Ripley Bogle

by Robert McLiam Wilson

A Cambridge dropout turned penniless drifter, the unforgettable Ripley Bogle takes us through the underbelly of London and into the surreal world of a vagabond. But Bogle is not your average bum. With a razor-sharp intellect, prodigious powers of perception, and better-than-average appearance ("Most movie stars would give their false back teeth for the kind of lived-in look that I possess"), Bogle careens through the wild streets of homelessness and Irish identity, all the while regaling us with the tale of his ragged Belfast past--and the events that led up to his extraordinary existence.

In a brilliant coupling of sardonic, self-deprecating wit and the lush lyricism of a poet, Robert McLiam Wilson brings us a fiercely modern character with an old soul. Imbued with a grace that is thoroughly at odds with his squalid world, Ripley Bogle gnaws at the fringes of society and skewers its fat heart. The result is a hilarious, unexpectedly touching novel that is destined to become a classic.

Genres: Fiction, Ireland, Irish Literature, Novels, 20th Century, British Literature, Roman

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Robert McLiam Wilson was born in Belfast on 24 February 1966 and studied English at St Catharine's College, Cambridge. He is the author of the novels Ripley Bogle (1989), winner of the Hughes Prize, a Rooney Prize for Irish Literature, the Irish Book Award and the Betty Trask Prize; Manfred's Pain (1992); and Eureka Street (1996), winner of the Belfast Arts Award for Literature. He is also the author, with Donovan Wylie, of The Dispossessed (1992), a non-fiction book about poverty.

In 2003, Robert McLiam Wilson was named by Granta magazine as one of 20 'Best of Young British Novelists', despite the fact that he has not published new work in English since 1996.
----from British Council site

Reviews

[Helen Woods · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my favourite books of all time. I bought it in Euston station in 1988, penniless after just arriving in London from provincial Ireland. Maybe his crazy snobbery and pathetic poetic self-delusion mirrored my own at that time but I have never forgotten reading this book.
As a character, you know he is ridiculous but McLiam Wilson made him a part of every person who'd left University (or in my case, Art College) in the '80s - convinced you were going to go out and change the world. And then life starts happening to you and you conformed as Ripley Bogle never would.
I'd like to re-read it now but I don't want to read pretension where I once read originality so I'll leave it as one of the most beautiful books I've ever read and remember it fondly in my dreams...

[Makis Dionis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ωδή στους υπέροχους καταραμένους του Μπέλφαστ

Ο Ρίπλεϊ Μπογκλ, ένας πιτσιρικάς αλητάκος, κάνει αναδρομή στην άθλια ζωή του και στοχάζεται πάνω στις σύγχρονες αξίες της ζωής, εν πολλοίς κενού περιεχομένου αν βρεθείς στην λάθος πλευρά της ιστορίας.

Ματαιοδοξία και αυτοπαρωδια

Μαθητής φαινόμενο, καπατσος στη ζωή, εξωτικός Ιρλανδός,ομορφόπαιδο με τεράστιο γκελ στα κορίτσια, φαντάζεται τον εαυτό του σαν ισότιμο μέλος της Βρετανικής αριστοκρατίας .

Από μικρός στους δρόμους κ στις βόμβες καθολικών και προτεσταντών έχει , ωστόσο, συνειδητοποιήσει πλήρως ότι η ζωή δεν απαρτίζεται από ανεφελες λεωφόρους.

Τουναντίον! Πρέπει να τη ζει στιγμή στιγμή.

Κάθε τσιγάρο, κάθε ποτό, κάθε κορίτσι,
κάθε φίλος που μπορεί να βρεθεί στο παγκάκι του είναι τα πολυτιμότερα όπλα για την επιβίωση

[Pedro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ripley Bogle se presenta ante nosotros: en mi país, sería un linyera, un croto; una persona que vive en la calle, sin proyecto ni perspectivas; podría decirse que es un homeless o su creativa adaptación castiza, un "sin techo", término probablemente insuficiente.

Nos cuenta que proviene de Belfast, capital de Irlanda del Norte, y que criado en ese ambiente de deficientes mentales, y en medio de los tiros cruzados entre IRA y las fuerzas británicas, no tuvo una crianza de privilegios.

Pese a ello, destaca permanentemente su buen aspecto, un poco estragado por la vida en la calle, y la inteligencia de la que hace gala, y que, insinúa, en algún momento le permitió formar parte de la élite Oxbridge. (No me acuerdo si era Oxford o Cambridge).

Pero como bien dice él mismo: ¿Se le puede creer a un irlandés; que hacen de la verdad una opción de creatividad? (Para escándalo de los rigurosos ingleses).

Ripley (como el de Créase o no) nos lleva por las calles y plazas de Londres a lo largo de una semana, sin dejar de hablar; y tal vez, si lo acompañamos sin juzgarlo y en silencio, en algún momento podamos diferenciar lo verdadero de lo fabulado; y tal vez secretos ocultados por pudor o dolor.

Una muy buena obra.

[Amorfna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Knjiga na koju sam zakasnila pa bar jedno 10ak godina možda i malo jače.

Mlađa ja bi uživala i cenila ovo delo više, starija ja je morala da uloži svu nadljudsku snagu da je završi.

Knjiga nije loša , kvalitet je neujednačen ali neosporan, slikovita, živopisna , zanimljiv glavni junak, šarmantan u svojoj nepouzdanosti.

Al šta da se radi.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

From formal education to homelessness...Ripley Bogle, the character and the book itself is a somewhat more cynical and juvenile version of Eureka Street: A Novel of Ireland Like No Other by the same author. I first read this while smoking lots of hashish and drinking cheap white wine in Belfast with bunch of punk artists living on the dole, while we all ignored Tony Blair's visit to the region and slept on dirty rugs, so I'm probably not going to give this a fair literary shake down. I do wonder if I would like it now that I'm old.

[A. Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel has a powerful protagonist whose narrative is not entirely dependable, but it is gripping and unusual. This novel should be filmed. Russell Brand should have the lead. Every page is strikingly visual.

[Hannah Polley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have read this book once before and the only thing I could really remember about it was the truth about the abortion scene as I think it really sickened me at the time. It had the same effect on the second read.

It was a bit different reading it the second time round, however, because you know the narrator is unreliable and actively lying to the reader so it is hard to believe anything you are being told.

I don't buy the character's 'woe is me' act and I think he had a great opportunity in life (Cambridge) that he through away and he is basically homeless out of choice when he doesn't need to be.

Not a book for me. I had no sympathy for Ripley. Great name though.

[Christine Pietz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a tougher read (for me) than I've chosen to take on in a while. The prose, while delightful at times and unique, made it hard for me to focus. I also spent more time looking up works than i have in a while, which didn't end up bothering me like i thought it would.

All in all, I enjoyed the book, and am glad to have read it. it's a great example of an unreliable narrator, though you understand (but don't forgive) him doing it. Additionally, i'm not someone who knew a lot about the troubles before this read, and i understand the state of things more so having read it.

[Adrien · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5/5
i have mixed feelings about this novel.
The arrogant, unreliable, witty and very “real” narrator and sluggish story (or lack thereof) would be things which i usually would enjoy but my feelings were closer to indifference concerning the narrator for most of the book and the story which shone through in the very beginning got very quickly dull and repetitive for about the first 220 pages of the book for some odd reason. But then, out of the blue, the last 100 pages got me way more engaged and
really brought the whole story and book up as a whole and even succeeded to more or less salvage the flimsy parts i had gone through. The biggest achievement id say are the gasp-inducing twists added at the end which really highlighted the themes of the books and its messages. One thing that never faltered though through this book was the writing which i could still enjoy even in the moments when ennui momentarily seized me.
Overall, i had certain high expectations which i’m sad to say haven’t totally been satiated but it was still a worthy read and i’m looking forward to reading more by the author in the future!

[Lullabee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I fell in love with Ripley Bogle.

The way Ripley talks, smokes, stumbles and smiles... This book is a flabbergasting piece of cowardice and cleverness, the monologue of a homeless fella, an outcast by birth, braving the nights of London, the hunger and the decades : he keeps walking not to die.

[Valerio Casconi · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Pensate ad ammazzare qualcuno. Via, uno qualunque. Un povero cristo. Chiunque. Pensate di ammazzarlo. Datevi del tempo. Pensateci. Pensate alla sua vita, a sua mamma, a suo papà. Pensate ai suoi figli. Pensate alle scopate che ha fatto, ai seni che ha baciato, alle cosce che ha sgualcito e a quel genere di cose. Pensate ai suoi mal di denti, alla sua costipazione, al suo ventre pieno di birra. Pensate ai libri che non ha letto, alla gente che non ha mai incontrato e ai posti che non ha mai visto. Pensate alla sua vanità e alla sua ignoranza, alla sua clemenza e alla sua tenerezza. Pensatelo quando compra giacche così volgari da fare male e scarpe fuori moda. Le sue brutte barzellette e i suoi imbarazzi. Pensate alle sue chiacchiere da bambino e ai suoi denti, al thermos e ai sandwitch, alle sue istantanee, ai conti in rosso, ai mobili alla calligrafia, alla testa pelata, ai cibi favoriti, alle sigarette, alla squadra di calcio, alle calze sporche, alla faccia e agli anni. Pensate a lui. Pensate alla sua vita. Pensate ad ammazzarlo. Pensateci. Che valore ha tutto questo? A chi serve? Addio Belfast."

