The Joshua Tree 25th Anniversary
The Joshua Tree 25th Anniversary. Hard to believe it's a quarter of a century since Whistle Test in Belfast.
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"a careful attention to detail, a cherishing and relishing of the quotidian beauties that are the lyricist’s stock-in-trade and, above all, a valuing of human connection...
This is well-connected, socially situated poetry, a poetry that exemplifies that old mantra of Forster’s, “only connect!”
Caitríona O'Reilly - The Irish Times
full review here
“These are very remarkable and compelling poems.With strong narratives and events, vivid and surprising language, and a marvellous square-on exactness.”
Bernard O’Donoghue
John Kelly’s novel is inventive and intense and — more to the reader’s point — it’s luxuriously involving.
Richard Ford
From Out of the City is intricate, outrageous, sophisticated, funny and wonderfully entertaining: what more could a reader ask?
John Banville
Wild and fresh and invigoratingly demented — this is a fiercely funny novel that will bring to mind the glorious excesses of writers like J. P. Donleavy, John Kennedy Toole and Thomas Pynchon.
Kevin Barry
A big rip-roar of a novel: deeply nuanced, authentic, madcap, and very, very funny indeed. From Out of the City subverts itself and diverts us at the very same time: a wonderful new Irish novel.
Colum McCann
Rampant wit and a deft and elegant control of language... a glittering debut
The Times
John Kelly is an immensely gifted writer – he can do things with the spoken language that are rare to behold and behear
Tom Paulin
The Little Hammer is comic gem
Glasgow Evening Herald
Immediate, passionate and shot through with descriptive brilliance, the narrative voice is both charming and convincing
The Guardian
A witty, inventive, exhilarating novel which marks out its own territory with confidence.
The Guardian (Read the full review here)
A universally applicable evocation of male adolesence
Sophisticated Boom Boom as recommended by William Gibson when asked about his bedside reading by the London Independent
Wonderful. Very touching.
Elvis Costello
The Joshua Tree 25th Anniversary. Hard to believe it's a quarter of a century since Whistle Test in Belfast.
So here's the playlist for Radio Clash 74
Here's yesterday's Radio Clash (73) playlist
A Mardi Gras Mystery Train for your nostalgic delectation