A Shock

A Shock is a 2021 fiction novel written by Irish novelist Keith Ridgway. It was published by Picador in the United Kingdom,[1][2] and by New Directions Publishing in the United States.[3] It was shortlisted for the inaugural Goldsmiths Prize (2021)[4] and won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize (2021).[5]

A Shock
First edition (US)
AuthorKeith Ridgway
LanguageEnglish
Published2021
PublisherNew Directions (US)
Picador (UK)

Plot

The book follows a group of loosely connected characters appearing, disappearing, and reappearing around contemporary London. The nine chapters are "The Party", "The Camera", The Sweat", "The Joke", "The Story", "The Flat", "The Pigeon", "The Meeting" and "The Song". It has a number of characters that experience different social issues on different levels; sexuality, racism, drugs, class struggle, troubles finding accommodation in a progressively changing city.

Reception

Anthony Cummins in The Guardian wrote: "a plot-driven panorama along the lines of John Lanchester's Capital".[6]

References
  1. Mesure, Susie (8 July 2021). "Studies in vulnerability: A Shock, by Keith Ridgway, reviewed". The Spectator. Retrieved 22 October 2022.
  2. Meek, James (18 November 2021). "Never been to Hamburg". London Review of Books. Vol. 43, no. 22. ISSN 0260-9592. Retrieved 22 October 2022.
  3. Scholes, Lucy (6 July 2021). "A Novel Follows Intersecting Lives on London's Margins". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 22 October 2022.
  4. "2021 Prize". Goldsmiths, University of London. Retrieved 22 October 2022.
  5. "Fiction winners". University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
  6. Cummins, Anthony (27 June 2021). "A Shock by Keith Ridgway review – life behind London's twitching curtains". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 October 2022.


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