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Book ReviewsA Long Walk to Wimbledon |
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Book: A Long Walk to Wimbledon
Written by: H. R. F. Keating |
Publisher: Chivers Press
Average Customer Rating: 5.0 / 5
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Share the gifts and the madness
Rating:
5 / 5
Having read so many post-apocalyptic sagas, it requires something rather special indeed to stand out above the rest. Keating's A Long Walk to Wimbledon is, quite simply, one of the very best of the genre. The painstaking wealth of detail crammed into the novel's 190 pages paint a stunningly vivid picture of our hero's trek across London's ruined landscape of the not-too-distant future. Anyone who knows London will revel in the thrill of recognition as familiar, but horribly changed, thoroughfares and landmarks are reached. I couldn't resist following Mark's journey through the metropolis on my London A-Z. The story's strongest feature however, is the sheer humanity (and frequent inhumanity) of the tragic players in a morality play of a world gone to hell. Pearls of poignancy and aching beauty shine out from wretched filth and squalor. Surprisingly, against so grim a background, Keating, the master story-teller, manages to wring a strong message of hope for the human spirit. A perfect bend of allegory and nerve-tingling action and suspense. Keating has created nothing short of a classic in this strongest candidate ever for a "have to read in one sitting" novel.
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