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The Stars in the Bright Sky (The Sopranos Cycle #2)

3.61 of 5 stars 3.61 · rating details · 112 ratings · 20 reviews

The Sopranos are back: out of school and out in the world, gathered in Gatwick to plan a super-cheap last-minute holiday to celebrate their reunion. Kay, Kylah, Manda, Rachel and Finn are joined by Finn’s equally gorgeous friend Ava – a half-French philosophy student – and are ready to go on the rampage.

Just into their twenties and as wild as ever, they’ve added acrylic na...more

Hardcover, 394 pages

Published by Jonathan Cape (first published May 1st 2011)

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Dec 15, 2012 Jakey Gee rated it 2 of 5 stars

I came to this after deciding that ‘The Deadmans Pedal’ was my novel of 2012, pretty much.

To Alan Warner’s credit, it’s one brave task to take on – a novel set overwhelmingly and claustrophobically in an airport, with a large cast of characters that are doomed to be marked down for not being likeable by the ‘likeability’ seeking Richard & Judy reader. To be clear, the dominant character is an irritating twat.

My main criticism though centres around character interaction and voice. Granted,...more I came to this after deciding that ‘The Deadmans Pedal’ was my novel of 2012, pretty much.

To Alan Warner’s credit, it’s one brave task to take on – a novel set overwhelmingly and claustrophobically in an airport, with a large cast of characters that are doomed to be marked down for not being likeable by the ‘likeability’ seeking Richard & Judy reader. To be clear, the dominant character is an irritating twat.

My main criticism though centres around character interaction and voice. Granted, this is a ‘what happened next?’ from an earlier coming-of-age novel, ‘The Sopranos’ (but it’s a standalone too) – so perhaps those relationships have been forged and the work has been done there. But coming to the group for the first time here, I really didn’t believe in the idea that this ragtag band would actually still regroup in this way or retain its loyalties and connections. ‘Manda’ is an exaggeratedly stupid, insufferable Alpha Female and I just didn’t believe that the two plus old friends would still be humouring her and giving her centre stage, having entered their twenties and left town. She’s precisely the kind of person they’d have waved goodbye to years earlier. Her small town ignorance– which a number of the other characters also display – doesn’t really feel credible for a character in an age of TV and mass communication. So I found myself quite often thinking ‘She would know that’; ‘she would have known what that is’; ‘there’s no way she’d call Enrique Iglesias ‘Reaky Glaciers’ by accident’. The studied naivety just didn’t work for me. Or add up. On the one hand we’re to imagine she’s canny, heart-of-gold and folk-smart; on the other she’s a fucking idiot with the brains of an eight year old.

Beyond her, the rest of the cast struggled to come through for me – and six of them is, to be fair, a huge task for a writer to develop and push into interaction. I didn’t really believe in the Ava character; that she would have surrendered herself to this; the Jewish-French-English-Rose-Oxford-Junkie assembly. I wanted her to come to life more and to get an understanding of her rapport with Finn (the reason behind her joining the parade). I also didn’t think she’d have been embraced, in time, the way she was.

The other big flaw, I think, is voice, which didn’t really serve character. At times we have imagery that just doesn’t belong here. A business centre in a hotel is described as looking something like ‘a room of voting booths for an election in a developing world country’ (or something smart like that) – but whose observation is that? Not these girls’. At other times, where Warner was describing the airport interior, I found myself going “Alan, we know what the lifts look like in airports. You don’t have to notice and describe the mechanism of the lifts”. The characters certainly wouldn’t.

The ending (I won’t give it away) is also a bit set-piece-y and for-the-sake of it too, and doesn’t really reveal anything, other than that this novel is set around this date. A la 'On the wireless, Mr Chamberlain was heard saying "I believe it is peace for our time"'.

