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Morvern Callar (Morvern Caller Cycle #1)

3.66 of 5 stars 3.66 · rating details · 1,471 ratings · 88 reviews

Morvern Callar, a low-paid employee in the local supermarket in a desolate and beautiful port town in the west of Scotland, wakes one morning in late December to find her strange boyfriend has committed suicide and is dead on the kitchen floor. Morvern's reaction is both intriguing and immoral. What she does next is even more appalling. Moving across a blurred European lan...more

Paperback, 256 pages

Published February 17th 1997 by Anchor (first published 1995)

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Mar 23, 2011 Mariel rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: I'll be your mirror

Recommended to Mariel by: run run run

The film version of Alan Warner's Morvern Callar is one of my most loved favorites (the leading actress, Samantha Morton, is my favorite actress ever). The film is better than the book. The choice of first person narrative in Warner's book does not work as well to convey the connections and disconnections of Morvern. It's not just the constant mentions of nail painting in the book (what was that? an effort to sound feminine?) that didn't work to reveal or conceal anything. Morton is my favorite...more The film version of Alan Warner's Morvern Callar is one of my most loved favorites (the leading actress, Samantha Morton, is my favorite actress ever). The film is better than the book. The choice of first person narrative in Warner's book does not work as well to convey the connections and disconnections of Morvern. It's not just the constant mentions of nail painting in the book (what was that? an effort to sound feminine?) that didn't work to reveal or conceal anything. Morton is my favorite actress because of her ability to express what is inside her head and heart, something Warner's writing couldn't quite reach in its empty white lines and between spaces diary writing. Morvern is an orphan like Morton herself kinda was. I don't think that fact is an important one, but I do feel that the way that she watches everyone is. I know exactly why they do that because I had to do it too. You watch for those subtle changes in moods because you have to know when to get the hell out of there. Morvern being alone makes sense to me that she does it too. It's like trying to find some kind of anchor. Morton's acting showed how Morvern saw the world around her, even as she couldn't always process what those thoughts and feelings were. Maybe it's because of how I process things myself. I find that I watch how someone says something more than what the words they use because I'm paranoid about hidden messages I'm probably not getting. Morton is the best because I feel I can read her the way I can only read those I know best in the world.
Morvern wants to find some place beautiful. Lanna (Morvern's friend) thinks one place is the same as anywhere else. I think it's beautiful to watch people in all different places and find the beauty there. It's weird to read goodread reviews that it was fucked up story. Yeah, she does chop up a dead body and hide the parts. I guess I find it fascinating the way that people can disassociate themselves from what is happening... Then they come back from that.
I don't think it was bad that Morvern took her dead boyfriend's novel and passed it off as her own. It was pretty funny, actually, because he meant leaving this great novel as some grand gesture of his life. He crapped out on that life. Morvern deserved better than that. I'm glad she got the money and the credit. The boyfriend also left her with a mixed tape. Yeah, well he didn't write the songs. I loved how Morvern listened to the songs and got what she was gonna get out of them herself (whatever he thought she was supposed to get). I like to think of her listening to her music and looking for something more out of her life. (Another thing the film had going for it: reading a tracklist is nothing on hearing it. I loved this film soundtrack. Boards of Canada, Mama and the Papas, Can, Lee Hazlewood featuring Nancy Sinatra...)
Lynne Ramsay directed and wrote the film screenplay for Morvern Callar. (I also love her film Ratcatcher, and her short films too.) There's something about the way she uses all of her resources to tell a story... Whatever it was that was missing about the book... I don't know if it was because Warner was a man. I mean, it's not really an exclusively female drive, to look for home and love and understanding. I think it was probably that Warner wasn't adept enough at first person narrative to get everything across. Some authors are more than good enough to do it (like Bronte's Jane Eyre. Morton also starred in my favorite version of that, come to think).
(I did read the book first. I don't know why I didn't mention that already. I saw the movie and went "So that was what was missing.".)
I bought Morvern Callar and Dodie Smith's I Capture the Castle the same day in 2002. My twin wanted to read 'Castle' first so I read Morvern. Anything else that happened that day (that week or month) I can't remember. Books are my life pretty much.
Thanks to Eh I know about the web archive site and could look up my old *coughs* (Dork!) Samantha Morton fansite from when I was in my early twenties. No one else had pictures of my favorite Morvern Callar scenes but me. Now I grabbed them again yay *coughs* (Dork!).

