Books: The Restraint Of Beasts
The novelty factor runs high with this first novel, nominated for a Booker Prize and written by a fellow who drives a big red London bus, and who, British newspapers feverishly reported, received a $1.6 million advance, which later turned out to be $16,000 (he still drives that bus). But this hilariously macabre tale of Tam and Richie, two Scottish fence builders who--once they can be dragged from their slovenly trailer, their cigarette breaks and their pub crawling--keep accidentally killing people on the job, marks a terrific debut. As the story veers into increasingly surreal territory--just who, or what, is that new fence Tam and Richie are building meant to keep in?--Mills makes the life of the manual laborer deadly but never dull.
--By Elizabeth Gleick
Most Popular »
- Sex, Please, We're British: London's Erotica Expo
- The Growing Backlash Against Overparenting
- Toilets
- Woman Loses Benefits over Facebook Photo
- Talking with the Taliban: Easier Said Than Done
- East Antarctica, Long Stable, Is Now Losing Ice
- Is This the End of the Line for Saab?
- The Fall of Greg Craig, Obama's Top Lawyer
- Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin
- Super-Crocodiles May Have Dined on Dinosaurs
- The Growing Backlash Against Overparenting
- Sex, Please, We're British: London's Erotica Expo
- Will Private Equity Be the Next Meltdown?
- Singh in Washington: Making the Case for India
- Toilets
- Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin
- Spanish Outraged by Teen Masturbation Workshops
- Troubling Rise of Facebook's Top Game Company
- The Dark Side of Darwin's Legacy
- Can an Execution Help Heal Bangladesh?







RSS