The Bricks that Built the Houses: The Sunday Times Bestseller

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The debut novel from "dynamic""wunderkind" Kate Tempest proves her talent to be boundless and unstoppable.* But this heightened, hyperbolic style continues for another couple of chapters which are theoretically establishing said characters. Ok, we're witnessing a lightning-bolt, love at first sight moment between two strangers in a club, but one or both girls are endlessly melting, exploding, bursting into flames or squeezing their bones out of their skin every other paragraph. These overwrought similes and metaphors don't feel remotely earned and are, frankly, more than a little cringey. Written and read by Kate Tempest. Tempest is a poet, rapper, playright and novelist. She was awarded the Ted Hughes Prize for poetry in 2013 for her epic narrative poem, Brand New Ancients. The following year, her narrative-led hip hop album, Everybody Down, was nominated for the Mercury Prize. All my life I’ve been writing prose but not publicly. I write often: when I’m moving through the city I’m often just so blown away by encounters and situations. I’ll carry a notebook. I’ll be writing verbatim things I overhear.

Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 2022-01-01 14:03:31 Bookplateleaf 0002 Boxid IA40280114 Camera USB PTP Class Camera Collection_set printdiscabled External-identifier As a novel, TBTBTH very much reads like a work that originated in a different artform by someone who - however accomplished she may be in other fields - is demonstrably in need of far harsher editing than perhaps her reputation allows. With all fiction it begins in truth. The best fiction begins in some moment that feels so real and right with you that it sends you to try and make sense of it through writing. The setting, for example - South London - is so huge for me internally; it’s the place I grew up. Tempest gives an arch view on the disenfranchisement through characters like Harry: “As if all we want is shit beer and silence, beans and chips and f***ing scratch cards.” An eternal optimist, for me, reading is often about escapism, and I love nothing better than whiling away an afternoon indulging in nostalgic literature by Rosamund Pilcher and Enid Blyton – whose worlds are slightly more rosey than reality, where strife and hardship are non-existent.One of the leading wordsmiths of our time ... She turns her raw, observational skills in book form to the urban young growing up poor - sex, drugs and increasing poverty amid the looming threat of gentrification * Jon Snow * This book is almost everything I hoped it would be. That is praise indeed, as I had high hopes ... As lyrical as it is gritty, and as devoted to (south-east) London as it is to humanity, with all its foibles * New Statesman * A startling debut novel ... The call-to-arms urgency with which she writes about the issues affecting her generation - from social prejudice and unemployment to modern love and selfies - has earned her comparisons to the Beat poets * Vogue * To change the sex of a main character seems like a pretty bold move, but it pushes the reader to understanding that sometimes sex is less important than gender. If anything, the change adds a new element for our characters to dance through, and dance they do. I’d love to know whether Tempest always knew Pete had a sister.

Soaring ... Tempest's flair for language is tempered by her sense of rhythm and pace ... Deeply affecting: cinematic in scope; touching in its empathic humanity ... Tempest's voice - by turns raging and tender - never falters * New York Times * When the idea came that merited the form and I finally sat down to write, I realised I had been developing my voice for years, and every single scrap I’d scoured with undisciplined scribbles was really helpful in making me feel at ease with sentence structure, prose and paragraphs. I think what we’ve learned - and it’s sad to say - is that we can’t trust anything. Nothing will change. The things that make the world go round are beyond anyone’s control because it’s all about corporate control and profit before people. Tempest has a gift for making you feel you're walking on the edge of something: between text and sound, or between a great night and the worst one ... Many bursts of lyrical prose, heavy and kaleidoscopic * Saturday Paper * Angst-ridden lyricism captures the energy and loneliness of London life in this dizzying, genre-busting debut ... A remarkable piece of writing, filled with verbal echoes and half-rhymes ... [One reads] for the pinpoint evocation of a milieu, its texture and contours, all delivered with an intensely gathered and focused energy ... Transformative * Guardian *Kae Tempest ' s critically acclaimed debut novel, the literary companion to their Mercury-Prize nominated album Everybody Down, takes us into the beating heart of the capital in this multi-generational tale of drugs, desire and belonging The highly anticipated debut novel from Kae Tempest--acclaimed poet, playwright, rapper, and recording artist--proves their talent to be boundless and unstoppable.