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Wideboy: Now Televised as Frank Stubbs Promotes
Frank Stubbs is going into management because he feels you can't be a wideboy all your life. As the reader follows Frank through his momentous day, he looks back over his life in the East End. This is the second novel by the author. His previous published work was "Men Behaving Badly".
248 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1991
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February 13, 2021
“Being different was worse than being unintelligent or poor.”
“I’ve been sitting here and thinking - the future’s just a load of today’s, isn’t it, one after the other?”
“You need qualifications just to live and breath in the late twentieth century.”
“Worse than the money, there was the failure.”
“I’ve got more worry-lines than Big-Ben.”
“Most of the time they were both guessing as to what was proper procedure for married couples.”
The story of Frank’s life is a post-war history of the free market economy without the economics. It’s also a love story, a celebration of London life and a guide to how not to throw a party. Frank’s life is a constant struggle between the family commitments and the desire to be a wideboy. As we follow Frank’s life, we observe how Nye portrays male weaknesses and defensive behavior with a perfect balance between the ludicrous and the poignant. The way the book is written is a peculiar one since an author uses vignettes and therefore creates two perspectives - the life until now and today’s life. You may well think the two parts to be somehow disconnected, but, in fact, they create a whole story which is united at the end.
“I’ve been sitting here and thinking - the future’s just a load of today’s, isn’t it, one after the other?”
“You need qualifications just to live and breath in the late twentieth century.”
“Worse than the money, there was the failure.”
“I’ve got more worry-lines than Big-Ben.”
“Most of the time they were both guessing as to what was proper procedure for married couples.”
The story of Frank’s life is a post-war history of the free market economy without the economics. It’s also a love story, a celebration of London life and a guide to how not to throw a party. Frank’s life is a constant struggle between the family commitments and the desire to be a wideboy. As we follow Frank’s life, we observe how Nye portrays male weaknesses and defensive behavior with a perfect balance between the ludicrous and the poignant. The way the book is written is a peculiar one since an author uses vignettes and therefore creates two perspectives - the life until now and today’s life. You may well think the two parts to be somehow disconnected, but, in fact, they create a whole story which is united at the end.
Displaying 1 of 1 review