Goodreads authors might not sympathize. I totally think she should have taken credit for that book.

The watching the ants and burying a dismembered body of evidence scene.

She's being abandoned (again) and time still stops... (I related to this film too much, maybe.)
What, no music scenes? That's every day. (less)

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Jul 06, 2011 Shovelmonkey1 rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: people who are ready for part 2 of learn yerself scotch possible dance for part 1)

Recommended to Shovelmonkey1 by: 1001 books list

Shelves: 1001-books, bookcrossing-books, read-in-2010

You come home one day. You find the mutilated body of your dead boyfriend strewn in a minor gore-fest across the floor of your kitchen. You are calm and you gather together loose change and head out to the local phonebooth to call the police and the ambulance.... and then you stop.

Do you
a) have a mini-break down, collapse on the floor of the phone box convulsed with grief screaming your beloved's name?
b) Realise you have the wrong change and head off to the shops to buy a packet of silk cut in...more

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Nov 16, 2011 Alan rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: novels, should-be-better-known-novels

I love this book. One of my favourites from the 90s.

I had yesterday (10/11/10) off to do some writng, a new story I thought, as I haven't done anything new this year, I must get on. But for some reason both daughters were home. Why aren't you in London I said demonstrating against tuition fees? (One's at Uni, the other's waiting to go.) I should have been there as well, occupying the Tory headquarters. Anyway I couldn't concentrate on anything new (small house), so read through an old notebook f...more I love this book. One of my favourites from the 90s.

I had yesterday (10/11/10) off to do some writng, a new story I thought, as I haven't done anything new this year, I must get on. But for some reason both daughters were home. Why aren't you in London I said demonstrating against tuition fees? (One's at Uni, the other's waiting to go.) I should have been there as well, occupying the Tory headquarters. Anyway I couldn't concentrate on anything new (small house), so read through an old notebook from 1995 and came across some notes on books I was reading then.

Morvern: - a fantastic book about a shopgirl in the Scottish highlands, a raver, her friends inject malt whisky into their temples and drop LSD in their eyes... starts with her strange boyfriend's suicide in the kitchen, a chopped wrist. She lights a Silk Cut and goes to work, opens the Christmas present he left for her. She goes to a night club then on to a party and ends up in a foursome with John and Paul. And on. A wild and fantastic story which will haunt me because I feel it all.

Have to write down some lines from it. She goes to Spain:

The path from my hired apartment to the beach front was like out the Bible under the feirceness of such sun.

When I stubbed out the butt you saw the loveliness of colours: my nails, the glittery gold Sobraine filter in the ashtray with the bright, tousled strips of orange peel among. I used the new lighter on another Sobraine cause of the alternative taste of smoke then orange.

You saw a girl with an awkward looking bottom but the face of an angel.

Children formed a parade along the surf edge, running backwards and forwards as waves came in, the water carrying lifebelts and toys up towards the sandcastles getting built.

Finished MC, and was with her down to the sun-blasted coast, the rave scene like some religious rite, the connections boosted by the Catholic/Spain imagery, the festival, visits to church. The scene with the publisher's agents, Tom and Susan, absolutely hilarious. You agree with the novelist boyfriend - he's sacrificed his life for her to have a good time and you feel he was right.

Also finishing off another mad Scot - Irvine Welsh's The Acid House, not half as good but pretty funny, reading the novella A Smart Cunt. It has chapter titles like 'Jellies and Cock Sucking', 'Christams with Blind Cunt'. Drugs seep through the pages, hallucinations, breakdowns in the new park attendant's life.
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Sep 11, 2007 Paul T rated it 3 of 5 stars

Trainspotting, but for girls.

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Mar 31, 2008 Steven rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: novels, scottish

A great and challenging read, both in subject and style. Morvern is an amazing character, and the way that Warner creates her voice with language is even more amazing. The style is interesting, frequently mixing 2nd person with first person. Commas and words are dropped, as are contextual words. The tone is established in the first paragraph, even the first sentence, so that you know you are entering into a unique voice right off, and that you are going to be disturbed. There are similarities wi...more

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Jul 08, 2008 Sarah Mae rated it 2 of 5 stars

Recommended to Sarah Mae by: VJ Hamilton

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Dec 08, 2008 Mark Cugini rated it 5 of 5 stars

i always ramble about this book, and with good reason: it's, without question, one of the books that made me want to be a writer.

