That Was a Shiver, and Other Stories

Author(s): James Kelman

Short Stories

A trucker passes through a town he used to know and a local tries to sell him his sister; a couple put their children to bed and hear a loud scratching at the wall; a Principal and his associate examine the dead body before them; a man looks into a mirror and reflects on becoming more like his father. Sparky, touching and brilliantly daring, these stories uncover human feeling in the ordinary and the everyday, and are a reminder of Kelman's exceptional talent.


Product Information

Kelman brings alive a human consciousness like no other writer can -- ALAN WARNER PRAISE FOR THE STORIES OF JAMES KELMAN: Tender and funny in a way that may surprise those who know him only by reputation * Daily Telegraph * A rollicking, riveting read ... Kelman's language of inner thought is so fluid and immediate it reads more like breath than words * Daily Herald * The mixture of the precisely but surreally bureaucratic and the casually macabre is perfectly judged * Sunday Times * You only have to read one phrase to recognise his utterly distinctive voice: lyrical, philosophical as a pub stool resident and steeped in the street ... The result, for those who take words seriously, is canonical and pure joy * Metro * Kelman's language is immediately exciting; like a musician, he uses repetition and rhythm * New Yorker * Kelman portrays his world with bleakly beautiful honesty * The Times * An underrated feature of Kelman's work has been his capacity for depicting tenderness -- Stuart Kelly * Scotland on Sunday * As well as being a keen observer of society's underclasses and disenfranchised, Kelman also has a great eye for the absurdity of everyday life, something which comes to the fore in this collection * Independent on Sunday * Kelman excels at describing inner-city squalor * Sunday Times *

James Kelman was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1989 with A Disaffection, which also won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction. He went on to win the Booker Prize five years later with How Late It Was, How Late, before being shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize in 2009 and 2011. His latest novel, Dirt Road, was shortlisted for the Saltire Fiction Book of the Year in 2016.

General Fields

  • : 9781786890900
  • : Canongate Books Ltd
  • : Canongate Books Ltd
  • : August 2017
  • : 214mm X 135mm
  • : United Kingdom
  • : August 2017
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : James Kelman
  • : Hardback
  • : Main
  • : en
  • : 823.92
  • : 288