Bad Attitudes

by Agnes Owens

Bad Attitudes is a wickedly dark tale of Scottish council-housing and murder. This first of two novellas also boasts a missing person, a lethally nosy neighbor, an extra-marital affair, a rumored fortune in a condemned council terrace, a lusty councillor, and a new housing law for tinkers. Who but Agnes Owens could concoct such a delicious brew of dour hilarity and then follow it with an unforgettable party? '"I think a birthday party would be just the thing to cheer us up, '" screeches Jen's visiting Aunt Belle in the second novella, "Jen's Party." The soon-to-be fifteen-year-old almost immediately regrets agreeing to this plan as her somewhat louche, possibly crazy, relentlessly bouncy and optimistic aunt revs into party mode, assuring her drab sister Maude, Jen's mother, that she'll take care of everything. With a perfectly tuned ear for the droll and the deadly, she can spin a tale of domestic mayhem that is at once disarmingly tense and movingly human.

Genres: Fiction, Scotland

192 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 2003

About the author

Agnes Owens was a Scottish author. She was born in Milngavie in 1926 and spent most of her life on the west coast of Scotland. She has been married twice and raised seven children, also working as a cleaner, typist and factory worker.

Via https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnes_O...

Reviews

[MJ Nicholls · Rating 4 out of 5]

Is it wrong to have a mental sweepstake as to which of my favourite elderly writers will pop their clogs first? Yes. But I have such a mental sweepstake at present and I can’t stop it. The four principals in the running were Gore Vidal (86), William H. Gass (88), Agnes Owens (86), and Alasdair Gray (77). Gore Vidal passed away last Tuesday, so as penance for this cruel mental sweepstake, I will read another of his novels this month. This isn’t much penance, because I was going to anyway, but hey ho. I have an unfortunate relationship with my favourite writers—usually I discover their work only a few years after their deaths. Gilbert Sorrentino, died 2006. I started reading him in 2009. Kurt Vonnegut, died 2007. I started (seriously) reading him in 2009. David Foster Wallace, died 2008. I started in 2010. Now there are the unfortunate cases when I’ve discovered writers, eagerly anticipate their work, and they silently pass away. Gilbert Adair, died 2011. I read all his novels in 2010. J.G Ballard, died 2009. I started to read him in 2008. I got into Christopher Hitchens a few months into his cancer diagnosis. Now, Mr. Vidal. I wish my favourite writers would stop dying. When I read Agnes Owens, for example, there’s a tension that this writer, who doesn’t live too far from me, might be expiring as I read her work. When I read William H Gass, I wonder will this be the last one I read while Gass is still alive? Should I read more Gass while he’s alive? If I complete the canon in the writers’ lifetime, is that somehow more psychically satisfying for both reader and writer? These are the questions. These two novellas are Owens’s last. But not her last fictions, yet.

[Tuck · Rating 5 out of 5]

two novellas. bad attitudes is a bit farcical tale of the families in and around a terrace slated to be torn down. funny that as grime as it is, drunken fathers, nutty holdouts, 15 year old punkass kids, adulterous mothers, shady tinkers, shadier politicians, bleeding heart social workers and ALL with bad attitudes, it ends on a hopeful note. hopeful that the school dropout and multi-murderer would get out of his bed, successfully hide the murder weapon, and leave his little slice of family heaven for the bigger world out there. well, i guess you had to be there.
the second story deals with a divorced mom, practically locked up with anxiety and worry, her 14 year old daughter who is taking after her mom, and a crazy kleptomaniac aunt Belle who tries to look on the bright side, while running her own one-woman brothel out of her borrowed bedroom. things turn out sort of well in this story too.
Agnes Owens is a great great Scottish author who i now cherish.

[Jacqui · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book contains two novellas. I liked the first one “Bad Attitudes” much better than the second. The characters were more interesting and well observed and the dialogue was authentic. It was a pretty grim tale, but there was humour in it. Having grown up in a Central Scotland Council house scheme, I recognised the setting and characters.
The second story “Jen’s Party” didn’t gel with me. I didn’t like the characters- they weren’t drawn as clearly, and the story seemed very unlikely, even given the setting. the dialogue was odd too. It wasn’t Scottish, which I was expecting, so that maybe threw me.

[Leif · Rating 3 out of 5]

Agnes Owens is often described as a "one off." Not sure if that's the right description, but her title is chosen well considering the characters Owens describes. Bad attitudes is right: coarse manners, ill intentions, poor communication, and oh so gleeful selfishness. These two novellas are funny - in a way, if dark and relatively nasty is your thing - and they're well-envisaged, with moments of light and clarity. It sure ain't humorous, but it is interesting.

[Moira Banks · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember the Glasgow of the 60s, and 70s, the abandoned tenements, and councilors who were not averse to getting a 'backhander' in order for their constituents to secure a council house. Agnes's characters are wonderful and well-rounded.

[John Boyce · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two interesting wee Scottish character studies. Well worth a read.

[Martin Raybould · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two very different novellas but they share a witty, often bawdy, take on life among the working classes in Scotland.

[Louise · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was a really quick read, but a little depressing. I didn't really find it all that funny, although the jacket mentioned something about the first story at least being "full of dark humor".