you can put aside the incredibly strong "female empowerment" theme, the unusual but effective stylistic choices, and the incredibly strong voice of Warner and you'll still see a well-crafted, endearing and engaging story. it's meaningful and complicated enough to demand an infinite number of readings. i often find myself returning to it when i wonder whether or not wri...more

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May 13, 2011 Joselito Honestly and Brilliantly rated it 4 of 5 stars

It is unfortunate that this came completely soundless to me when its reading is supposed to be accompanied by music. Music playing either in Morvern Callar's ubiquitous Walkman or elsewhere (a radio nearby, or a stereo, etc.). I don't know what effect it would have had on me if I just had any idea what these tracks sounded like, or even just what their lyrics say:

You Got Me Rockin'
Take Cover
Ma Rainey
Crack Butter
Panzer Be Bop
Last Exit: Straw Dog
Miles Davis: Great Expectations
Sonny Sharrock: Dick...more

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Apr 05, 2012 Arianna rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book was recommended to me by a friend back in 2003 or 2004, a guy I'm no longer even in touch with. I remember always thinking it was something entirely different - more of a period piece, for some reason. So I was pleasantly surprised when I finally pulled this off my shelf to read it. It was pretty nostalgic, which was nice! I enjoyed the mid-90s feel of it. I was rather put off by the last paragraph of the book, but aside from the wording of it, I think it closed up the story quite well...more

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Jan 19, 2012 Brett rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Oct 09, 2010 Miranda rated it 2 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this book at first and was intrigued by the narrator but as it went on, I rapidly lost interest. She was not a very sympathetic character to my mind, although that is not a pre-requisite for me to enjoy a book. She just did not keep my attention and perhaps from the blurb, my expectations were for a lot more to happen than actually did. I like the basic idea of the plot but ultimately it didn't grip me.

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Apr 11, 2009 BookRambler rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I had no idea what to expect when I read this book. Hyped as 'one woman's journey of the soul' - it is intesely bleak, harrowing in its coldness and yet, surprisingly uplifting at the end.
The story is narrated in the first person by Morvern Callar, a 21 year old grocery assistant in a supermarket in the north-west of Scotland (it helps if you know the area around Morvern but it's not necessary to understand or follow the story).
I'm not going to give away the story - it's about Morvern's awakenin...more

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Jan 28, 2010 Ellen rated it 3 of 5 stars

A young woman, 21, working in a dead end job and living in a small port town on the west coast of Scotland wakes up one morning to find that her 35 year old boyfriend of five years has committed suicide. She ignores the body for a few days and goes about her life as usual which consists of work and partying. She eventually dismembers and buries the body, sells his manuscript as her own, gets an advance and goes off to Spain (I think) to party some more.

If I hadn't seen the film version of this...more A young woman, 21, working in a dead end job and living in a small port town on the west coast of Scotland wakes up one morning to find that her 35 year old boyfriend of five years has committed suicide. She ignores the body for a few days and goes about her life as usual which consists of work and partying. She eventually dismembers and buries the body, sells his manuscript as her own, gets an advance and goes off to Spain (I think) to party some more.

If I hadn't seen the film version of this book, I would have said there couldn't be one because not a whole lot really happens and Morvern Callar, whose name means Quieter Silence, doesn't say a whole lot. I saw the film 8 years ago so my memory is fuzzy but my recollection is that it was great looking, a good performance by Samantha Morton, but I didn't connect. Having read the book, I feel I have a bit more understanding of where she is coming from and although I still can't identify with Morvern, I find myself wondering about her and I'll give the story credit for that.

Allan Warner said: "I think Morvern Callar is an existential novel and one that taps into the absurd, that whole opening sequence. I think Morvern is outraged at the absurdity of death, the fact she has to jump over the body to get to the sink, the fact that she suddenly needs to take a crap, even though the man she loves is dead there in the midst of their (former) domestic bliss. The whole absurdity of having to get dressed and put on makeup though he’s dead. I think it metaphysically outrages her which is why she reports it so exhaustively and perhaps that’s why she walks past the phonebox. She’s rebelling against the absurdity of death, in that way she’s heroic I think."