So, a really brave concept to take on - but not especially rewarding in its execution. It’s the kind of thing that might perhaps get more interesting as decades pass, as it’s a snapshot of current/recent consumer culture and lifestyle (the fashion, the food, the mores). Pardon the pun though - it never really took off.
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Jan 09, 2012 Brunhilde rated it 5 of 5 stars

Alan Warner's cracking sequel to 'The Sopranos' gives us the girls in their twenties now, Orla gone so the group is augmented by a posh uni friend of Finn's, thus balancing out the educated/non-educated ratio. It has to be said that the educated ones aren't always the smartest. Using Gatwick as a metaphor for modern life in his 9/11 novel, Warner mercilessly exposes the bleak aridity of our materialistic, celebrity-obsessed society. Manda, the working-class single mum has evolved to become token...more

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May 16, 2012 Jo Bennie rated it 3 of 5 stars

The gallus, hellraising Catholic schoolgirls from The Sopranos have grown up, and are at Gatwick airport ready to book a cheap last minute deal and unleash themselves on some unsuspecting culture. Orla has succumbed to Hodgkins lymphoma and her place is taken by Finn's London flatmate Ava, extreme in her beauty and wealth. Warner's skill in this novel is extraordinary, the easy thing would have been to keep the girls moving through new experiences and display their character via their reactions,...more

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Oct 16, 2010 Anne rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Alan Warner's The Stars in the Bright Sky is his sixth novel and the sequel to 'The Sopranos'. This was my first taste of the author and to be truthful, I am not a fan. There are many many great reviews for his earlier work and this one was nominated for the Booker Prize so I had looked forward to reading it.

The story is set in Gatwick Airport - a group of twenty-something women have decided to take a last minute holiday - they don't have a clue where they are going, and are old friends with a l...more

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Sep 17, 2010 Alan rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: novels, read-in-2010

a sequel to the great 'The Sopranos' ( no, not the US TV series but a book about Scottish schoolgirls, and tremendously funny and full of life: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41... )
Of course his 'Morvern Callar' remains my book of the 90s.. http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52...

I first came across Alan Warner when a Scottish temp at work lent me Morvern Callar in 1995 (I lent her Kelman’s ‘How Late it Was, How Late’, and never got it back). It (MC) was one of those books that I just start...more a sequel to the great 'The Sopranos' ( no, not the US TV series but a book about Scottish schoolgirls, and tremendously funny and full of life: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41... )
Of course his 'Morvern Callar' remains my book of the 90s.. http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52...

I first came across Alan Warner when a Scottish temp at work lent me Morvern Callar in 1995 (I lent her Kelman’s ‘How Late it Was, How Late’, and never got it back). It (MC) was one of those books that I just started and had to continue, while walking or eating etc, it was so absorbing: strange but rooted in supermarket- checkout-girl reality, amoral yet searching for truth, poetic and demotic. The strange detachment of Morvern is compelling because you don’t know how she’ll react to events (eg the suicide of her 30 year old novelist boyfriend). I have to admit to falling in love with her, as much as you can fall in love with a literary creation. I bought copies for my friends, and all the women remarked how well Warner had got inside the mind of a 21 year old woman. In fact as there was no biographical information on (or in) the book they were convinced that it was a woman writing under a pseudonym. It became a favourite (much more so than Irvine Welsh’s stuff who he was compared to, simply because he is also Scottish) in my little gang. Then later came ‘The Sopranos’, lighter in tone but equally impressive in its ability to enter the mind of females, this time six of them, schoolgirls, part of a choir who have a trip to Edinburgh for a choral competition and the plot follows their shenanigans as they behave in the wild, but also normal way of most girls that age, and that culture (small town/working class – although a couple are more middle class). Superbly funny and again quite densely poetic but also full of slang and wonderfully detailed observation.

