Overview

Like most people, Vic Mullan - once described by his best friend Joe as 'a man whose sense of social responsibility is exhausted by pulling over to let an ambulance by' - can remember where he was and what he was doing on the day of Princess Diana's death. Yes, he can remember it particularly well: he was at home, beginning an affair with Emma, Joe's wife. The opening sections of David Baddiel's second novel chart the history of an intense and passionately sexual liaison set against the background of the most hysterical time in recent memory. But as the months wear on, and life and love return to normal, so things become more complex between Vic and Emma. And then, tragedy - a real, local, small-scale tragedy, as opposed to a national, iconic, mythological one - intervenes. Part-satire, part-love story, part-whodunnit, and part-meditation on the nature of sex and death, WHATEVER LOVE MEANS confirms Nick Hornby's assertion that David Baddiel has 'gone straight into the First Eleven of young contemporary British novelists'.

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9780349113920

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Reviews

'I read it in one sitting with awe... a thriller and a love story constructed with a sinister symmetry where everything comic is shadowed by something dark' Chrissie Iley - SUNDAY TIMES 'Touching and strange and funny' - SAM MENDES, Director of AMERICAN BEAUTY 'A thriller and a love story constructed with a sinister symmetry where everything comic is shadowed by something dark' - Chrissie Iley, Sunday Times 'A black, sometimes tender read ... impressive and intelligent' - The Times

Love is a mysterious thing, and many things done in its name are downright unfathomable. Take two couples, make one bloke the most conspicuously awful yet oddly sympathetic imaginable, and watch what happens when you mix them up. Beginning with the global grief for Princess Diana, the pain of personal mortality is pinpointed here, and Baddiel's observations are stunningly apt. He's done his research, but above all, the four main characters are living and breathing, dreaming and despairing, with each supporting player given full five minutes in the limelight. The tale is a little soggy in the middle, swamping the reader with the complexities of the plot, but hindsight finally snaps every little piece into place. No dumbing-down here - a highly intelligent, enjoyable novel presenting the reader's favourite dilemma: devour it in one gulp, or spin it out, savouring each word. (Kirkus UK)

Author Information

David Baddiel co-created three of the most popular comedy programmes in BBC TV history and his stand-up comedy act is always a sell-out nationwide.

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