I didn't get this feeling. I thought something her foster father says was more telling: "No big pleasures for the likes of us, eh? We who eat from the plate thats largely empty. Here's you, 21, a 40 hour week on slave wages for the rest of your life; even with the fortnight in a resort there no much room for poetry there, eh? The hidden fact of our world is that theres no point in having desire unless you've money. Every desire is transformed into sour dreams. You get told if you work hard you get money but most work hard and end up with nothing."
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Aug 30, 2012 Trish rated it 4 of 5 stars

Morvern never explains herself, she just exists. She seems to be a creature entirely of the present: That's why she moves on so prosaically after her boyfriend's death. To Morvern, He and his corpse are two distinctly separate things. His corpse is accorded the same consideration as his record collection or his cash -- He's got no use for any of them any longer, so Morvern makes use of what she can and discards the rest. In her world, she cannot afford the luxury of grief. There's just another d...more

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Nov 04, 2011 Rob rated it 3 of 5 stars

The kind of novel for which I wish Goodreads allowed 1/2-star ratings. I liked this book about a young girl in stasis – and parts of it are downright brilliant – but there are also stretches where not much happens, and the ending is frustratingly ambiguous. In other words, better than a 3, not quite good enough for a 4. The story kicks off with a bang: the title character discovers that her boyfriend has committed suicide and left her both a completed novel and a hefty sum of money. She tells no...more

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Nov 19, 2012 Ned Rifle rated it 1 of 5 stars

If you look at photographs of Alan Warner's face you can quickly spot the contrition of a man who has written Morvern Callar. It does not suffice. Books seemingly centred on emptiness do not necessarily succeed by being soulless pits of mediocrity. Books centred on soulless pits of mediocrity do not succeed based on emptiness. Furthermore, men writing female characters do not convince by displaying their knowledge that women have to wipe from front to back after going to the toilet etc. In the t...more

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Nov 25, 2010 Andrew Mcq rated it 3 of 5 stars

I thought the central role was fascinating, a brilliant study of character done with a few simple brushstrokes. But I felt the story began with a bang and ended with a whimper. The central crux of the tale is practically forgotten by the halfway point; rather than building in tension it reverts to mundanity. There are lots of undeveloped opportunities for a really gripping story, but the writer falls back into a straight-forward everyday character study. We get a very accurate snapshot portrait,...more

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Apr 12, 2013 Eilidh rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: culture-and-society-in-modern-scotl

Morvern Callar is a sparky wee novel about a young woman from a town in rural Scotland (which seems to be Oban - where Warner is from) and how she deals with her boyfriend's suicide. About half the book is set in Oban, the other half in Spain.

I liked this book quite a lot. At first I wasn't sure about it because it has a really unusual style - first person narration which is pretty strongly influenced by the local dialect - but I got into it after the first section and read it in about 2 days. I...more Morvern Callar is a sparky wee novel about a young woman from a town in rural Scotland (which seems to be Oban - where Warner is from) and how she deals with her boyfriend's suicide. About half the book is set in Oban, the other half in Spain.

I liked this book quite a lot. At first I wasn't sure about it because it has a really unusual style - first person narration which is pretty strongly influenced by the local dialect - but I got into it after the first section and read it in about 2 days. I particularly liked the way Morvern describes and appreciates nature, but there are a lot of good things about this novel which Warner is pretty subtle about. Most critics and readers seem to really dislike Morvern, saying her actions after her boyfriend's death show that she's detached, dissociated from the real world and immoral. With respect, I think this is a pretty superficial reading of the text and disagree quite a lot. Although Morvern doesn't show much reverence for her boyfriend's body or possessions, she seems to have deep respect for his memory - she gets angry with Lanna for sleeping with him, buries him on the same island as her apparently beloved fostermother, and always uses a capital 'H' to refer to 'Him', as if he were a God-like figure to her. I felt like she had a morality, just not the society-prescribed one. In some ways, she reminded me of Meursault, except I found her more normal and sympathetic than Camus's character.

I'm studying this book at uni, focusing on its relationship to the film adaptation. I preferred the book to the film, and though I do think the film is good too I feel like it should be considered a separate story rather than an adaptation of the book because Ramsay has changed the essence of the text quite a lot.

In preparation for the essay I'm writing about the book/film relationship I read an article today about spirituality in the text in which the author argues that the novel charts Morvern's religious progression - at first she has no faith because there is none to be found in her rubbishy wee town, but when she goes to Spain she experiences spirituality and by the end of the book becomes Godlike. I don't know how much I agree with the author on the details, but she did put forth some interesting arguments, so I'd advise anyone reading the book to think about the role religion plays in the text.

