Andrew O'Hagan

This is a long book that slowly, very slowly, depicts the fall of Campbell Flynn a professor of art, a commentator on culture, husband and father. Raised in Glasgow but married into money, Flynn tries to reinvent himself, and he needs money, so writes a book 'Why Men Weep in Cars' and hires an actor to masquerade as the author. It all goes horribly wrong as the actor starts to believe he is the voice of now but in the end has to go and hide out in rehab.

The second attempt at reinvention is through a student, Milo Mangesha, who has an ulterior motive but lets Flynn listen to him, and therefore all young people (!), taking ideas from him. Mangesha, however, is teaching him a lesson by hacking his life and discovering his connections, and they are many. In fact there are a lot of people in this story, a veritable cast of characters representing London life. There's Mrs Voyles who lives in a protected rent flat below the Flynn's, complains of the awful conditions but refuses to let workmen in to do any of the work needed. There are the sons of Russian oligarchs with money and it is this money that provides a lot of connections: for private loans, to fund crime, to keep the aristocracy afloat, to fund art but also is linked to drugs and people trafficking. Follow the money!

This is a story of corruption, not just financial but moral and emotional and it reads very true to life.… (more)

This book was long, confusing, and long. I did get a hang of who all the characters were by the end, but it's the kind of book that gives you a "cast of characters" list up front. I NEVER use such lists. I refuse to do that kind of work for a novel. If I can't keep track of who's who, you're doing a bad job as a novelist.

Reading it on Kindle I had no realistic idea how long it was going to be. If I'd picked it up in real life, I probably would have put it down again.

I can appreciate it as a pretty well-written piece of lit. But it was kind of a downer. Not many good things happen.… (more)