“Declan Burke is his own genre. The Lammisters dazzles, beguiles and transcends. Virtuoso from start to finish.” – Eoin McNamee “This bourbon-smooth riot of jazz-age excess, high satire and Wodehouse flamboyance is a pitch-perfect bullseye of comic brilliance.” – Irish Independent Books of the Year 2019 “This rapid-fire novel deserves a place on any bookshelf that grants asylum to PG Wodehouse, Flann O’Brien or Kyril Bonfiglioli.” – Eoin Colfer, Guardian Best Books of the Year 2019 “The funniest book of the year.” – Sunday Independent “Declan Burke is one funny bastard. The Lammisters ... conducts a forensic analysis on the anatomy of a story.” – Liz Nugent “Burke’s exuberant prose takes centre stage … He plays with language like a jazz soloist stretching the boundaries of musical theory.” – Totally Dublin “A mega-meta smorgasbord of inventive language ... linguistic verve not just on every page but every line.” – Irish Times “Above all, The Lammisters gives the impression of a writer enjoying himself. And so, dear reader, should you.” – Sunday Times “A triumph of absurdity, which burlesques the literary canon from Shakespeare, Pope and Austen to Flann O’Brien … The Lammisters is very clever indeed.” – The Guardian

Friday, June 8, 2007

Critical Mick: He Takes The Mick, Not Prisoners

The word from Critical Mick’s dank lair is that there’s a review of Andrew Nugent’s The Four Courts Murders on the way, and if you’re wondering why that’s such good news, you obviously haven’t encountered Mick’s inimitable style yet. Here’s the Mickster on Hugo Hamilton’s Headbanger, for example:
“Hugo Hamilton has been praised and anthologized so I figured he was one of those pretentious literary shits. Suddenly I came face to balaclava’d, kebab-smeared face with one of his novels. Hey! Hugo Hamilton is a Headbanger! … A bit like Taxi Driver, except he’s driving a Garda patrol car … Bashing style into the crime thriller genre, Headbanger packs goofball rage, bizarre insight, attitude and kebab flavour into one fast, funny smack of a 230 page read. No superior literary airs, just damn fine writing.”
Oh, and there’s a .mp3 version of the review to go along with that. Mick? If you’re reading this, we’ll be over with our monthly protection moolah later tonight. Get the Snakebites on ice.
Posted by at
Labels: , , , , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)