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March 28, 2024, 02:08:14 PM

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David Peace

Started by holyzombiejesus, July 15, 2020, 08:56:26 PM

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holyzombiejesus

Whatdayathinkandwhydayathinkit?

I really like the sound of the Red Riding Quartet but saw the TV series so worry I may know the plot. Would that be the case?

I read The Damned United and liked it very much but am not going anywhere near that Shankly book.

Anything else worth checking out?

Jockice

I loved The Damned United - although that may be because it was set around the time I first got into football - but the only ever book of his I've tried reading was GB84, which I didn't like. Don't think I even finished it That's it. All I have to say about David Peace.

Love his Dance Anthems show.

timebug

The books of the 'Red Riding Quartet' are worth a go. But if you think the TV version was the story, think again! Many changes between books and TV version, and why they never used Book 3 on the TV is a mystery,as it is crucial to the overall plot.
Most annoying thing is his use of 'copy and paste' where he beats certain bits of the text to death with a 'look how clever I am'
smirk on his face. I find him an irritating fucker to read in all honesty, but don't regret reading the quartet. I also read the Damned United and was less than enthralled. Not everyones favourite writer but you get what you expect,mostly!

The Culture Bunker

Quote from: holyzombiejesus on July 15, 2020, 08:56:26 PMI read The Damned United and liked it very much but am not going anywhere near that Shankly book.
My main problem with the Shankly book was the repeated use of Liverpool line ups from various games, to the point I got the impression he was doing it just to push the word count up. Shankly was a fascinating character, but it did get a bit boring at points.

The Roofdog

Quote from: timebug on July 16, 2020, 09:25:47 AM
The books of the 'Red Riding Quartet' are worth a go. But if you think the TV version was the story, think again! Many changes between books and TV version, and why they never used Book 3 on the TV is a mystery,as it is crucial to the overall plot.
Most annoying thing is his use of 'copy and paste' where he beats certain bits of the text to death with a 'look how clever I am'
smirk on his face. I find him an irritating fucker to read in all honesty, but don't regret reading the quartet. I also read the Damned United and was less than enthralled. Not everyones favourite writer but you get what you expect,mostly!

Book 2/1977 is the one they skipped, which was especially annoying as it's probably the most interesting and Eddie Marsan would've been the main character (he's in the finished series but gets fuck all to do). In terms of the story I would've thought the Yorkshire Ripper one was the obvious book to cut as it's most tangential to the overall plot but in the end it's the best episode so hey who knows, maybe don't buy the rights to a quartet and then make a trilogy it's not as if there were ninety of the bastards.

timebug

I stand corrected on Book 2! Mind you it's ages since I read them, so pardon my error.Or not.

I've only read part one and it stands up absolutely fine on its own, don't think you have to read the lot. It's funny if you've ever read any James Ellroy, 'cos Peace takes Ellroy's style and make it about people drinking Tetley's in Wakefield.

iamcoop

Big fan of David Peace here.

The Red Riding Quartet is my favourite of his stuff, I would echo what most others have said and definitely read them, even if you've seen the programmes. 1977 is my personal favourite, and this was the one they skipped when it went to TV. The novels work as stand alone books but it's well worth reading them chronologically as they do all link up in a fairly satisfying way.

If you enjoy them then I'd probably go for Tokyo Year Zero next as it's fairly similar in tone and style, although I found them a little tougher going than the Red Riding books.

I personally enjoyed GB84 (his novel set around the miners' strike) although it's a subject I've always been interested in as my dad was a miner and on strike at the time so I've no idea how interesting that novel would be to someone that doesn't really care for the subject matter.

Is the Shankly one worth reading? I have little to no interest in Liverpool football club and I remember a few reviews of it at the time described it as a pretty repetitive and tortuous read so I steered well clear. I remember his Wikipedia entry said he was working on a novel about Geoff Boycott's antagonistic relationship with Yorkshire Cricket Club...Now that I would like to read.

sevendaughters

GB84 is a good piece of semi-experimental literature and I think he's done a good job of getting a lot of people reinvested in stories with strong class issues in a style that isn't easily-graspable.

The Damned United is a touch on the nose for me, though I like the film.

holyzombiejesus

Just finished 1974. Really enjoyed it but the ending has got me scratching my head. Can anyone on here clear a few things up?

SPOILERS...

Eddie is taken in to custody, gets absolutely fucking battered and confesses under duress to two murders. But then they let him go and pretend to kill him but just dump him in the middle of nowhere instead. It transpires that Johnny Kelly, the missing rugby player, was driving around with the rugby chairman's wife and they hit a man, so Johnny goes in to hiding. The man they hit (Marsh, the foreman of the building site where one of the dead little girls was found) is then discovered by Eddie in some horrible child porn dungeon under a shed in his allotment, but he's been all burned and had bits cut off him. Also, Kelly kills Donald Foster (the rugby chairman) with a hammer for unspecified reasons. Then we find out that Dawson, the swan-obsessed architect has killed himself, as has his wife. So Eddie drives to a club where another businessman, Box, is gloating about the cunty things he's done so shoots him.

That's right, isn't it?

Why did the police go to all the effort to get the confession and then just release him? Was it so he would kill Box and get him out of the way? If so, why go to the palaver of almost killing him for the confession?

What links the police and Foster and Dawson to the dead children?

Was the hit-and-run story from Kelly a lie? Had Kelly found Marsh and tortured him? If so, how had he found out? Why did Eddie start asking Kelly if he'd fucked his own sister?



Sorry, I can't remember. The thing is,  the dungeon bit was so startling (in my mind it was kind of done up like Santa's grotto?)that it possibly allowed the story to get away with a few leaps in logic, I think I was a bit stunned.