Toy fights

Paterson, Don

£10.99

Don Paterson was born in Dundee, Scotland, in 1963 and spent his boyhood living on a working-class council housing estate. ‘Toy Fights’ is the remarkable story of his first 20 years. This is not just a book about music and family, but also about ‘schizophrenia, hell, money, narcissists, debt and the working class, anger, swearing, drugs, books, football, love, origami, the peculiar insanity of Dundee, sugar, religious mania, the sexual excesses of the Scottish club band scene and, more generally, the lengths we go to not to be bored.

Out of stock

Publish Date: 18/01/2024

Description

‘A classic of its kind.’ William Boyd
‘Thought-provoking, hilarious, sardonic and scarily brilliant.’ Scotsman
‘A work of dazzling craft.’ Times Literary Supplement
‘A memoir in a million.’ Sunday Times

** Chosen as a Time Book of the Year **

Don Paterson was born in Dundee, Scotland, in 1963. He spent his boyhood on a council housing estate.

When he wasn’t busy dreading his birthdays, dodging kids who wanted to kill him in a game of toy fights,
working with his country-and-western singer dad, obsessing over God, origami, sex or Scottish football cards, he was developing a sugar addiction, playing guitar and descending into madness.

While he didn’t manage to figure out who he was meant to be, the first twenty years of his life – before he took a chance, packed his guitar and boarded a train to London – did, for better or worse, shape who he would become

‘A book that swan-dives into the filthy waters of growing up and resurfaces clear-eyed, bearing pearls.’ Financial Times
‘Paterson is arguably Scotland’s finest writer at work today, his sense of the absurd is acutely honed, his wisdom hard-won.’ The National
‘Wonderful, aggressively wise and always – especially at its most serious – devastatingly funny.’ Geoff Dyer

Additional information

Weight 313 g
Dimensions 198 × 130 × 24 mm
Author

Publisher

Imprint

Cover

Paperback

Pages

384

Language

English

Edition
Dewey

821.92 (edition:23)

Readership

General – Trade / Code: K