If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things.IF NOBODY SPEAKS OF REMARKABLE THINGS If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things is author Jon McGregor's first novel, and first published by Bloomsbury in 2002. It centres around a day in the life of a suburban British street, with the plot alternately following the lives of the streets various inhabitants. . Jon McGregor. 2002/2003. Read by Jilly Bond. 6 tapes. 8.25 hrs. Clipper clipper, type of sailing ship, designed for speed. Long and narrow, the clipper had the greatest beam aft of the center; the bow cleaved the waves; and the ship carried, besides topgallant and royal sails, skysails and moonrakers—a veritable cloud of sails. Audio, Recorded Books. 1-84197-932-5. $72.00. Vinyl; plot notes. A McGregor's debut novel was short-listed for the Booker Prize Booker Prize, an annual prize of £50,000 (originally £20,000) for a work of fiction by a living British, Irish, or Commonwealth writer. Great Britain's premier literary award, it has been underwritten since 1969 by the British food-distribution company in 2002. The "remarkable things" of the title are in fact the unremarkable minutiae mi·nu·ti·a n. pl. mi·nu·ti·ae A small or trivial detail: "the minutiae of experimental and mathematical procedure" Frederick Turner. of daily life on a residential street in a city, recalled in visceral visceral /vis·cer·al/ (vis´er-al) pertaining to a viscus. vis·cer·al adj. Relating to, situated in, or affecting the viscera. visceral pertaining to a viscus. detail and poetic language. An old man coughs up blood but assures his elderly wife of 58 years that he is fine. Young people with pierced tongues dance in the street, euphoric on drugs, and sleep them off in an apartment. A young boy is out for a ride on his bright red tricycle. The couple in #21 shout obscenities at one another. The twins from #19 peek into #20 at the naked man doing stretching exercises and shoot a neighbor with water pistols. The boy in #18 fancies the girl in #22. The father in #16, his hands destroyed by the fire that killed his wife, cares for his young daughter A miracle ends the story. Bond narrates this remarkable novel with panache. The fully voiced reading gives us local British accents and foreign lilts. The creaky voices of old people are especially convincing. Janet Julian, Grafton, MA |
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