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  • The Book of Dave

  • By: Will Self
  • Narrated by: Will Self
  • Length: 18 hrs and 14 mins
  • 4.0 out of 5 stars (3 ratings)

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The Book of Dave

By: Will Self
Narrated by: Will Self
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Publisher's Summary

What if a demented London cabbie called Dave Rudman wrote a book to his estranged son to give him some fatherly advice? What if that book was buried in Hampstead, and hundreds of years later, when rising sea levels have put London underwater, spawned a religion? What if one man decided to question life according to Dave? And what if Dave had indeed made a mistake?

Shuttling between the recent past and a far-off future, in which England is terribly altered, The Book of Dave is a strange and troubling mirror held up to our times: disturbing, satirizing, and vilifying who and what we think we are.

©2006 Will Self (P)2010 WF Howes Ltd

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Unique and really enjoyable

Its a bit bonkers and whilst some might be a bit frustrated by the ending, the sheer inventiveness, humour, humanity and Will's brilliant reading made this thoroughly enjoyable! If you're looking for something different, engaging, well written and read and funny, you'll enjoy it.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Meh...

I like Will Self. Well, his TV "self"! I thought I'd grab this one and listen to it, to get more of a feel for the guy. There seem, to me, to be various problems with this work.
1) it's incredibly difficult to listen to this without being able to peruse both the glossary and the maps which I'm given to believe are included with the written work. Without these external sources of information, the mental map one creates as a listener has to be constantly adjusted when the book bumps up against one's own inaccurate mental construct. Basically, it's not designed to be an audiobook. If you've purchased a hard copy of the book, then no problem with the audiobook, but if not, you're immediately setting yourself up for difficulties listening to it, unless you already have "The Knowledge" of the London cabbies, and ESP to decipher the language of "New London".
2) Once you've established that the author is very angry and hates any form of religion, you're pretty much done. The plot, although genuinely hilarious in places, is very slow moving, generally quite predictable, and too repetitive to maintain one's attention and interest. Add to this, that 99% of the population of New London (which is 1/2 of the book) seem to have an IQ of 50 or below, and you'll maybe get some idea of what you're letting yourself in for as a reader.
It's almost good. But not quite. And, you'll find an awful lot of anger and despair in this.....

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