White City Blue
ABOUT
THE BOOK
Frankie Blue’s had the same friends since they grew up together in West London. He loves them, he really does – he’s just not sure if he likes them any more. Tony the wide-boy, Colin who still lives with his Mum, dependable Nodge – they’re starting to feel like a habit that’s hard to break. The only thing keeping them together is some weird historical superglue made of banter, beer and nostalgia for their Perfect Day: 14 August 1984. A day in the school holidays, full of sunshine, promise and limitless possibilities, a day they vowed to commemorate every year – no matter what.
But then comes Frankie’s Great Betrayal – Veronica, and marriage, his ticket to a bigger, better, grown-up world. The tensions between his old friends and new life increase, until Veronica’s 30th birthday…14 August. Frankie has to choose – between his mates and his mate, between the past and the future, security and freedom. He thinks it’s all over. It is now.
NOMINATING LIBRARY COMMENTS
“Frankie Blue the narrator in this story is thirty, an estate agent, and is known by his nickname to his friends as ‘Frankie the Fib.’ Frankie has been with his three friends since childhood, the friendship continuing into adulthood through football, the pub and the annual outing. Frankie falls in love and wants to marry Veronica. The main theme of the book is the relationship between four young men and how that is affected when one of them wants to get married.
I liked this book. There is a great honesty in it, such as the way Frankie describes himself and his friends – all very identifiable types of people. He feels he has to choose between his friends and his girlfriend. There are wonderful pieces in the book about the closeness of friendship in childhood, “clear, blue, unsullied”. He cares for his friends, and yet is aware of being bored with them and knowing he can’t have the same relationship with them and get married as well. The climax of the book comes when he chooses to go on the annual outing of golf with his friends on Veronica’s birthday.
There is great humour in this book. There are also moments of sadness and pain when as a child he betrays one friend to impress another. This is an excellent book and should be a strong contender for the IMPAC Dublin prize.”
Reviewed by a Member of the Raheny Library Readers Group.