Then along came this book. I had stopped reading Warner – just didn’t fancy his last two novels from the blurbs (although friends tell me they’re good), but had to read this because it’s a sequel to ‘The Sopranos’, and I had to find out what had happened to fat Guinness drinking Manda, and Finn and Chell and the rest. (I named one of my story characters after Manda.) Here they meet up at Gatwick airport to go an unbooked holiday (they are going to do the lastminute thing and book one there) in 2001 when they are just in their 20s. Orla has died, and a new character, Ava, a rich half French philosophy student (Finn is at Uni with her) takes her place. Well, they start to chat and have fun and get drunk and talk about their luggage – straighteners have been brought but not curling tongs, someone’s brought an iron, they get pissed talk about lads, one (Manda of course) loses her passport, so they can’t go and are stuck for another two nights there (in the airport hotels), they go for a trip to Hever castle (in nearby Kent), and finally book a trip to Las Vegas but.. well I’ll let you find out. Suffice to say they never leave the ground (literally that is).

Strictly speaking I should have given this 4 stars because even I got a little bored in one or two places with the incredible attention to the detail of the quotidian, of the TV programmes, eg Big Brother that they watch, the account of the VIP lounge in the home town’s one nightclub (Rascals), the difference in sizes between GAP and Topshop, but there are set pieces that are so funny, as well as true and a little poignant that all is forgiven. Manda on coke (not Coca Cola) watching porn in the hotel room for example, or their encounters with various men, eg the waiter at the airport or the groundsman at Hever Castle (men are much talked about but seldom appear). Ava too brings another dimension with her ability to sail through life as an aristocrat and themes of class, and philosophy are explored (the main theme though, as others have said, is loss of innocence). I probably would avoid this group had I met them in the airport (not that I go to airports much) or in the pub but Warner gives them their proper due, once again he has enthralled me.

Quotes are needed and will be forthcoming when I get home…
Still at work, but managed to scribble this down in break, from a random page - Manda on Spain:‘Watch out for yon food they’re aye funnelling down your gullet. Pie-elle-yah it’s called. It’s minging. It’s bright yellow rice like yon you get with a carry out from The Light of India, but it’s got all sea monsters and stuff in and you try to lift a spoonful and it’s got the broke-off creeper pincer things of those sort of sea cockroaches mixed up in it. When all you want’s a good burger, eh?’

The airport with its alien landscape of beeping machines and franchises and huge black pipe work suspended from the ceiling, the moving walkways and Hoppa buses and ersatz ‘English pub’ is beautifully evoked:
At the back of Macdonalds, the Game Grid amusement arcade was empty. The machines seemed to talk to themselves, like burbling, jungle canopy wildlife… The Ezzy Dancer stood hugely before them, eight feet tall when elevated, embedded disco lights on top of the large speakers. The lights obediently flashed, reminding both Finn and Ava of sad village hall discos long past. Above.. a mania of information scrolled up the large pulsating screen, then disappeared at the top.. The dance step arrows were flying upwards while an urging, wry, male American voice – like a cynical sergeant from the Marine Corps – imprecated and threateningly encouraged from the woofer speakers. ‘Excellent.’ ‘You could be a professional.’ The voice sneered towards phantom dancers who were not there, tempting observers to insert money, mount the platform and dance.
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Jul 09, 2011 Sally rated it 5 of 5 stars

As much as I loved The Sopranos, I think I enjoyed the follow-up even more. Seeing where the girls have ended up just a few years later, how they've changed (and not changed, in some cases). It's just wonderful and I felt so connected to the characters.

The introduction of a new character -- Ava, Fionnula's friend from uni -- filled the absence from Orla's death while not displacing her memory. And Ava added an interesting dynamic to the way the other girls interact with each other.

Overall, I wou...more

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Nov 29, 2010 Elaine rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010

Quite dull, and, apart from the dialogue, quite self-importantly and pretentiously written. Very endless -- only Manda emerges as a real individual, and she is relentlessly unlikeable enough for that to be problematic. The other girls remain much more indistinct (perhaps we are supposed to remember their characters from reading the Sopranos 11 years ago?), and the freshness of Warner's voice has faded a lot since the Sopranos and Morvern Callar.

The inevitable "suprise" ending is not a surprise b...more

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Jul 19, 2010 Clare rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is the sequel to The Sopranos, published in 1998. It has not been published in the US, so I had to order it from amazon.co.uk. I enjoyed it a lot, though it had less cohesion, plot-wise, than its predecessor. Regardless, there are beautiful and touching moments in this book, it it was wonderful to be able to 'catch up' with loved characters from a decade ago. If you like Alan Warner's work, this is definitely worth the special order from the UK.

