You can’t stop watching. I would just have to grow up first. Please try your request again later. James Kelman's triumph in Kieron Smith, boy is to bring us completely inside the head of a child and remind us what strange and beautiful things happen in there. The premise of the book was interesting -- the mind's eye of a boy as he grows/experiences/matures from about age 5 to age 13, in an industrial town in Scotland. This book is Kieron's diary, from being just a "wee lad" through early adolescence in Glasgow probably during the 1950's. My word. L’expédition à domicile et la cueillette en magasin sont gratuites pour les … The style of writing (from the point of view of a small boy) was clever, but became tedious after a while. Through his entries we learn how little money there is, how much is parents favor his older brother, how endeared he is to his grandparents. 13.49 In Stock … I sort of liked this book--but I left it on the plane before I finished it. Sorry, there was a problem saving your cookie preferences. Kelman is a great writer, and one day I will re-read this and give it five stars. 1 in stock. Kelman is superb, his rigour and integrity paying off in spades. In ‘Kieron Smith, boy’ the most notable example of this is the use of asterisks in the swearing in the book, at least at the beginning. 1 Star - I hated it 2 Stars - I didn't like it 3 Stars - It was OK 4 Stars - I liked it 5 Stars - I loved it. 3.5 stars. Amazing internal structure keeps this book together. Its in the first person and we learn about Kierons life from the age of 5 to 13. He said it to me. At the end of Kelman’s new novel, Kieron is not yet 13. Kieron Smith, boy is a brilliant evocation of an urban childhood. Kieron has a sense of right and wrong attached to some words, and the text is censored to indicate this. ), This book is worth five stars, but the way I read it made it, for me, more a four star one. Oh, and Bird by Bird, by Anne Lamott, still one of the best books on writing to appear in the last 20 years. The relationship with his grandfather is supposed to have been some defining relationship, but you never really get to know his "granda," as he's mentioned somewhat infrequently, and whatever bond they are alleged to share is barely detectable. ONLEIHE:READER . While the book gets totally into the head of a boy, much is just repetitive. In between, though, was just a cascade of rambling, repetitive thoughts leading to what, I'm still not sure. I finally gave up on trying to understand each word and just went with reading when I came into clumps of swear words/bad words that are cut out so I spent my time trying to figure that out, realizing that Scottish swear words are going to be different from American so then I had to give up on that. There isnot much of a plot. I finally gave up on trying to understand each word and just went with reading when I came into clumps of swear words/bad words that are cut out so I spent my time trying to figure that out, realizing that Scottish swear words are going to be different from American so then I had to give up on that. Kieron Smith, Boy 432. by James Kelman | Editorial Reviews. Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 2 August 2017, Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 12 June 2014, Kelman is one of the most original and honest writers writing in English today. It’s in the first person and we learn about Kieron’s life from the age of 5 to 13. One was in the Cadets. Kelman's writing, if you immerse yourself in it, is as dense as poetry, but just as beautiful. Kieron Smith, boy Item Preview > remove-circle Share or Embed This Item. Climbing is a key motif, a liberation and a danger, a precarious skill that develops. His books include. The younger of two boys, Kieron is overlooked and seen as simple compared to his brother, Matt, the "smart one." Having read, This was an extraordinary book..as the dustjacket says, "A masterpiece". What I grew to hate was people using the accent as some kind of substitute for real creativity. It also develops as the boy ages: the care-free little boy who censors his own thoughts gradually becomes angrier, swearier and less inclined to please his family. RM 14.90 RM 11.92. My maw did not want me to but my da said I could if I wanted, it was a good life and ye saved yer money, except if ye were daft and done silly things. “Kieron Smith, Boy” is a first-person account of a young working-class boy growing up in Glasgow during the mid-20th century. Kieron Smith, boy is a brilliant evocation of an urban childhood. Climbing is a key motif, a liberation and a danger, a precarious skill that develops. I enjoyed reading about these people who live in a small town in the Northeast that was once a supported by industrial mills. by James Kelman. Kieron's family moves in the story, and the adjustment is painful. One was in the Cadets. Share by James Kelman Nov, 14 2008 . Members of the rival religions lead separate lives, though Kieron (a Protestant) has a few