Morvern Callar - (Morvern Callar Cycle) by Alan Warner (Paperback)

About the Book

In his shocking debut novel, Scottish author Alan Warner probes the vast internal emptiness of the tripped-out, rave generation. Through the cool, haunting voice of his female narrator, Morvern Callar, he plunges readers into the brutal, intoxicating, hollow depths of one woman's opaque soul.

Book Synopsis

An utterly unforgettable novel that portrays a vast internal emptiness by using the cool, haunting voice of a young woman in Scotland lost in the profound anomie of her generation--from "one of the most talented, original and interesting voices around" (Irvine Welsh, author of Trainspotting).

Morvern Callar, a low-paid employee in the local supermarket in a desolate and beautiful port town in the west of Scotland, wakes one morning in late December to find her strange boyfriend has committed suicide and is dead on the kitchen floor. Morvern's reaction is both intriguing and immoral. What she does next is even more appalling. Moving across a blurred European landscape--from rural poverty and drunken mayhem of the port to the Mediterranean rave scene--we experience everything from Morvern's stark, unflinching perspective.

Morvern is utterly hypnotizing from her very first sentence to her last. She rarely goes anywhere without the Walkman left behind as a Christmas present by her dead boyfriend, and as she narrates this strange story, she takes care to tell the reader exactly what music she is listening to, giving the stunning effect of a sound track running behind her voice.

In much the same way that Patrick McCabe managed to tell an incredibly rich and haunting story through the eyes of an emotionally disturbed boy in The Butcher Boy, Alan Warner's Morvern Caller is a brilliant creation.

From the Back Cover

Morvern Callar, a low-paid employee in the local supermarket of a desolate and beautiful port town in the west of Scotland, wakes one morning in late December to find that her boyfriend has committed suicide and is lying dead on the kitchen floor. Morvern's reaction is both intriguing and immoral, and what she does next is appalling. Moving across a blurred European landscape - from the rural poverty and drunken mayhem of the Scottish port to the Mediterranean rave scene - we experience everything from Morvern's stark, unflinching perspective. She rarely goes anywhere without the Walkman left behind as a Christmas present by her dead boyfriend, and as she narrates this strange story, she takes care to tell the reader exactly what music she is listening to, creating the stunning effect of a soundtrack running behind her voice throughout the novel. Alan Warner probes the vast internal emptiness of a generation by using the cool, haunting voice of a female narrator lost in the profound anomie of the rave scene. Hers is a chilling, hardcore perspective, entirely different from the cliched whiny angst of Generation X.

Review Quotes

"Brilliant, tender, a stylistic dazzler." --Hilary Mantel

"A dazzling achievement." --Time Out

"Morvern is a brilliant creation; a fearlessly cool and sassy party chick propelled by her own delicious morality...establishes Alan Warner as one of the most talented, original and interesting voices around." --Irvine Welsh, author of Trainspotting

"Morvern is a compelling creation; elusive, enigmatic and opaque. Both ordinary and extraordinary, she gleams out like onyx from a vivid, macabre and lyrical book.... She is impossible to forget." --The Guardian

About the Author

ALAN WARNER is the author of three novels: Morvern Callar, which was made into a film by Lynn Ramsay; These Demented Lands, which won the 1998 Encore Award; and The Sopranos, also made into a film.