But yeah, I liked this book. I'll maybe read another Alan Warner at some point.(less)

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Jan 16, 2012 Jimmie rated it 1 of 5 stars

I never got into this book. None of the characters was likeable, but none was so despicable as to be interesting. I found myself reading chunks of it while thinking about completely different things (hockey, dinner, what am I going to read next). In fact, the only part of the book to capture my attention (if ever so briefly) was (SPOILER!!!) when Morvern put her name on her dead boyfriend's manuscript--and even then it's because I'm a big fat book nerd. All the bits where she's talking about mus...more

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Aug 29, 2012 Alexandra rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

So far this book is very intriguing. I saw the film a few years ago so when I caught sight of the paperback I snapped it up. The book is very instant as the main incident starts the book and then all the action is triggered by that massive shocking event.
What is really strange though is Morven's weirdly accepting behaviour and the fact that she copes with everything so cooly. Abandoning,stashing and eventually disposing of her boyfriends body seem very matter of fact to her.

You have to concentra...more

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Sep 18, 2010 Heidi rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviewed

I am very "middle road" on this book. First - I saw the movie years ago on the IFC channel, but didn't remember until I was about 1/3 of the way into the book. I didn't exactly "get" the movie either...

Second - I wonder if there isn't a list of questions brought up in some book club that might shed some insight on what I'm missing.

There are parts (scenes) that grip me pretty emotionally - i.e. when she's camping up the Bien between the port she lives in and the village that her boyfriend came fr...more

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Jan 08, 2010 Judith rated it 2 of 5 stars

Someone recommended this book to me many years ago and I have forgotten who. The reason this becomes important is that I can't imagine what image I portrayed to provoke such a recommendation. The main character in this story is a very young Scottish girl who wakes up on Christmas Eve to discover that her live-in boyfriend has killed himself in their apartment. She steps around the body and opens all the presents under the tree and goes to work at her job as a clerk in a supermarket.

And the stor...more

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Jul 22, 2009 Becky rated it 4 of 5 stars

Another quick read, Morvern Callar is the tale of a girl from a tiny port town in Scotland (has to be Oban I think), who returns from work to find her boyfriend has killed himself. What follows is a tale of lost youths in a small town, a series of self discoveries, and a large amount of dark humour. A lazy critic on the blurb has called it "Trainspotting for girl," but the only parallel I can see is employing a large amount of local slang. It's in equally parts mortifying and uplifting, as Morve...more

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Apr 12, 2009 Colleen rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: People who like dark, morbid, slightly sexual stories about Scottish chicks.

Recommended to Colleen by: Nick

Shelves: nick-s-recommendation

This book was a little difficult to get into, style wise, because it takes place in a working-class port town in Scotland and all of the slang is in place in the dialog. The author also chose not to use quotation marks. But once I got into it I really liked it. It was very dark and hard to relate to the main character during some parts, but I was intrigued and scandalized enough to always want to find out what happens next. I wasn't crazy about the end, but I liked the first 2/3 of the book enou...more

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Jan 06, 2013 Catherine rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: bookcrossing

Oh dear. With more than one copy of this on my Bookcrossing shelf I was convinced that at least one of them had a JE, but I can't find any and it's now a while since I read it. Oh dear.
Morvern has a hard life and does some bad things, but she arouses sympathy rather than pity right from the start. It's a difficult book to talk about at this distance because what has stuck with me is the plot - and it's not every book that does that after 18 months. It must therefore be worth more than the 4/10 I...more

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Mar 13, 2011 MJ Nicholls rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: novels, hoots-mon

Morvern is a troubled young woman from a fictitious Highland fishing village who walks into an inheritance after her boyfriend slashes his wrists in her front room.

She goes abroad, goes to the pub, gets a book she didn't write published, works in the supermarket, goes abroad again and goes clubbing very many times both home and abroad. She remains as inscrutable and strange as possible, allowing the reader little window into her semi-psychotic mind, leaving them entertained but bemused. Same thi...more

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Jun 01, 2012 Sheila rated it 3 of 5 stars

What do you do when you come home to find your boyfriend of six years has committed suicide on the kitchen floor? If your name is Morvern Callar, first you open the Christmas presents he left under the tree. Then, you start emptying his bank account. {i}Then{/i}, you hit a rave, and don't come home for a few days. And after that? Well, you swipe the floppy disc containing his manuscript, print it out with your own name on it, and submit it to his publisher. Also, you stash his body in the attic...more

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Feb 24, 2013 Peter Carroll rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

An acquaintance of my wife recommended this book to me. I don't think I'd have read it based on the blurb and I'm afraid my doubts proved entirely founded.