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Aug 21, 2011 Ashley rated it 1 of 5 stars

I came across this book in the library and picked it up without really thinking about it. This book was really boring to me. The only reason why I finished it, is because I don't like to start a book without actually finishing it. May I also say that I was freaking annoyed with the character "Amanda Tassy". I simply don't recommend this book and I'm sorry to say, but to me it was kind of a waste of time.

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Feb 07, 2012 Joanne Parkington rated it 1 of 5 stars

Absolute rubbish .. a complete waste of paper ... this was short listed for the Booker Prize .. Why?? From a set of annoying one dimensional characters to a completely uninteresting location and a predictable ending ... it was painful to read.

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Sep 01, 2011 Michael Brown rated it 4 of 5 stars

Agree with many of the reviews that this is not up to the same epic level as Sopranos but what awesome characterisation. I'll miss those girls big time and plead with Warner to give us a trilogy.

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Jul 31, 2011 James Haliburton added it · review of another edition

Disappointing follow up to 'The Sopranos'. Lacking Warner's usual story-telling invention 'Stars' is a series of uninvolving set pieces.

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Jul 28, 2010 Xox marked it as to-read

Shelves: to-buy

Attention! Attention!

This is the Scots writer that might get this year Man Booker Prize for fiction!

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Jul 06, 2011 Jafr rated it 1 of 5 stars

Sopranos was so good, but this one... Manda Tassy as Eric Cartman for 400 pgs? His earlier novels had great timing and hit perfectly, after reading this Im near giving him up.

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Jan 16, 2011 Sara Molinaro rated it 3 of 5 stars

I'm on the fence about this one; having never been a late teenage girl Warner seems to live on the brink of fantasy regarding their language and sexuality. Is every 19-20 year old bisexual? I'm skeptical. He does keep the dialogue moving along and the ending was totally surprising and pretty fitting, given the way the whole novel went.

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Jul 08, 2011 Joshua rated it 3 of 5 stars

Going along so well until the last three pages... then an awful, truly awful ending. An unnecessary ending, one with nothing at all to do with the characters or plot. I've been a big fan of Warner's for a while, but those three pages at the end were a big fail, in my mind. They redefine the book in an terrible, kitschy way.

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Sep 04, 2010 Gayla Bassham rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: booker-prize-2010, 2010-reads, best-books-of-2010

I liked this one a lot, actually. There is no plot, so if you go looking for one you will be deeply disappointed. But it is never dull and Manda is a marvelous character. I was sorry to turn the last page.

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Mar 06, 2012 Hannah rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: everyone

Shelves: schots, favorites

Again, brilliant, as usual. And as always after one of Alan Warner's books, I don't want to read anything from my to-read-list for a while, because I've been looking forward to all of those books but they'll only be spoiled, pale in comparison.

(reread 2 years later and yep, it's still the very best).

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Mar 07, 2011 Lori rated it 4 of 5 stars

An enjoyable read populated by familiar, lively and interesting characters but just not in the same league as The Sopranos.

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Apr 11, 2012 Joanne rated it 4 of 5 stars

Not as great as his other books but entertaining and nice to check back in with him and the girls. Three and a half stars.

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May 22, 2013 Zack Hansen marked it as to-read

May 16, 2013 Christopher Halpin marked it as to-read

May 14, 2013 Veronika added it · review of another edition

May 13, 2013 Timothy Quinn marked it as to-read · review of another edition

May 09, 2013 Samantha marked it as to-read

May 06, 2013 Olivia Buhannic rated it 4 of 5 stars

Apr 24, 2013 Ian Carswell marked it as to-read

Apr 23, 2013 Catherine marked it as to-read

Apr 19, 2013 Erika Ordonez marked it as to-read

May 08, 2013 Jamie Taylor rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, owned

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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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The Stars in the Bright Sky (The Sopranos Cycle #2)

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