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Bleak: The Mundane Comedy
Best First Book of the Year, Scotland's National Book Awards 2021. An entertaining Scottish memoir of rain, biting bugs, and minor humiliations, lightened with music, booze, dry humor and an array of eccentric characters.
R.M. Murray has a story. Quite a few of them. Of seasickness, hangovers, the wrong kind of weather. Of the joy of woe, and disappointments fairy-lit with hope. From fishing in the endless rain on the Isle of Lewis to performing in a punk band with Craig Ferguson and Peter Capaldi at Glasgow's famous School of Art. A stargazer, looking through the wrong end of the telescope. This is a memoir... of sorts. A join-the-dots journey through a life. A series of vignettes and minor personal fables. If it were a wine it would be very dry with an insolent nose and a desperate finish. Complex but approachable. And affordable.
R.M. Murray has a story. Quite a few of them. Of seasickness, hangovers, the wrong kind of weather. Of the joy of woe, and disappointments fairy-lit with hope. From fishing in the endless rain on the Isle of Lewis to performing in a punk band with Craig Ferguson and Peter Capaldi at Glasgow's famous School of Art. A stargazer, looking through the wrong end of the telescope. This is a memoir... of sorts. A join-the-dots journey through a life. A series of vignettes and minor personal fables. If it were a wine it would be very dry with an insolent nose and a desperate finish. Complex but approachable. And affordable.
- GenresMemoir
288 pages, Paperback
First published November 19, 2020
13 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 5, 2024
This is a thought-provoking and very funny memoir. It takes in Roddy Murray's childhood on the island of Lewis, his college years in Aberdeen and Glasgow and then his return to Lewis, where he was director of An Lanntair in Stornoway for many years. He reflects on his life, land and language (Gaelic being his first language) with great insight and humour.
The author played in a band while a student at Glasgow School of Art, alongside Peter Capaldi and Craig Fergusson, and evokes that time with fondness, but he writes just as entertainingly about less glamorous experiences, like the cycle-trip through Sutherland which turned into a spectacular descent into physical hell, or the day he took a friend back home on an impromptu visit, hoping that his family would make a good impression, only to open the door and find a sheep in the living-room.
The book is full of wry and thoughtful reflections on daily life, and Roddy Murray beautifully captures the humour of the people of Lewis. It is a great read and not remotely bleak!
The author played in a band while a student at Glasgow School of Art, alongside Peter Capaldi and Craig Fergusson, and evokes that time with fondness, but he writes just as entertainingly about less glamorous experiences, like the cycle-trip through Sutherland which turned into a spectacular descent into physical hell, or the day he took a friend back home on an impromptu visit, hoping that his family would make a good impression, only to open the door and find a sheep in the living-room.
The book is full of wry and thoughtful reflections on daily life, and Roddy Murray beautifully captures the humour of the people of Lewis. It is a great read and not remotely bleak!
December 9, 2021
A very enjoyable read. Roddy seems like a genuinely nice guy. I like the stories of the Lewis childhood best.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews