The Art of Failing: Notes from the Underdog

(Paperback)

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Description

HAUNTED! By endless tiny humiliations. STRUGGLING! To resurrect the corpse of his literary career. ENSNARED! In a loving yet perplexing marriage. Anthony McGowan is a man at odds with the universe. Stumbling from one improbable fiasco to the next, patrolling the mean streets of West Hampstead like some unholy cross between Columbo, J. Alfred Prufrock and a common tramp, he ponders the very stuff of life itself. For McGowan thats holed socks, unsatisfactory packed lunches, athletes foot powder, Kierkegaard, the eccentricities of the British Library, liver salts, Morrissey and disapproving ladies on trains Relentlessly honest, exquisitely funny,The Art of Failingis a paean to the glory and desperation of everyday existence.

Reviews

The funniest book was Anthony McGowans The Art of Failing, which alternates self-mocking slapstick with flashes of weirdness reminiscent of Gogol.

He fails spectacularly successfully it has to be said. If cringeworthy embarrassment were a superpower, Anthony would be an Avenger. It is Pepys diary if Pepys were a middle-aged, 21^st-century Smiths fan with athletes foot. Youll laugh and feel mild pity.

Perfect to dip into for entertainingly bite-sized anecdotes.

There is no sharper, funnier, cleverer writer in Britain today than Anthony McGowan.

'A book that will ultimately make you smile, and re-read'.

Humorously chronicles the quotidian frustrations, discomforts, and outright failuresfaced over the course of one year McGowan always brings a quirky and refreshing perspective Entertaining.

A childrens book writer and school lecturer who swears like a sailor and adds smut wherever possible. McGowans as close to a Python character as one could reasonably fear. Theres no stereotyping Anthony McGowan.

Consistently amusing, charming, and occasionally rather touching.

Author Bio

Anthony McGowanworked as a nightclub bouncer, civil servant and Open University tutor before he became an award-winning YA author. HisThe Knife that Killed Mebecame a film in 2013. He lives in Camden, north-west London, with his wife and two children.