12 April 2009

The Giro Playboy - reviews

Following the excitement of the Drivetime TV series, lots of people have been asking us about Michael's book, The Giro Playboy (Faber, 2006 & 2007).

It seems to have sold out in many bookshops, but you can still buy it online - from Amazon, or Faber.

There are two editions - the first has a hand-drawn self-portrait on the red stripey dust jacket; the second, a jacket-less paperback, has a drawing of our hero taking a well-earned rest for a ciggie. The contents are the same, but we prefer the jacketed edition.

Here's a selection of reviews.


Best wishes from Patsy!



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Reviews of The Giro Playboy
by Michael Smith (Faber & Faber, 2006/2007)


* “… original and restless… one man laid bare… the very raw material from which cult status is often ignited… has already drawn comparisons with Jack Kerouac and Hunter S Thompson… what a beautiful writer… little epiphanies everywhere… ” The Times

* “Wonderful… one of the best books I’ve read in some time…” BBC Radio 3

* “a treat ... a masterpiece of gutter romanticism that stands up for those who, for whatever reason, refuse to sign the contract” Tatler magazine

* “… digs out plenty to lift the heart in the increasingly conformist landscape of Britain…celebrates those little epiphanies that peek out from the cracks of modern life…”
Dazed & Confused

* “… Smith’s London perpetually seems to melt and re-mould itself with an almost filmic fluidity… reminiscent of George Orwell… Henry Miller… the Beats… even Dickens…”
i-D magazine

* “… beautiful prose poetry … being heralded as the new Roger McGough – or indeed the new Rimbaud …” The Word

*… a British beat classic for the 21st century… debuts don't come much saucier or more sordid than this ... the Hunter S Thompson of Hartlepool…” Esquire

* “…a cult classic in the making… his languid and meandering journey through life is beautifully laconic and told with a loveable charm…” Attitude

* “…brilliant… “ The Idler

* “… by making its all so naively personal, Smith’s novel offers a different take… and its inconsistencies become just one more thing to love it for…” BBC Collective – the interactive culture magazine.

* “… a brilliant slacker assault on bourgeois myths… before you know it you are seduced… like William Blake’s poem London, Smith treats us to a classic piece of flanerie… highly readable and enjoyable…” Dogmatika

* “… like a drug-addled Catcher In The Rye… has the potential to reach a similar cult-like following… is set to put Hartlepool on the map…” Hartlepool Mail

* “… has already engendered comparisons with Hunter S Thompson, Plath, JD Salinger, and Rimbaud… poignant and witty… So often did I find myself saying ‘I know exactly how he feels’…” Transition Tradition magazine

* “…magnificent, triumphant first novel…a major new talent… I envy you the joy in store…” Amazon.co.uk

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