I think this book would divide opinion. Some would revel in the quirky, avant garde writing, the unorthodox structure and lack of any real plot. Others, like me, will find it irritating to have no speech marks, odd punctuation, deliberately ommitted pronouns, adverbs and conjunctions, and the hotch potch of phonetic and standard dialogue.

I mi...more

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Oct 26, 2011 Kevin rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Anyone

Recommended to Kevin by: No One

I think what many people completely miss about the Morvern character is that she is totally defined by her environment, yet manages to at least try and break free from it. Scottish fishing villages are small, insular, limiting places (at least the one described in the book is); Morvern can only dream of what she knows, and what she knows is a Scottish fishing village, casual sex, drugs, booze, and raves.

So although she has a lot going against her (environment, no parents, boyfriend dead, no educ...more

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Mar 18, 2008 Erwin rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: People who wish MTV would make a film version of *Catcher in the Rye*

In an word, "eh."

Morvern Callar left me cold. Author Alan Warner writes the narrative as an extended monologue on his title character's part, which, because he steeps it in Gaelic-laced idiom and stream-of-consciousness phrasing, makes for difficult reading. Warner is clearly reaching for subtlety in doing this, and for the most part he succeeds. But what he wishes subtly to convey is a disappointingly conventional tale of anomie and alienation.

The novel's main defect is that Morvern much too cl...more In an word, "eh."

Morvern Callar left me cold. Author Alan Warner writes the narrative as an extended monologue on his title character's part, which, because he steeps it in Gaelic-laced idiom and stream-of-consciousness phrasing, makes for difficult reading. Warner is clearly reaching for subtlety in doing this, and for the most part he succeeds. But what he wishes subtly to convey is a disappointingly conventional tale of anomie and alienation.

The novel's main defect is that Morvern much too closely resembles her obvious literary forebears — Holden Caufield, Mersault, Gide's immoralist — to make much of an impression in her own right. Simply take one of these forebears, outfit him with appropriate contemporary doo-dads (a Walkman, Ecstasy, mirror shades), change his sex, and you have Morvern Callar.

Morvern is certainly a victim of the postmodern condition. A foster child working a dead–end job in an economically depressed Scottish town, she endures an ongoing crisis of meaning that she tries to alleviate by resorting to the "small pleasures" to be had by binge drinking, pill popping and engaging in anonymous sex. This sort of desultory hedonism blights Morvern's moral outlook, as the reader discovers early in the novel.

Morvern does, however, undergo a transformation of a sort as she begins to understand the realities conditioning her disaffection, but the ethos she develops in the novel — an improbable admixture of Dionysiac ecstasy, feeble piety and muted atavism — aren't nearly as satisfying to the reader as they are to Morvern. Which is another way of saying that Alan Warner, working in the tradition of Salinger, Camus and Gide, doesn't break any new ground. Morvern Callar apparently remains content to observe the protocols of hipster posturing, perhaps because Warner wishes it to retain market appeal as a zeitgeist novel or as an exposé of the shocking lengths young people today go to to fill an existential void within them. And, like most works of this sort, it trades on sensationalism made only more sensationalistic for being related in Morvern's deadpan manner. Warner refuses to show the reader a way beyond contemporary afflictions apart from some personal "truth" cobbled together from the cultural flotsam left in modernity's wake.

This way beyond I cannot claim to know; what it would look like I cannot say. But this is why we have art, and why we need great artists. Only they can offer us a glimpse of the path out of any current eudaimonic stalemate. Morvern Callar is, then, more conciliatory than visionary, more quietist than revolutionary, and thus cannot, in my opinion, be regarded as great.(less)

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About Alan Warner

Alan Warner is the author of six novels: the acclaimed Morvern Callar (1995), winner of a Somerset Maugham Award; These Demented Lands (1997), winner of the Encore Award; The Sopranos (1998), winner of the Saltire Society Scottish Book of the Year Award; The Man Who Walks (2002), an imaginative and surreal black comedy; The Worms Can Carry Me to Heaven (2006), and The Stars in the Bright Sky (2010...more

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title link	preview: Morvern Callar
avg rating	preview: Morvern Callar Goodreads rating: 3.66 (1471 ratings)
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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/526164.Morvern_Callar?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348681627l/526164.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/526164.Morvern_Callar?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Morvern Callar by Alan Warner[/url]

Morvern Callar (Morvern Caller Cycle #1)

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