salesman, Eddy Jaw, leads to the offer of a new job. But when that offer turns out to be as misleading as Paul's own sales patter, his life is transformed in ways very much more peculiar than he ever thought possible. London and the South-East, which won the Betty Trask Prize and the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize, is both a gloriously told shaggy-dog story about the compromising inanities of office life and consumer culture, and the perfect introduction to one of the best writers at work today."--Amazon.com.

Description

This is the story of Paul Rainey, an ad salesman with Park Lane Publications Ltd. Perceiving dimly through a fog of psychoactive substances his dissatisfaction with his life - professional, sexual, weekends, the lot - he only wishes there was something he was able to do about it. And 'something' seems to fall into his lap when a meeting with an old friend and fellow salesman, Eddy Jaw, leads to the offer of a new job. Unfortunately, this offer turns out to be as misleading as Paul's patter, and the total transformation it precipitates in his life, and the life of his family, very much more peculiar than he would ever have thought possible. Critics often lament that the world of work is rarely treated in British fiction. London and the South-East answers that need triumphantly.

Subjects

Other Editions

  • London and the South-EastJonathan Cape2008-01-01

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