Publication
Penguin Books (2009), 432 pages
Original publication date
2008
Collections
Genres
Subjects
Awards
Dublin Literary Award (Longlist — 2010)
Scotland's National Book Awards (Winner — 2008)
Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust Book Awards (Winner — Fiction — 2009)
Booklist Editor's Choice: Adult Books (Fiction — 2008)
Description
In this warm, funny and occasionally brooding novel, James Kelman has meticulously and generously recreated both the exterior and the interior of the boy Kieron Smith. Continually rejected by his brother and largely ignored by his parents, Kieron finds comfort - and endless stories - in the home of his much-loved grandparents. But when his family move to a new housing scheme on the outskirts of the city, a world apart from the close community of the tenements, Kieron struggles to adapt to his new life. Kieron Smith, Boyis both particular and universal. It is particular in its depiction of a time and place during a period of profound social change, flourishing sectarianism, yet high hopes for the future. And it is universal in its portrayal of the unique obsessions of childhood, those imaginative spirals of thought about everything and nothing. There's fishing, climbing, fighting, books, brothers, dogs, ghosts, sex, faces, girls and souls, even censorship and the perils of paid employment. This novel is a powerfully honest and emotionally resonant evocation of boyhood by one of the most influential and inventive writers at work today.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member kewing
This novel without plot, without climax, presents a brilliant insight into adolescence--capturing the wild careening of emotions, the wonders and fears in a boy's day and rhythm of language. Despite the absence of plot, Kieron Smith, the central character, matures over the course of the novel and
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the reader comes to care for this brash, adventuresome, sometimes selfish, but also sympathetic boy. Show Less
LibraryThing member Widsith
Outstanding. One of the best through-the-eyes-of-a-child books I've ever read, right up there with Catcher in the Rye. For linguistic brilliance it can only be compared to those early chapters of Portrait of the Artist. There's not a lot of plot, but I just felt so attached to Kieron that I wanted
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to keep reading. It's moving and powerful and sweet and funny, and the narrative voice is pulled off almost flawlessly. Highly recommended. Show Less
LibraryThing member presto
Kieron Smith provides an account of his life as a young boy (pre teens) living in Glasgow. From a somewhat deprived family, with a narrow minded father and a mother who dreams of better for her sons earning her the label 'snob', and an older brother growing increasingly distant as he tries to study
Kieron speaks with the voice of an intelligent but naive young boy, and he speaks not in standard English; his oft repeated expressions some will find quaint and endearing, others may find irritating. He has much to say yet in the end it amounts to very little, and he often repeats himself. He is preoccupied with his fighting abilities, his prowess as a climber and the unfairness of life as he sees it.
The account has no real beginning or end, it simply is, and over the course of its many pages there are no significant happenings, it is just a coverage of the life of a young boy. After my first attempt at reading I put the book down after about 80 pages finding little to hold me, but picking it up again some months later I began to be drawn too Kieron Smith, the boy that is, and it was that along with the way he expresses himself that kept me going to the end, for there was enough there to care about; but there was little else other than the picture Kelman draws of life in the past in deprived areas of Glasgow.
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his way out of poverty, Kieron is very much his own person. He has his own standards of right and wrong which may not always coincide with what is acceptable, and the basis of his judgement of others often comes down to whether or not they are a good fighter and prove loyal to their pals.Kieron speaks with the voice of an intelligent but naive young boy, and he speaks not in standard English; his oft repeated expressions some will find quaint and endearing, others may find irritating. He has much to say yet in the end it amounts to very little, and he often repeats himself. He is preoccupied with his fighting abilities, his prowess as a climber and the unfairness of life as he sees it.
The account has no real beginning or end, it simply is, and over the course of its many pages there are no significant happenings, it is just a coverage of the life of a young boy. After my first attempt at reading I put the book down after about 80 pages finding little to hold me, but picking it up again some months later I began to be drawn too Kieron Smith, the boy that is, and it was that along with the way he expresses himself that kept me going to the end, for there was enough there to care about; but there was little else other than the picture Kelman draws of life in the past in deprived areas of Glasgow.
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LibraryThing member happybird
I couldn't finish this book. Too much misery, child abuse and cruelty... it just didn't seem to end.
LibraryThing member DeltaQueen50
Told through the thoughts and with the voice of one young Scottish lad, Kieron Smith, Boy by James Kelman is in fact, made very distinctive by the Glaswegian dialect that Kieron uses. For me, this made the book a little more difficult but also gave it an authenticity that drew me in. Unfortunately
Kieron is growing up in one of Glasgow’s poorer neighbourhoods. His parents are difficult to get a handle on as in Kieron’s eyes, his dad is always behind the newspaper and his mother is always watching the television. His battles with his older brother did bring a smile to my face having been in Kieron’s position with an older sister who always thought she was in the right. The story flows with the day-to-day tedium of Kieron’s observations that carry him from about age 5 through to 13.
A book that started out well but wasn’t able to keep from fading into boredom, Kieron Smith, Boy felt too long for a book where nothing really happens.
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after 300 or so pages this ‘stream of consciousness’ style started to wear thin and I still had another 100 or so pages to go. While the boy’s voice was truly authentic it was also realistic enough that you soon realized that youngsters of this age don’t have much of interest to talk about. Kieron is growing up in one of Glasgow’s poorer neighbourhoods. His parents are difficult to get a handle on as in Kieron’s eyes, his dad is always behind the newspaper and his mother is always watching the television. His battles with his older brother did bring a smile to my face having been in Kieron’s position with an older sister who always thought she was in the right. The story flows with the day-to-day tedium of Kieron’s observations that carry him from about age 5 through to 13.
A book that started out well but wasn’t able to keep from fading into boredom, Kieron Smith, Boy felt too long for a book where nothing really happens.
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LibraryThing member amerynth
I admire what James Kelman was trying to do here with his novel "Kieron Smith, Boy" but ultimately I didn't feel it was successful. The story focuses on Kieron Smith and his inner thoughts as he wends his way through his preteen years, but I found his inner thoughts to be really dull.
This was a
This was a
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real struggle to get through it. Show Less
LibraryThing member curious_squid
I don't know if it was because it was written in Scottish dialect or the endless run on sentences that kept repeating, or if it had more to do with the complete and utter lack of plot, but this was the most painful book I read in a long time.
I get that it was the thoughts of a 12-13 yr old boy, and
I get that it was the thoughts of a 12-13 yr old boy, and
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maybe I just can't relate, but WOW I really did not enjoy this book. Show Less
Language
Original language
English
ISBN
014101489X / 9780141014890
Physical description
432 p.; 7.7 inches
Pages
432