Bleak: The Mundane Comedy

An entertaining memoir of rain, midges, petty authority figures and minor humiliations, lightened with music, booze, anarchy and an array of eccentric characters. ''An unfiltered and unapologetic tale … Roddy Murray has done it all.'' ''My favourite read of the year by far.'' ''A heartwarming trip through the ruins of youthful delusion, much of which I don’t remember.'' ''Here we have the trampings of a slight Chaplinesque figure whose fickle fate seldom tires of tripping him up.'' ''The moors, a hamster perishing from hypothermia, the drinking habits of Glaswegian punks, the fascination with boxing, a sheep in a house, the outdoorsy tramping....the subjects are indeed bleak. But the writing is animated, curious, precise and horribly candid. Not bleak. Nor are the many incidental digressions and the constant wryness. Invigorating as a gallon of Lanliq with an Eldorado chaser.'' ''Threaded with glints of laughter … fresh and appealing, full of a rich tongue-in- cheek humour, an absurd view of the world.'' ''Candid, relatable and astoundingly funny.'' ''[Murray] recounts the story with dry wit and … self-deprecating dry humour that is so relatable during these pandemic times.''

SALTIRE SOCIETY SCOTTISH FIRST BOOK OF THE YEAR

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 band with Peter Capaldi and Craig Ferguson at Glasgow 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, sardonic and self-deprecating. If it were a wine it would be very dry with an insolent nose and a desperate finish. Complex but approachable. And affordable.

• | Author: R.M. Murray
• | Publisher: Saraband
• | Publication Date: Nov 19, 2020
• | Number of Pages:
• | Language:
• | Binding: Paperback / softback
• | ISBN-13: 9781912235605
• | ISBN-10: 1912235609