Don't Mess With The Best

出版者:Askill Publishing

作者:Sean Egan

页数:260

出版时间:2008-6-1

价格:USD 33.99

装帧:Hardcover

isbn号码:9780954575021

具体描述

Barry Hines' A Kestrel for a Knave, Stan Barstow's Joby, Bill Naughton's The Goalkeeper's Revenge, Keith Waterhouse's There Is A Happy Land, David Storey's Saville.. In the esteemed tradition of British working class childhood depicted through fiction comes Sean Egan's superb collection Don't Mess With The Best. In these fifteen tales describing the adventures, escapades, high jinks and set-backs of children and teenagers, Egan captures the 1970s as acutely as did the aforementioned writers their eras. Whether writing about a skinhead who realises that his hard-man status means nothing to a woman interviewing him for a job, a ten-year-old tomboy whose kindness nullifies the embarrassment produced by peer pressure in her new, male best mate, a 13-year-old who realises to his horror that a girlie magazine he has hidden in his mother's flat has disappeared, a boy who is swept up by the illusion of being as tough as his playmate with humiliating results, or a football hooligan whose crushing anonymity is replaced by exhilarating fame on match days, Egan's powers of observation, flawless ear for speech and technical dexterity make for a collection bursting with life and studded with pleasures. Two former winners of the greatest prize in British fiction, the Booker, have garlanded this collection already and more laurels are sure to come for an author who grants us an incisive view of a fascinating and rarely seen segment of the world. STANLEY MIDDLETON (BOOKER PRIZE WINNER 1974): "These stories are interesting, intelligent and well-written. Children who are approaching, putting up with or getting out of their teenage years are described with lively observation and appropriate language.Sometimes we may not like or approve of them, but we cannot but feel some twinges of pity for them. Tears often flow from the eyes of these toughs. With the older characters the scars of the old life are still to be seen on characters who are much more like us, a difficulty handled well and admirably. These are clever, strong stories about a group we rarely come across." DAVID STOREY (BOOKER PRIZE WINNER 1976): "I was struck by their authenticity (not easily acquired) and, almost paradoxically, their sensitivity. They acquire a momentum of their own as the feeling of a single personality (the narrator) develops, deepens and broadens - culminating in a fitting climax, Me and Jools', which with a dynamic of its own, resonates most strongly. The sense of understatement plays a not inconsiderable part in what feels like original material - original, not least, in its fusing of two cultures." About the Author Sean Egan is a journalist, author and editor specialising in popular culture and sport. He has written for, among other outlets, Billboard, Billboard.com, Classic Rock, Death Ray, Discoveries, Goldmine, Guitar, Inside United (official Manchester United magazine), Record Collector, RollingStone.com, Serve And Volley, SFX, Sky Sports, Tennis World, TV Film Memorabilia, Uncut and Vox. He is the author or editor of eleven books, including works on The Animals, Jimi Hendrix and The Rolling Stones. One of his books - Jimi Hendrix and the Making of Are You Experienced' - was nominated for an Award for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research by the Association for Recorded Sound Collections. His novel Sick Of Being Me was published in 2003. This work, which had a rock industrybackdrop, boasted cover endorsements from the likes of Charles R Cross, award winning biographer of Kurt Cobain and Jimi Hendrix, Frank Allen of The Searchers, Gary Valentine of Blondie and Vic Briggs and John Steel of The Animals. Among the stories included in Don't Mess With The Best is The Interview', which was shortlisted in the 1998 London Writers Competition.

用户评价

作为一名资深的书虫，我对那些情节老套、人物扁平的作品深感厌倦。然而，这本书彻底刷新了我的预期。它在类型文学的外壳下，包裹了一个极其复杂和出人意料的故事核心。我特别佩服作者构建世界观的想象力。那个设定的社会结构、独特的科技发展路径，以及由此产生的文化冲突，都描绘得逻辑自洽且令人信服。很多读者可能会被其宏大的设定所迷惑，以为它只是一部纯粹的科幻或奇幻小说，但深入阅读后会发现，所有那些奇特的设定，最终都是为了反衬和探讨最基本的人性主题——权力、欲望与道德的界限。书中的反转设计非常高明，它不是那种刻意制造的“惊吓”，而是基于前面所有铺陈的必然结果，这种合理性让“意想不到”变得“无可避免”。阅读过程就像在解一个极其复杂的谜题，每一个线索都至关重要，让人忍不住想一口气读完，一探究竟。这绝对是近年来少有的，既有娱乐性又有思想深度的力作。

