{"product_id":"brat","title":"Brat","description":" ‘Full of dark, deadpan humour, \u003ci\u003eBrat\u003c\/i\u003e is a raucous story of the messy, messed-up business of living, dying and having a family.’ \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eFinancial Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e‘\u003c\/b\u003eA moving coming-of-age family story’ \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eObserver \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Iconic', Radio 1\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eI was in the waiting room. Then I was in the examination\u003cbr\u003e room.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Gabriel’s skin is falling off.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e His dad is dead.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e He owes his editor a novel.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e His girlfriend won’t answer his calls.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Tasked by his horribly well-adjusted brother with clearing out the family home for sale, Gabriel’s sanity quickly begins to unravel. His parents’ old manuscripts appear to change each time he reads them. A bizarre home video hints at long-buried secrets. And there’s a hideous man in the garden.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Disquieting and hilarious, taut yet lyrical, blisteringly-paced but formally inventive, \u003ci\u003eBrat \u003c\/i\u003eis a mediation on grief, art and love that will leave you altered, breathless and desperate for more. \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrom a stunningly original new talent, this is a debut novel unlike anything you have read before. \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e ‘This original, clever story is brilliant on grief, madness and creativity. It’s beautifully written, hilarious and heart-breaking. I raced through it.’ \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eDaily Mail\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e ​\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e‘For readers looking for something that will grip you from start to finish, \u003ci\u003eBrat \u003c\/i\u003eis sure to be your breath of fresh air. The novel crackles with gothic horror, deadpan humor, and a damning sense of alienation that you won’t soon shake.’\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e Chicago Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e ‘Smith's picaresque first novel is told from the perspective of Gabriel, a writer struggling with numerous issues . . . a deeply gothic work that never quite settles the reader in a certain world as Gabriel’s foibles, ghostly visions, and uncertainties filter every moment. Written in short, clipped chapters and featuring uproarious dialogue (especially with Gabriel's brother), this is a darkly comic and brilliantly unusual debut.’ \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e ‘[Smith's] dialogue shines . . . Readers who appreciate the morbidly funny and the just plain morbid will find a lot to love in these pages. A weird and darkly funny novel from a writer to watch.’ \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e ‘It's a book about loss and the anxiety of the modern age, tinged with humor and deep insight that will stay with readers long after the last page is turned.’ \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eTown \u0026amp; Country\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e 'Gabriel Smith has written a truly unique and surprising book. He is the rarest thing: a distinctive stylist on the line and structure level. Brat is so strange and so funny. I laughed a lot while reading.' \u003cb\u003eRachel Connolly, author of \u003ci\u003eLazy City\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e 'Messy with glitched realities and body horror, Brat breathes the same thrillingly claustrophobic air as Inland Empire and Ubik. It’s a skin-shedding ouroboros of grief and laughter, and the most brain-melting British debut I’ve read in ages.' \u003cb\u003eEd Park, author of \u003ci\u003eSame Bed Different Dreams\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e 'Gabriel Smith’s prose is like if Joan Didion and Shirley Jackson took Xanax and used the internet. Brat is a sharp, eerie, confident debut about grief, memory, art, and so much more. Smith is a major new talent.' \u003cb\u003eJordan Castro, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Novelist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e 'Gabriel Smith’s jauntily creepy and hilarious tale of a grief-stalked scapegrace’s sloughing-off and regeneration of selves in the filial murk of a moldering homestead is a Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man for a new, quaking generation. Brat will unnerve and seduce you.' \u003cb\u003eGarielle Lutz, author of \u003ci\u003eWorsted\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e 'Smith's picaresque first novel is told from the perspective of Gabriel, a writer struggling with numerous issues . . . a deeply gothic work that never quite settles the reader in a certain world as Gabriel’s foibles, ghostly visions, and uncertainties filter every moment. Written in short, clipped chapters and featuring uproarious dialogue (especially with Gabriel's brother), this is a darkly comic and brilliantly unusual debut.' \u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eBooklist\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e '[Smith's] dialogue shines . . . Readers who appreciate the morbidly funny and the just plain morbid will find a lot to love in these pages. A weird and darkly funny novel from a writer to watch.' \u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eKirkus\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  ","brand":"MediaPlace","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57213982703998,"sku":"NW9781398525313","price":13.59,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1379\/1261\/files\/9781398525313.jpg?v=1778543606","url":"https:\/\/mediaplace.com\/products\/brat","provider":"MediaPlace","version":"1.0","type":"link"}