Morvern Callar Paperback - 1997
by Alan Warner
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.
From the rear cover
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 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 ecstasy generation. Morvern is a brilliant creation, not so much memorable as utterly unforgettable."
From the jacket flap
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 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 ecstasy generation. Morvern is a brilliant creation, not so much memorable as utterly unforgettable."
Details
- Title Morvern Callar
- Author Alan Warner
- Binding Paperback
- Edition First Edition
- Pages 256
- Volumes 1
- Language ENG
- Publisher Anchor Books, New York
- Date 1997-02-17
- ISBN 9780385487412 / 038548741X
- Weight 0.41 lbs (0.19 kg)
- Dimensions 8.07 x 5.23 x 0.57 in (20.50 x 13.28 x 1.45 cm)
- Library of Congress subjects Psychological fiction, Young women - Fiction
- Library of Congress Catalog Number 96023398
- Dewey Decimal Code FIC
Media reviews
Citations
- Booklist, 02/15/1997, Page 1005
- Kirkus Reviews, 01/01/1997, Page 18
- Library Journal, 02/01/1997, Page 109
- New York Times, 05/18/1997, Page 21
- Publishers Weekly, 01/27/1997, Page 76
More Copies for Sale
Morvern Callar (Morvern Callar Cycle)
by Add Warner, Alan
- Used
- Condition
- UsedGood
- ISBN 13
- 9780385487412
- ISBN 10
- 038548741X
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
Phoenix, Arizona, United States
- Item Price
-
£1.02£3.25 shipping to USA
Show Details
Morvern Callar (Morvern Callar Cycle)
by Warner, Alan
- Used
- Condition
- UsedGood
- ISBN 13
- 9780385487412
- ISBN 10
- 038548741X
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
Annandale, New Jersey, United States
- Item Price
-
£2.43£3.25 shipping to USA
Show Details
Morvern Callar (Morvern Callar Cycle)
by Alan Warner
- Used
- Paperback
- Condition
- Used - Acceptable
- Binding
- Paperback
- ISBN 13
- 9780385487412
- ISBN 10
- 038548741x
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
Youngtown, Arizona, United States
- Item Price
-
£3.46£4.27 shipping to USA
Show Details
Morvern Callar
by Warner, Alan
- Used
- Acceptable
- Paperback
- Condition
- Used - Acceptable
- Binding
- Paperback
- ISBN 13
- 9780385487412
- ISBN 10
- 038548741X
- Quantity Available
- 2
- Seller
-
Seattle, Washington, United States
- Item Price
-
£5.02FREE shipping to USA
Show Details
Morvern Callar
by Alan Warner
- Used
- good
- Paperback
- Condition
- Used - Good
- Binding
- Paperback
- ISBN 13
- 9780385487412
- ISBN 10
- 038548741X
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
Seattle, Washington, United States
- Item Price
-
£5.02FREE shipping to USA
Show Details
Morvern Callar
by Warner, Alan
- Used
- Acceptable
- Paperback
- Condition
- Used - Acceptable
- Binding
- Paperback
- ISBN 13
- 9780385487412
- ISBN 10
- 038548741X
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
Seattle, Washington, United States
- Item Price
-
£5.02FREE shipping to USA
Show Details
Morvern Callar
by Warner, Alan
- Used
- Condition
- Used - Good
- ISBN 13
- 9780385487412
- ISBN 10
- 038548741x
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
Reno, Nevada, United States
- Item Price
-
£5.77FREE shipping to USA
Show Details
Morvern Callar
by Warner, Alan
- Used
- Condition
- Used - Good
- ISBN 13
- 9780385487412
- ISBN 10
- 038548741x
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
Reno, Nevada, United States
- Item Price
-
£5.77FREE shipping to USA
Show Details
Morvern Callar
by Alan Warner
- Used
- Paperback
- Condition
- Used: Good
- Binding
- Paperback
- ISBN 13
- 9780385487412
- ISBN 10
- 038548741X
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
HOUSTON, Texas, United States
- Item Price
-
£6.56FREE shipping to USA
Show Details
Morvern Callar (Morvern Callar Cycle)
by Warner, Alan
- New
- Paperback
- Condition
- New
- Binding
- Paperback
- ISBN 13
- 9780385487412
- ISBN 10
- 038548741X
- Quantity Available
- 800
- Seller
-
Fairfax Station, Virginia, United States
- Item Price
-
£8.13£3.25 shipping to USA