The Colour of Memory: A Novel
(Adobe EPUB eBook, Kindle Book, OverDrive Read)
The first novel, in revised form, from "possibly the best living writer in Britain" (The Daily Telegraph)
In The Colour of Memory, six friends plot a nomadic course through their mid-twenties as they scratch out an existence in near-destitute conditions in 1980s South London. They while away their hours drinking cheap beer, landing jobs and quickly squandering them, smoking weed, dodging muggings, listening to Coltrane, finding and losing a facsimile of love, collecting unemployment, and discussing politics in the way of the besotted young—as if they were employed only by the lives they chose.
In his vivid evocation of council flats and pubs, of a life lived in the teeth of romantic ideals, Geoff Dyer provides a shockingly relevant snapshot of a different Lost Generation.
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Geoff Dyer. (2014). The Colour of Memory: A Novel. Graywolf Press.
Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)Geoff Dyer. 2014. The Colour of Memory: A Novel. Graywolf Press.
Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)Geoff Dyer, The Colour of Memory: A Novel. Graywolf Press, 2014.
MLA Citation (style guide)Geoff Dyer. The Colour of Memory: A Novel. Graywolf Press, 2014.
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- bioText: Geoff Dyer is the award-winning author of many books, including Out of Sheer Rage, Yoga for People Who Can't Be Bothered to Do It, Zona, See / Saw, and the essay collection Otherwise Known as the Human Condition (winner of a National Book Critics Circle Award for criticism). A fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Dyer lives in Los Angeles, where he is writer-in-residence at the University of Southern California. His books have been translated into twenty-four languages.
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The first novel, in revised form, from "possibly the best living writer in Britain" (The Daily Telegraph)
In The Colour of Memory, six friends plot a nomadic course through their mid-twenties as they scratch out an existence in near-destitute conditions in 1980s South London. They while away their hours drinking cheap beer, landing jobs and quickly squandering them, smoking weed, dodging muggings, listening to Coltrane, finding and losing a facsimile of love, collecting unemployment, and discussing politics in the way of the besotted young—as if they were employed only by the lives they chose.
In his vivid evocation of council flats and pubs, of a life lived in the teeth of romantic ideals, Geoff Dyer provides a shockingly relevant snapshot of a different Lost Generation.- reviews
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- source: Publishers Weekly
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"Like its subjects, the book is sharp and witty. . . . [Dyer] fans will enjoy reading about the characters' obsessions (such as jazz, film, and photography), as well as Dyer's thoughtful and absorbing digressions."
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- source: New Statesman
- content: "Of all the hyped novels of 1980s London, it remains one of the most genuine."
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- source: The Times Literary Supplement
- content: "Dyer writes crisp, Martin Amis–inflected prose, full of acute perceptions and neat phrases . . . The book abounds in colourful descriptions of familiar aspects of London life."
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- source: The Threepenny Review
- content: "The great thing about [The Colour of Memory] is its tone, which is neither snide nor wistful, but sharply contemplative, with the typical (and typically pleasing) Dyer humor underlying it all."
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March 3, 2014
Dyer’s first novel, originally published in his native U.K. in 1989 and slightly revised for its 2014 U.S. release, is a fictional memoir that doubles as a portrait of bohemian life in gritty 1980s South London. The unnamed narrator is an intelligent but aimless man in his 20s. Rather than pursuing steady employment, he prefers to take the occasional odd job and spend most of his time conversing with friends: his workmate Carlton, the painter Steranko, pseudo-writer Freddie, the aspiring rapper Belinda, and his clumsy sister Fran. Whether bar- or cafe-hopping around Brixton, playing squash, or smoking put on rooftops, the friends frequently exchange complaints about their “piss-bin country,” with its unbearable living conditions and imminent confrontations (the threat of mugging and violence always looms). Paradoxically, the narrator and his friends depend on the government’s benefit programs to support their jazzy lifestyles. Like its subjects, the book is sharp and witty, but it lacks a plot or plan—particularly in the second half, which consists largely of a series of lyrical vignettes, urban sketches, and conversations that evoke the poignant mood of 1980s Brixton. At times the story feels a bit jumbled and arbitrarily strung together. Still, fans will enjoy reading about the characters’ obsessions (such as jazz, film, and photography), as well as Dyer’s thoughtful and absorbing digressions, which are further engaged and explored in the author’s later works.
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April 1, 2014
Dyer, the prolific British essayist and novelist who now lives in the U.S. and won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Otherwise Known as the Human Condition (2011), published his first novel--an impressionistic, affectionate portrait of a group of 1980s British bohemians--in the U.K. in 1989. A nameless narrator and five close friends in their mid-20s spend their days eating, drinking, smoking grass, talking and doing as little actual work as possible while living in the Brixton neighborhood of London. The narrator works dead-end marketing research jobs. Freddie, the narrator's oldest and perhaps closest friend, is a would-be writer who seldom actually writes. Carlton obsesses about keeping his apartment clean. Steranko, whom the narrator envies and wishes he were more like, paints. When the narrator and Steranko both fall for beautiful Foomie, the narrator is not surprised that she chooses Steranko. Or that his own sister, Fran, and Steranko share an attraction. Sexual undercurrents run everywhere, but there is no sordidness and not much actual sex. Friendship is the important currency here. The narrator is a romantic, capturing images of his daily life in what he calls "an album of snaps." He witnesses a stranger being beaten on the Tube but doesn't step in; he meets a girl he's attracted to, then remembers they met months before; he's mugged but not hurt. He watches moments of random kindness and moments of cruelty. His friends have good and bad times. They discuss Nietzsche and listen to jazz. They live on the dole, getting stoned and wasted regularly. The narrator not only observes, but feels according to the situation: frequently boredom, occasionally fear, very occasionally exhilaration. This is less a plotted novel than a smudged valentine to young-adulthood friendships and the setting where they take place, 1980s Brixton, a slightly seedy, multiethnic district of London populated by immigrants and artistic types who live uneasily side by side. Random sharp insights and images are studded inside this leisurely and oddly innocent chronicle of British Gen-X slackers.COPYRIGHT(2014) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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