我最近的心情一直很低落，但鬼使神差地翻开了这本。原本以为它会是一剂苦涩的良药，没想到却带来了一种奇特的、温暖的抚慰。它没有用廉价的励志口号来敷衍我的情绪，而是通过一个个坚韧不拔的小人物的故事，展现了生命力本身的可贵。这些角色，他们不完美，会犯错，会跌倒，但他们在面对巨大困境时所展现出的那种微小而坚定的光芒，真的非常动人。书中的情感描写极其细腻，尤其是关于友情和牺牲的部分，看得我泪流满面，但那不是那种令人脆弱的哭泣，而是一种被理解、被共鸣后的释然。作者处理悲剧的方式非常成熟，他没有回避痛苦，而是将痛苦描绘得淋漓尽致，但同时也强调了即便在最深的黑暗中，人与人之间连接的那根细线也从未真正断裂。读完后，我感觉自己好像完成了一次漫长而艰苦的徒步，虽然疲惫，但呼吸到了久违的新鲜空气，对明天又燃起了踏实的希望。

说实话，这本书的文学形式创新性，简直是教科书级别的示范。我读过不少先锋派作品，但这本书在保持故事可读性的同时，对叙事视角的切换运用得炉火纯青。有时是第一人称的私密倾诉，有时又是冷峻的上帝视角，甚至偶尔还穿插了类似档案记录或梦呓的片段，这种跳跃感非但没有造成阅读障碍，反而极大地增强了故事的层次感和悬疑感。我敢打赌，很多读者在读到中段时，都会忍不住回头去翻阅前面的章节，试图捕捉那些被故意设置的、看似无关紧要的“线索”。作者对语言的驾驭达到了近乎苛刻的程度，每一个词的选择似乎都经过了千锤百炼，充满了力量感。特别是描述紧张场景时，句子变得短促有力，如同急促的喘息，将读者的心率也一同提高了。而当描述宁静或悲伤的时刻，文字又变得绵长而富有音乐性，形成了一种强烈的对比张力。这不仅仅是一本书，它更像是一场精心编排的听觉与视觉的交响乐，值得反复品味。

我必须坦诚，这本书的哲学思辨深度，远超我最初的预期。原以为这会是一部轻松的消遣之作，结果却陷入了一场关于存在、选择与命运的宏大讨论之中。作者的文字功力令人叹服，他似乎拥有将最复杂的概念用最简洁、最富诗意的语言表达出来的魔力。书中有几处关于时间线和因果关系的探讨，尤其让我感到醍醐灌顶，甚至停下来，拿笔记本记录了一些自己的感想。它的结构设计非常精巧，多线叙事并行，但又巧妙地在看似不相关的支线中埋下了伏笔，直到最后才如抽丝剥茧般汇聚在一起，那种豁然开朗的快感，简直是阅读的至高享受。我尤其喜欢作者对“模糊地带”的描绘，他从不将是非简单地划分为黑白两色，而是深入探讨了灰色地带中人性的复杂与矛盾。这种对人性的深刻洞察力，使得书中的冲突更具张力，更贴近真实生活中的困境。对于那些喜欢在阅读中思考、不断挑战自己认知边界的读者来说，这本书绝对是不可多得的宝藏。

这本书，天哪，简直是读者的灵魂伴侣！我得说，从翻开第一页开始，我的心就被牢牢抓住了。作者的叙事手法极其高明，他不是简单地把故事抛给你，而是像一位技艺精湛的魔术师，一步步引导你进入那个光怪陆离的世界。我特别欣赏他对细节的把控，那些看似不经意的环境描写，实则为整个故事的基调奠定了深厚的底蕴。你几乎能闻到空气中的潮湿，感受到角色们内心的挣扎与渴望。人物塑造更是达到了出神入化的地步，每一个配角都有其独特的弧光和存在的意义，绝非功能性的工具人。尤其主角的心路历程，那种从迷茫到坚定的转变，真实得让人拍案叫绝，我好几次差点对着书本低语表示赞同。整本书的节奏把握得恰到好处，高潮迭起，却又总能在关键时刻留出呼吸的空间，让读者消化刚刚吸收的震撼。读完之后，那种意犹未尽的感觉久久不散，甚至影响了我接下来的几天生活，总忍不住在脑海中重演那些精彩的片段。这是一次真正的沉浸式阅读体验，极力推荐给所有追求深度和广度的文学爱好者。