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Books : Fiction : Contemporary Fiction: 1970 Onwards : Authors A-Z : S : Sutcliffe, William
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The New Boy of William Sutcliffe's hilariously touching debut novel causes a bit of a stir when he arrives at Mark's posh private school. For a start, Barry is devastatingly handsome and causes girls and boys to buckle at the knees. Mark is more than a little jealous, considering himself to be much less attractive. But he spots an ally in Barry and the two quickly become friends though Mark's feelings for Barry are often confused. For a start, he finds himself lusting after the boy in the showers but refuses to think it's because he is gay. Meanwhile, Barry is getting busy with most of the female population within a 50-mile radius, including an affair with one of his own teachers. Mark quickly realises that if he is ever going to be a hit with the opposite sex, he needs Barry's help. But he learns that Barry is hiding a few secrets of his own.This wonderfully funny and engaging novel is a fast and captivating read, as Sutcliffe hits so many marks about the clichés of school life. The neurotic teachers, the geeky pupils and the rites of passage will all strike a chord within most readers, and the characters are effectively and warmly drawn. Mark and Barry's relationship is so wonderfully captured; their brief conversations are mainly populated with swearwords and degenerate into arguments by their end. There are examinations of both religion and, more importantly, homosexuality, and it's a comfort to see these issues treated with a respectful sense of humour. In the end though, New Boy isn't so much a novel about being gay, more about being who you want to be. --Jonathan Weir
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A devastatingly funny satire on the whole idea of student travel,and particularly the India back-pack trail. Dave travels to India with Liz because he thinks he might be able to get her into bed. Liz travels to India with Dave because she wants a companion for her voyage of spiritual discovery. She loves it. He dreams of frosty mornings, pints of lager and restaurants where vegetable curry is only a side-dish...
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If you're looking for a novel that is absolutely in touch with the spirit and feeling of the age--and, particularly, what it means to be young and struggling in the sexual jungle of a big city--then William Sutcliffe's funny and affecting The Love Hexagon should definitely be on your bedside table. The adjectives of praise have been flying thick and fast for this immensely readable novel, and it's a mark of Sutcliffe's skill that the 200-odd pages pass with the speed of a short story.Sutcliffe deals with six young Londoners: three men and three women. All are somehow unsatisfied with their lives, but none of them are able to articulate quite what it is they are looking for. As a game of sexual musical chairs develops and a variety of lusts and betrayals both create and destroy relationships, we get to know Sutcliffe's sharply-drawn protagonists very well. We are even allowed to change our minds about them--something that is not common, even in novels considerably longer and more sombre than this. From the first conversation between Guy and Lisa (the first couple we meet), in which everything from omelettes to the voiceovers in Goodfellas are up for discussion, through a pub argument on the advantages of having sex with older women, Sutcliffe has our attention nailed to his quirky narrative. Although the requisite scene-setting is handled with equal adroitness (such as t
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