"[…] Denaro, potere e ancora denaro. Aristocrazia. Cos’è? Niente. Né empiricamente, né come nozione né in altro modo. Cosa rende aristocratico un aristocratico? Anni fa un antenato prese a bastonate alcuni sfortunati contadini, gli rubò porci e galline. O un leccaculo pederasta venne fatto cavaliere per aver spalato la merda dei cavalli del re. Tutto ha inizio con il commercio e il servilismo. Non c’è, né c’è mai stata una cosa di nome “nobiltà”. Figli di ladri e cambusieri. Anche i re sono lo stesso."

[Fabio Ruotolo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Una scrittura che non avevo mai avuto modo d'incontrare, Wilson non ci va tanto per il sottile, diretto, ironico, amaro. "Se ci pensate sono quasi senza colpe: vittima delle circostanze, dell'epoca e della nazione. Colpa dell'Irlanda, non mia. Dico solo che molti vizi hanno il nome sbagliato. Peccati e crimini che totalizziamo sono raramente promossi nel vigore delle intenzioni. Non compiamo misfatti in quanto tali:facciamo errori. Errori orrendi, mortali, dalle conseguenze e implicazioni enormi, ma comunque è soprattutto errori. È questa la mia difesa, per quel che vale. Davvero nessuno, se può evitarlo, vuole essere un bastardo. "

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Happy St Patrick’s Day! This is one of my favorite books of all time. I read Ripley Bogle a long time ago and I have never forgotten it. It’s so good. Original, sensitive and brutal all in one. Robert McLiam Wilson has written a poetic and harrowing ode to the outcast in society. Ripley Bogle is a powerful protagonist and an indelible creation. Every scene in this book is strikingly visual. This novel should be filmed. Sláinte!

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to admit, I had to put a little more effort to get through this book. Even if the over all story was good. I feel it could have been re-edited to make it flow more.
However, having said that, I didn't realize that this was a first novel written by him. In my mind I was comparing it to Eureka Street.
This will not keep me from reading his other books. My overall opinion, Robert is a fine writer.

[Clay · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is described as "a series of imaginative ruminations on life and commentary on modern society" which in other words, could also be described as "one arrogant prick's ramblings on how much he hates everyone". I liked Eureka Street when I read it ~20yrs ago and had always meant to read this too. I thought I might get a gritty "life on the streets" kind of story. Disappointed.

[Malcolm Burke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliantly funny and shocking in places. An unusual main character, a London tramp, hailing from Belfast. Tales of days and nights on the streets of London interspersed with the backstory and how he came to this terrible existence at such a young age.

[Laura Barnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The sins and crimes we all tote up are rarely promoted with the full vigor of intention. We don't commit misdemeanours as such - we make mistakes. [...] Really no one wants to be a bastard if they can help it"

[Trini]

💔

[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely adore this book.

[Parsnip · Rating 5 out of 5]

My teenager-self was so madly in love with Ripley Boogle AND, 6 years later I'm not sure I've fully recovered from this book.

[Danee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would read this man's grocery lists.

[Hugo]

Nope, not for me. The sort of affected twaddle of university angst, faux-foppishness, and clever profanity, quote-dropping to appear educated and enlightened.

[Orla Mulvenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Christ. An assault of a book.

Very dark. Very funny.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amaro....

[Carlo Hublet · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ennuyeux par ses exagérations qui ne séduisent pas.d

[Lorenzo Berardi · Rating 5 out of 5]

According to the third chapter of the pop pamphlet "Word gets around" written and sung by Kelly Jones, there is "More Life in a Tramps Vest". This is an interesting point of view. This is a gross approximation. I suppose that Mr Jones was just trying to find a nice title and instead of exposing his theory he carved a refrain.

A tramp's life is certainly something that most of us never wrote in a resume. Indeed, as the Northern Irish atypical tramp Ripley Bogle sets straight in this book, for being a good tramp you need a long list of requirements that are all but easy to gain. In no regular job you may apply for the experience qualification will ever be that important and fundamental.

Sure, this is a period in which streets, pavements, benches and embankments of our towns are getting full of aspiring junior and even senior tramp officers. This spontaneous and unexpected wave of tramp applications is the gift of munificent subprime crisis boosted up by exciting new economy ventures.
But these people who are reluctantly going to explore the joys of a starry blanket in wintertime have to be warned: it's still a long and winding road from homeless to tramp. And not everybody gets corrupted as
in a.d. 1989 London, poor highly educated Ripley Bogle wasn't.

Too young for having the necessary tramp experience, too sensitive, too respectably dressed, too melancholic and accurate in reminiscing his unfortunate past, Ripley was wandering around the half hyperactive / half sleepy metropolis wondering about his juvenile love and making a breakfast and a lunch out of a coffee and a couple of Benson & Hedges.

