Overview

Teenage meat-packer Delia Chapman's claim that she has encountered a group of aliens is at first considered temporary insanity because of the stresses of her job. For how else can her story, which gains her instand tabloid fame and the envy of her catty friends, be explained? Things get stranger when Delia realizes she's pregnant, but remembers little more of her supernatural experience than lights and noise. When two of Delia's friends also disclose their pregnancies and likewise blame the spacemen, the town of Opunake begins to buzz with reporters.

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9781846880353

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Reviews

Like something straight out of a fantasy and a thoroughly engrossing one at that. Bright, witty, and hilarious: McCarten knows exactly how far he can push the envelope, and he doesn't let up until the very last minute. More, please. --Kirkus Reviews

?McCarten is part barker, part juggler, part aerialist. . . . While never losing his humor, McCarten seriously considers how discombobulating a story . . . can be in an unstable society.?-- New York Times?An amusing portrait of a tiny New Zealand town struggling to cope with teenage sexuality, bad PR, and space aliens.?-- Los Angeles Times ?McCarten keenly juxtaposes the absurd and the grotesque, hilarity and pain. . . . [His] ability to evoke the many faces of a small town by juggling simultaneous scenes and multiple subplots is almost Dickensian. . . . McCarten shares Dickens' capacity to borrow the harsh lines and humor of caricature without sacrificing the humanity of his characters.?-- San Francisco Examiner?McCarten takes his readers on an amusing, cynical and often tender romp through small-town New Zealand. . . . [ Spinners] has an often dark and quite wicked sense of humor.?-- Washington Times?A remarkably sweet and tender love story of a very odd and affecting sort.?-- San Diego Tribune?A clever plot and solid characters make [ Spinners] a laugh-out-loud treat.?-- Tampa Tribune?Zippy dialogue, fantastically funny characters . . . Spinners is a fun romp and commentary on our scandal-hungry culture.?-- St. Petersburg Times?[McCarten's] dramatist's ear for language comes through beautifully . . . All is not what it seems in Spinners, a quiet, graceful novel about the yearnings of the human heart.?-- Minneapolis Star Tribune?There are enough lustrous passages in Spinners to give it a translucent glow'alien spaceship or not.?-- Newsday [McCarten's] wry, lighthearted treatment of a bizarre situation often gives way to little, thoughtful moments that betray larger emotionaltruths.?-- Santa Rosa Press Democrat?Thoroughly engrossing . . . bright, witty and hilarious: McCarten knows exactly how far he can push the envelope, and he doesn't let up until the very last minute. More, please.?-- Kirkus Reviews (starred)?One of New Zealand's best-known playwrights explores the powers of the imagination when confronted with seemingly inexplicable events. McCarten has wrapped a mystery around contemporary issues . . . in this fine fiction debut.?-- Booklist (starred) A fun and wacky romp, filled with vivid description and offbeat characters. --Library Journal There are enough lustrous passages in Spinners to give it a translucent glow--alien spaceship or not. --Newsday Combines the cultural savvy of an episode of The Simpsons with the formally meticulous confusion/resolution of a Shakespeare comedy. --The Times Literary Supplement In fooling around with a narrative that has enough resemblance to a parable to be able to pass as one, McCarten is part barker, part juggler, part aerialist. --The New York Times Book Review Like something straight out of a fantasy and a thoroughly engrossing one at that. Bright, witty, and hilarious: McCarten knows exactly how far he can push the envelope, and he doesn't let up until the very last minute. More, please. --Kirkus Reviews A beautifully constructed comedy which wryly observes a small town's follies with a subtle-but-hip sensibility. A Kiwi-flavored Garrison Keillor. --Esquire , Books of the Year Spinners combines the cultural savvy of an episode of The Simpsons with the formally meticulous confusion/resolution of a Shakespeare comedy . . . McCarten's lively prose style is a pleasure to read. - Times Literary Supplement A beautifully constructed comedy which wryly observes a small town's foibles with a subtle-but-hip sensibility. - Esquire, Books of the Year McCarten is part barker, part juggler, part aerialist. He hangs attributes on his characters as if they were caps and bells, and he has these unwitting jesters say and do thigh-slapping things . . . - New York Times Book Review Bright, witty and hilarious: McCarten knows exactly how far to push the envelope, and he doesn't let up until the last minute. - Kirkus Reviews McCarten's dramatic gifts - with characterization, plot, dialogue and humour - shine through this sparkling novel. Domestic violence, the frustrations of small-town life, the blessings of beauty and pain of ugliness, the boredom of factory work - all of these are woven into a story which is a quirky good read an entertaining expression of the zeitgeist. - The Observer Spinners combines the cultural savvy of an episode of The Simpsons with the formally meticulous confusion/resolution of a Shakespeare comedy . . . McCarten s lively prose style is a pleasure to read. - Times Literary Supplement A beautifully constructed comedy which wryly observes a small town s foibles with a subtle-but-hip sensibility. - Esquire, Books of the Year McCarten is part barker, part juggler, part aerialist. He hangs attributes on his characters as if they were caps and bells, and he has these unwitting jesters say and do thigh-slapping things . . . - New York Times Book Review Bright, witty and hilarious: McCarten knows exactly how far to push the envelope, and he doesn t let up until the last minute. - Kirkus Reviews McCarten's dramatic gifts - with characterization, plot, dialogue and humour - shine through this sparkling novel. Domestic violence, the frustrations of small-town life, the blessings of beauty and pain of ugliness, the boredom of factory work - all of these are woven into a story which is a quirky good read an entertaining expression of the zeitgeist. - The Observer Bright, witty, and hilarious: McCarten knows exactly how far he can push the envelope, and he doesn't let up until the last minute. More, please .-- Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

A beautifully constructed comedy which wryly observes a small town's follies with a subtle-but-hip sensibility. A Kiwi-flavored Garrison Keillor. --Esquire , Books of the Year

Author Information

Anthony McCarten is a New Zealand-born playwright, novelist, journalist, television writer and filmmaker. He is best known for writing the biopics The Theory of Everything (2014), Darkest Hour (2017), Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) and The Two Popes (2019). A double BAFTA-winning screenwriter, he has been nominated four times for Academy Awards, among them nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Theory of Everything and The Two Popes. He is the author of ten previous plays and writer of the ‘book’ for the upcoming Neil Diamond Broadway musical, A Beautiful Noise (2022). The Collaboration is the second instalment of his The Worship Trilogy, the other two parts being The Two Popes and Wednesday at Warren’s, Friday at Bill’s. As a sequence, they separately explore our worship of religion, art and money. He lives in London.

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