Catholic friends. It is James Kelman at his very best. Kieron Smith’s coming-of-age in a rough Glasgow neighborhood is grimly rendered by Kelman in this stark and affecting novel. The cover of Kieron Smith, Boy comes pasted with superlatives, including Irvine Welsh’s assertion that it’s “a masterpiece.” Personally, I’m not convinced, though it is very clearly an exceptional feat of writing. Well recommended. From a somewhat deprived family, with a narrow minded father and a mother who dreams of better for her sons earning her the label 'snob', and an older brother growing increasingly distant as he tries to study his way out of poverty, Kieron is very much his own person. Novels. There are big boys and wee boys, and Kieron is a wee boy. In Kieron Smith, Boy, he has brought this talent to describe the life of a Glasgow child from the age of roughly five to twelve, growing up in the late 1950s. My maw did not want me to but my da said I could if I wanted, it was a good life and ye saved yer money, except if ye were daft and done silly things. By the fourth time Kieron's mused about how to deal with the mongrel dog from Close number 4 and climbing up the ronepipe you're just about ready to cuff him round the ears and tell him to grow up. That was until Good Friday. From a somewhat deprived family, with a narrow minded father and a mother who dreams of better for her sons earning her the label 'snob', and an older brother growing increasingly distant as he tries to study his way out of poverty, Kieron is very much his own person. In itself this is a wonderful story as it really gives you an insight into the mind of a 10 to 13 year old boy. From a somewhat deprived family, with a narrow minded father and a mother who dreams of better for her sons earning her the label 'snob', and an older brother growing increasingly distant as he tries to study his way out of poverty, Kieron is very much his own person. Jeremiah Brown is a man of extremes. Share ; Share on Facebook; Tweet this on Twitter; Share on Google Plus; Share on … LEND ME ® See Details. Continually rejected by his brother and largely ignored by his parents, Kieron finds comfort - and endless stories - in the home of his much-loved grandparents. Grown Ups by Marian Keyes; 2. I felt transported into the mind of a wee loon. He sees his grandparents every day but some years later when his father changes jobs and the family moves to an apartment of the outskirts of Glasgow, Kieron sees his grandparents infrequently. (Oh did ye get yer h**e?). Special offers and product promotions. Mr Justice Mackay ruled on Friday that Smith should not be considered … Kieron Smith, Boy almost in a stream of consciousness, single-minded, dizzying prose, which for over 400 pages guides you through the before and after of late 1950s Glasgow with its decaying tenements and rats and squalor and then the promise of new greenfield sites and housing schemes, mile after mile of houses with inside toilets but nothing much to do. Kieron Smith, Boy. No need to keep looking. Finally I finished this one and flat out felt like I just wasted my weekend by reading a really pointless book. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. Please make sure to choose a rating . Reading the … The lad is restricted by his mother who wants to be posh, and his older brother who is studying for exams at the posh school, the brothers share a room and he's not allowed to go in his brother's half. An interesting, memorable, memoir like, plotless novel about a young boy, Kieron Smith, set in Glasgow, Scotland during the 1950s. His novel A Disaffection was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction in 1989. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. I'm not sure where to begin. In his native Glasgow, there are Papes (Catholics) and Proddies (Protestants). Kieron’s grandparents live very close by. Kieron Smith, boy is a brilliant evocation of an urban childhood. And the main character is wonderful. Capturing the joys, frustrations, injustices, excitements, revels, battles, games, uncertainties, questions, lies, discoveries and sheer of wonder of boyhood, it is a story of one boy and every boy. I admire what James Kelman was trying to do here with his novel "Kieron Smith, Boy" but ultimately I didn't feel it was successful. There is also a lot of repetition when Kieron wants to stress his point. In this warm, funny and occasionally brooding novel, James Kelman has meticulously and generously recreated both the exterior and the interior of the boy Kieron Smith. The language is perfect - strange reading a Kelman where swear words are asterisked out: f**k, c**t, but even words like b*m, and what is h**e? It’s in the first person and we learn about Kieron’s life from the age of 5 to 13. Kieron Smith provides an account of his life as a young boy (pre teens) living in Glasgow. , boy is the story, and one day I will re-read this and give it five stars, became! 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