Nowadays the down and outs in a town like London are probably changed quite a lot. More competition. Less chivalry. Different cigarettes. And a cup of coffee a day is not that affordable anymore. But still, a character like Ripley Bogle may find his own quiet road and warmed up bench dreaming to be a new Orwell or a new Dickens, perhaps being hired as a guide for an East End vagrancy by Jack London himself.

[Peter K · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some books you can ease into and immerse yourself in. Other books are more of an effort; give themselves up only grudgingly after commitment has been exhibited.

This book was grudging and intermittent in its flow but rewarding for the effort as the complex and multi faceted character of Ripley Bogle emerged gradually and carefully. The main protagonist and narrator speaks of his life from the streets of Northern Ireland in the 70’s and the developing violence of the Troubles, his turbulent family life and his subsequent struggles with homelessness.

Ripley is an unreliable narrator – as he himself admits during the course of the book – and both a sympathetic and unsympathetic character by turn.

Some passages in this tale are poetic and sweepingly romantic – others brutal and crude. They all believably add up to the same character though. Ripley is a brilliant individual and through the prompting of his friend Maurice and despite the descent into drink he wins himself a scholarship to Cambridge where his life seems to take a different turn away from the province and his convoluted relationship with Deirdre.

Cambridge life is agreeable for a while despite his longing for the unattainable Laura but Ripley is thrown out following a series of familiar self destructive acts. The standpoint of the story is Ripley shuffling through London as an established homeless resident of the city taking us by turn through current and past events.

His relationship with Perry, aged Polish and homeless is touching and well observed and the truths revealed in the final quarter of the book about events concerning Ripley, Maurice, Deirdre & Laura are shockingly and convincingly related.

A characterful and engrossing book that merited the effort to pick up the rhythm of Ripley’s discourse.

[Mariele · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like most other people here, I read this book because I loved "Eureka Street" by the same author, but was disappointed by this earlier work. The novel has an interesting setup, with a young, attractive homeless guy as the main character. His actual call to tell the story of his life is interrupted by reports of his daily struggles; so the reader gets to find out key elements of Ripley's biography very slowly, for the sake of dramatic tension.
Ripley's very eloquent, dissecting and often pompous language distinguishes him as fearsomely sharp and highly educated. His idiosyncratic monologue also quickly singles him out as an unreliable narrator. I kept up my suspicions about his tales of Belfast and the girl he never tainted, and the Cambridge girl who broke his heart. Those story lines stayed decidedly dubious. However, the story about his best friend back home was quite convincing, so I had no idea that that is a red herring, too. But, finally, when his stories begin to unravel, I wasn't too surprised.

This is a very well-told book, even though the bulky language can wear you down at times. Ripley is a remarkable, if disagreeable character. The writer's choice to set him up as first person narrator admirably gave this novel an innovative twist.
It just wasn't as near-perfect as "Eureka Street". Its wordiness steals the show and masks the actual story.

[PescePirata · Rating 5 out of 5]

Leggendo questo romanzo diventerai il migliore amico di Ripley, lo accompagnerai nella sua lenta ed inesorabile discesa verso i bassifondi. Gli starai vicino mentre nelle notti da homless, in una Londra freddissima e senza pietà, ti racconterà come è diventato quello che è, cosa gli è successo nel corso dei suoi primi 22 anni. Genio e ribelle sconfitto dal mondo forse per troppa intelligenza e troppo anticonformismo.
Una scrittura quella di Wilson ricercata, a volte difficile ma che si sposa perfettamente con la personalità molto complicata del protagonista.
Quando lessi questo romanzo, un po' di anni fa, uscivo di casa con i capelli lunghi e l'andatura da eroe dei bassifondi nonostante avessi i capelli corti.
E ricordo come ieri quando, finito di leggere l'ultima pagina, ebbi la sensazione di aver perso un amico.

Black Bart

http://www.pescepirata.it
http://www.pescepirata.it/aspiranti_s...

[Estibaliz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Primera novela del inconformista Robert McLiam Wilson, que sin duda se caracteriza en el ambiente literario por sus ganas de provocar, a mí ésta no me ha gustado tanto como su magnífica 'Eureka Street' y, de hecho, en su conjunto no es que me haya gustado demasiado.
El carisma de su protagonista nadie lo niega; el tono dickensiano de su narración es claramente discernible, más allá del hecho de que el propio Ripley rinda tributo al gran autor; la poética de la narrativa se asoma con frecuencia entre la miseria del contexto... sin embargo, a esta novela le falta la gracia sarcástica de la anteriormente mencionada y un buen elenco de personajes más allá del protagonista indiscutible.
Como mucho, la dejaría en un 2 1/2, pero lo cierto es que se me ha hecho un poco tediosa por momentos.