tonyfrobisher's reviews
267 reviews

Timely and necessary. A tale of Brexit Britain.

A novel that intertwines everyday lives with the realities of modern day Britain, viewed over the past decade and culminating with the Brexit referendum. An excellent story that sums up the mood and nature of a troubled Britain today.

The beauty of poetry is in its subjectivity. As you read the words carefully crafted into a poem, you juggle with them, hoping they land with some meaning. Sometimes the poems resonate and strike you with clarity. Other times you read and re-read and scratch your head wondering what exactly the author meant.
Simon Armitage's The Unaccompanied is a beautiful collection of poetry, that is bleak at times, poignant, humorous, challenging and occasionally confusing and nearly impenetrable.
But that is the point. The poet expresses their viewpoint in word and verse. Only they truly know the meaning of what they write.
So don't be concerned if a poem, a verse, a sentence makes you stop and question what you read...poetry should do this. It should make you smile, laugh, feel anger and injustice, appreciate the world and all the intricacies of life, and make you scratch your head too.
A superb, eclectic collection.

Travel is discovery. Of place, of the person. Alistair Humphreys has written a beautiful understated, thought provoking and considered book about a month long journey, walking from Vigo to Madrid, with nothing but a violin to busk with and earn money to sustain himself and his travels.
It is an honest appraisal of the dilemma of the adventurer, the traveller. Torn between satisfying the wanderlust that nags and pleads more and more time away from family and a home life that binds you to one place. A wholly different life. Can you lead both?
Following the footsteps of Laurie Lee, this is a book to savour. Beautifully written and full of rich imagery of a Spanish summer.
Wonderful.

Witty, ascerbic, relevant, punchy, brilliant. As fresh and cutting, visceral and vibrant as John Cooper Clarke ever was. Just try reading the poems in any voice than his Mancunian lilt.

Scathing, remorseless, satirical, timely and downright funny. In a Britain that has navel gazed at the pustulent sore that is Brexit for over 3 years, Cold War Steve is the perfect antidote to the political madness and unending confusion, division and frustration in our sceptic isle. A cast of many, uniquely British and mercilessly, bitingly anti-establishment. Each montage is a window into the stark failure and schisms in society...and the protagonists who have poured hot oil on the flames. Farage, Rees-Mogg, Boris Johnson, Theresa May, Michael Gove, David Cameron et...you take a hell of a deserved beating. Brilliant.

Honest and raw. Jason Fox's account of his descent into and eventual recovery from mental illness, borne of exposure to the horrors of warfare, is an important story to have been told.