Richard Milward (1) (1984–)

Everyone loves precocity, and part of the reason this book has been successful is surely because the author was still mis-spending his youth at the time, albeit by writing a novel. Some passages, like the miserable attempts to navigate a nightclub, reminded me of Young Skins in their brilliantly bleak accuracy The levels of sex 'n' drugs seemed a little excessive, but then I never grew up in Middlesbrough. The characters seemed a little one-note - the oddball, the tart with a heart etc - and the writing didn't dazzle me, but it's definitely an inventive and well-executed exploration of a world you rarely read about, in the news or the fiction aisles.… (més)

Fully an extra star for the gusto and gumption of the gimmick - otherwise, the book is sort of disappointing and whatever. The whole thing never quite gets off the ground, even though Kimberly's twisted story is entertaining enough and there's admittedly a good dose of "wtf" hilarity (rapist seals, that's all I'll say). Instead, it felt very much like a novel written out of an idea for a gimmick as opposed to a novel that then led into said gimmick. Not a bad thing, per se, but it doesn't do a lot to recommend it.

More at RB: http://wp.me/pGVzJ-PC… (més)

Of course I hate Richard Milward. I mean, let's get that out of the way right now. He's young, cool, good-looking and a twice-published novelist with rave reviews. What's not to hate? But give him his due: dude can write.

Apples, Milward's debut novel (first published in 2007) tells the story of two Middlesbrough teenagers, Adam and Eve, and their non-love story. Adam is an OCD geek who has to close the door ten times before leaving the house, gets caught masturbating to his Dad's porno mags and obsesses over Beatles albums (a very teenage thing to do). Eve is a mouthy pretty-girl with a body for sin and a head for getting mortalled whose mum has just been diagnosed with cancer. She has no idea what she wants out of life, but like so many girls her age she thinks she could well end up a super-model.

As is the law for every coming of age novel written since the 50s, Apples has been compared to Catcher In The Rye ("...meets the Arctic Monkeys", said The Times) though personally I found it closer to a British Less Than Zero. There's far more Bret Easton Ellis to Milward's writing than there is Salinger, along with lashings of his hero Irving Welsh (he names Trainspotting as the book that inspired him to write).

Read the full review at my blog… (més)