First reviews are in!
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The Nenagh Guardian has scooped the world!
Unfortunately I can't link to the review, because the Nenagh Guardian (or to use its full, historic title, "The Nenagh Guardian or Tipperary (North Riding) and Ormond Advertiser, incorporating the Nenagh News and the Tipperary Vindicator"), hasn't updated its website lately. But it was a good review, trust me, my mother read it out to me down the phone.
Meanwhile, in cyberspace, the first review is also in, and it's a doozy. A lot of people had pre-ordered Jude: Level 1 on Amazon. Now, Amazon, being Efficient and Modern and Devoted to Customer Service, sent out the pre-ordered copies as soon as the books arrived in the warehouse, way ahead of the publication date. Thus I have my first five star review on Amazon.co.uk, from the delightful Peter Kettle. (He has also just sent me one of the most charming emails I've ever received.) It is such a splendid review, I am going to quote it in full here, and then go to bed and dream happy dreams:
"What happens when you cross Douglas Adams with Sam Beckett?", 29 Jun 2007 By Peter Kettle (Sussex, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)
"If you're one of those people who skip to the end of reviews for a sound bite I'll be kind and start with one: Jude: Level 1 is that rare thing, a novel that's funny and beautifully written.
For those who like a bit more meat in a review I'd say this is funny, stimulating, vividly exciting, and brilliantly written without a single boring cliche in sight. It's got a bit of Douglas Adams in it, and a smattering of Flann O'Brien. A small portion of it got minced up with Beckett, enough to get you imagining some great Irish heavy drinker like Jack McGowran. His fruity voice would be exactly right for this story of serial demolitions. McGowran would probably embroider the whole mad story into the creamy top of his Guinness. How often do you come across a writer who can make humour deep? Joyce of course, Beckett certainly, but it's pretty thin after that. Nutbeam's party in Annie Proulx's fab `The Shipping News' gets close to the same feeling, so if you enjoyed that one you'll go for this one.
Okay, who the hell am I to say this? I'm just a painter scratching a living who happens to be a fan of reading. I'm also keen on exploding buildings, and this novel manages to destroy lots of them. It also runs circles around those everyday Oirish accounts of hard times, famines and gangsters. Despite having several orphans in it the story doesn't for one moment get syrupy, and every time an orphan gets killed you'll laugh.
I shall be rooting for the next bits of this story on the net. I'll be ordering the hardback as soon as I can. It's a cheerful book with a skewed logic of its own, and I hope it becomes a major prizewinner. I want to see it issued as a film; as a range of kitchen utensils; and most of all in a signed limited edition, bound in the skin of the Salmon of Knowledge. You'll just have to read it to find out what the hell I'm talking about."
-Peter Kettle
Hurrah! Hurrah! And now I'm off to bed.