- Hardcover: 323 pages
- Publisher: Douglas & McIntyre / Not Applicable (April 1 1999)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0374266700
- ISBN-13: 978-0374266707
- Product Dimensions: 21.1 x 14.7 x 2.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 499 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
If there's any justice, Alan Warner's third novel, The Sopranos, will lead to a sudden fad for artificially shortened kilt skirts, bright shoelaces, and flaming sambuca shots. As it is, we might have to settle for the sopranos themselves, six memorably vile-mouthed Catholic schoolgirls sent from their drab port town to "the big, big city" for the Scottish national choir finals. There Warner follows them as they shop, smoke, eat Big Macs, consume staggering amounts of alcohol, and pay no attention whatsoever to the competition. Winning, after all, would defeat their central goal: returning in time for the slow dances at the Mantrap and the promise of submariners on leave. In the end, it turns out that the nuclear submarine has stopped in their harbor only to unload a dead sailor, and the girls must console themselves with alcohol, sex, a veritable inferno of fireworks, and even one heartbreakingly courageous kiss.
By turns bawdy and tender, funny and sad, The Sopranos faces adolescence head-on, without sentiment or false hope. Youth, for these girls, is precious precisely because they have so little to look forward to. When their friend becomes pregnant, she's already "devoured the few opportunities for the wee bit sparkle that was ever going to come her way." When the nuns' parrot--who likes to spout Spanish obscenities during Mass--escapes from the school, his bright colors are "like a happiness that wasn't allowed below such skies, against these curt roof angles of slate and granite." Theirs is a grim, circumscribed world, but the sopranos shine like tropical birds against the background of gray. --Mary Park
From Publishers Weekly
Hottie-tottie Scots girls slosh and snog their way through Warner's (Morvern Callar) bacchanalian novel wi' no a care for the Queen's English and with envious contempt for the "trendy-****ing-city-lassie fashion victims" they encounter on a choir trip to London. The Sopranos, appointed leaders and cool girls of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, chain-smoke and doctor their hemsAand see the choir's trip to the capital to compete in the St. Columba Choirs final as an opportunity to drink themselves silly and add to the notches on their French Connection belts. Away from their small coastal town the convent girls wriggle free of their inhibitions, leaving their striking poverty, dysfunctional families and village gossip behind. Their youth and vulnerability (extreme and fiercely guarded) do not accord with what they've already had to bear. Orla, suffering from Hodgkin's Disease, has not long to live; Fionulla ("the Cooler") keeps secrets about her sexuality; Kylah's beautiful voice is squandered on the "shite" band she sings with; Manda's so poor her father reuses her milky bathwater; (Ra)Chell has lost her two daddies to the sea; posh Kay is a dark horse, thought to be a "swot" who studies hard and rats. The pathos of these pretty young things in tight skirtsA"damaged goods," as one of the unsuspecting and peculiar men who falls in with them thinks to himselfAseeps in between the cracks of the restless, reckless adventure Warner stages for them. In pub after pub they tell stories on each other and get into scrapes, maintaining the buoyant, sanguine arrogance of youth and sexual power. Satirical, too, Warner's novel takes a final twist that proves these blaspheming, Christsaking little Catholic girls know surprisingly well the value of one's word. (Apr.) FYI: The Sopranos was a bestseller in England.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
No sweat, we'll never win; other choirs sing about Love, all our songs are about cattle and death! Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
No sweat, we'll never win; other choirs sing about Love, all our songs are about cattle and death! Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most helpful customer reviews
1.0 out of 5 stars
Tender, Funny, and Sad? Which Book Was That?,
By A Customer
I ordered The Sopranos based on the reviews posted online, but now I wish I had gone to a bookstore and thumbed through it first, because if I had, I would not have wasted my money. I was expecting a good naturedly raunchy, fun read about Catholic school girls gone wild during a night on the town. I looked forward to the tender, funny, and sad parts that were promised along with the bawdiness. Instead, I threw the book down in disgust less than halfway through, unable to read any further. Instead of snickering at the antics of a group of oversexed teenagers, I actually found myself feeling ill after reading the chapter detailing one girl's attempted rape of a nearly comatose cancer patient, complete with graphic descriptions of the dying man's loss of control over his bodily functions as she molested him. That anyone can refer to this scene as "grimly funny" is astounding. Exactly what was funny about it? Would it be just as amusing if the roles were reversed and an adult forced himself on an unconscious child? I continued to read for a while longer, although I was having difficulty with the unfamiliar Scottish dialect (while not fair to criticize the book on these grounds, since it was written in the UK, after all, I wonder how accessible this makes it to the average US reader). I got as far as the gory description of the death of a litter of puppies brought about by one of the girls' stupidity. At that point, I finally decided it just wasn't worth the effort, since none of what I read before giving up was tender, funny or sad enough to take away the lingering bad taste in my mouth.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful--The Best Book I Have Read in a Long Time!!!,
By April (The Ninth Circle of....) - See all my reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Engaging and entertaining,
By A Customer
Wow. The girls in The Sopranos are both wild and endearing. The author handles their exploits in a masterful way -- the reader understands what they are doing is plausible, even though you wouldn't think these girls are just any Scottish girls you might meet. They are all well-rounded and satisfying characters -- and whether they're screaming obscenities in a McDonald's bathroom or prowling for men or discussing sexual topics -- you will be rooting for their success. You will nearly forget the real event which brings them to the big city, and believe they are there for no other reason than to fulfill their own desires.This book is screaming to be made into a movie. While it doesn't read like a screenplay, the characters and events are so vivid it seems cruel to not show this story visually. The writing takes a bit of getting used to (unless you can automatically adjust to Scottish slang and [Scottish]-phonetically spelled words), you'll find yourself reading this with a Scottish narrating voice in no time. Once you become accustomed to the language, this is quite a quick and highly enjoyable read.
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