Sunday Morning at the Centre of the World

by Louis de Bernières

Taking his inspiration from Dylan Thomas' Under Milk Wood, Louis de Bernières chose to celebrate his ten years of life in the south London suburb, living above a small shop that had been by turns an outlet for oversized naughty clothes for transvestites, a West Indian hairdressers and a junk shop, by writing of the people that he had known and come to love in his time there.

Brilliantly capturing the myriad voices of modern Britain, with their different rhythms of speech and accents, their humour and their tragedy, jokes and gossip, de Bernières' tour de force takes us to the heart of a community and its spirit - the lives and loves, the tears and the laughter of its people.

Genres: Plays, Fiction

61 pages, Paperback

First published April 3, 2001

About the author

Louis de Bernières is an English novelist. He is known for his 1994 historical war novel Captain Corelli's Mandolin. In 1993 de Bernières was selected as one of the "20 Best of Young British Novelists", part of a promotion in Granta magazine. Captain Corelli's Mandolin was published in the following year, winning the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best Book. It was also shortlisted for the 1994 Sunday Express Book of the Year. It has been translated into over 11 languages and is an international best-seller.

On 16 July 2008, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in the Arts by the De Montfort University in Leicester, which he had attended when it was Leicester Polytechnic.
Politically, he identifies himself as Eurosceptic and has voiced his support for the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union.

Reviews

[Ape · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was great fun, I'd love to hear it spoken, or even turned into a short play - I can imagine that would look good as well. Although it's fiction of sorts, this is based around the characters he knew when he was living in a flat in London. There's all kinds of lovely, slightly eccentric characters in here, all kinds of backgrounds, just going about their business on a regular Sunday morning. Partly inspired by Under Milkwood as well (it's good, although not quite as good as Milkwood, which I love). I don't usually read scripts, but this was just a fun little read, I could definately imagine reading it again.

[Jacula · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sheer poetry!

[Moony 394 · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 stars

This was a funny, fast-paced book. The reason I didn't rate it five stars is that I found it kind of confusing, but I do definitely recommend it.

[Jo Halstead · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's very difficult when you know that a writer has been hugely influenced by Dylan Thomas, and his own memories of first listening to Under Milkwood... it's difficult NOT to compare this play for voices with THAT play for voices. And there are lines ( "No-good boyfriend" = No good boyo) that don't even try to hide the influence.
Having said that, I love it. It has that same irreverence and grit and the two old blokes are hilarious. It might not have the richness in the characters that UM has but it does enjoy language in the same way. I plan to adapt this into a theatre piece for my sixth formers and am excited by it. Hoping we can find the depth of characterisation on stage that will bring out the contrasts.

Well worth reading and- in parts- laugh out loud. Cockney Sparrows and voices of the Dead.

[William · Rating 3 out of 5]

What seem like random voices come together sharing jokes, memories, etc. No plot to speak of, but then there did not seem to be any attempt at really telling a story, just a group portrait of a neighborhood. Not bad, but not great either. Maybe I've come to expect too much from de Bernieres, yet I'm looking forward to reading Birds Without Wings soon.

[Em · Rating 5 out of 5]

A totally random find in the charity book shop - Sunday Morning at the Centre of the World is a short play for voices (radio?) by Louis de Bernieres.

So, five stars because for me, the play seemed alive with familiar voices, simply, it is a snippet of everyday and it read like poetry. I loved it.

[Yi-Sheng · Rating 4 out of 5]

More poetry than drama, really - very much in the flavour of Under Milk Wood, only with 21st century cosmopolitanism and English reactionary politics thrown in. Lovely play of language; doesn't really go anywhere, but leaves you with a marmalade taste in your mouth.

[Val · Rating 3 out of 5]

Under Milk Wood is better as an audiobook. This probably is as well, since it uses a very similar format of conversations and was written as an homage.

[Lenka · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked other Bernieres' books, but this one felt like a waste of time...good thing it's just a few pages.

[John Newcomb · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Dylan Thomasesque Radio play of the people of SW London amusing told with an almost lyrical manner in homage to Under Milkwood

[Steph Warren · Rating 3 out of 5]

This slim ‘play for voices’ is a tribute to both Dylan Thomas’s Under Milk Wood (which I absolutely love and regularly listen to the BBC Radio full cast performance of!) and the South London suburb of Earlsfield, where Louis de Bernières once lived.

The book is more poetry than plot, and – as the author himself notes – it is simply not as poetic as Thomas’s source material. However, the play does amusingly and authentically capture a small slice of everyday life in a specific area of modern Britain.

After reading this, which didn’t take long, I spent longer searching everywhere for an audio version because while it was somewhat enjoyable as a visual read, I suspect that it would come to life in its intended format of spoken word. Sadly, while I found accounts and reviews of performances, I was unable to locate an actual reading (let me know if you find one!)

That leaves me with saying that this is a short and mildly entertaining read in which not much happens, but it does it with character.

[Jen · Rating 2 out of 5]

it was ok, not what I thought it was going to be but did finish it though.