On First Name Terms with Angels

This incredibly complex and thought provoking novel marks an ambitious debut from a promising new writer who has dared to trust the intelligence of his audience; a rarity these days making it a welcome but brave approach. It may limit his appeal to those who crave a challenge but there's more originality and imagination in the first few chapters than in a shelf full of more conventional books proving the author to be more than just an exceptionally pretty face... if you don't know what I mean, buy it and refer to his photo or visit rossfriday.com... with those looks, the intelligence to write something so profound and no mention of a wife, I intend to marry him and have his babies . . . even if it does mean emigrating back to the UK!

Good things come to those that wait (2/2 people found this helpful)

You know when you start to watch a film, lets say something like `Memento', `21 Grams' or even `Donnie Darko' where after about 15 - 30 minutes of the film, it just doesn't seem to be going anywhere; or more to the point it does seem to be going somewhere, but it isn't carrying you with it and you start to self doubt whether you have the mental capacity to stay with it because you feel totally confused as to who is who, what is what, where is where and just generally have that feeling that you have either missed the point entirely, and therefore need to rewind and start again,....or wait until the end and a) hope the wait was worth it or b) accept that this wasn't meant for you...well this is how I felt on reading `On First Name Terms with Angels'.

After a fantastic opening chapter which left me craving more, the book took on a new direction which left me with the feeling I have tried to describe above...sometimes confused, but mainly just wondering whether it's worth trying to decipher what's going on and putting myself through this until the end....BUT just as with the films I mentioned, it suddenly hits you, it comes together, the final pieces of the jigsaw fit, everything begins to click, flashbacks from the beginning of the book that at the time left me disillusioned suddenly have a purpose and you end up with that, "thank god I stuck with it, I'm going to pat myself on the back for making the right choice and having the intellect to follow it through and overcome my initial doubts" kind of feeling.

You almost end up congratulating yourself for the victory...and well why not, we live in a very self obsessed and hedonistic world....but then again, this is the whole point....this is what is so refreshing about this book - it plays on modern day life's doom and glooms and yet through all the blackness and despair of the many characters, the final crescendo of chapters, coincidences, choices and decisions made that all interconnect,fill your lungs with an outcome that is sugary sweet, and left me - a cynical, sometimes sadistic and often uncompromising individual thinking that just maybe happy endings can exist!

At times, the book can seem too detailed for its own good, but then again would the ending be as good without this attention to detail? Who knows?.. The author obviously has a talent and for a debut novel, this is an excellent attempt at combining lots of characters, storylines and subplots into a very good novel.

My advice....if it's tough reading to start with....stick with it....and hopefully you will experience the same elation and joy those of us who also managed to stick with the 3 films above have experienced, if not...well you're probably an even more cynical, sadistic and uncompromising individual than I am.

YOU CAN'T SUM THIS UP IN A HEADING! (1/1 people found this helpful)

Whenever I write reviews I usually like to recommend the novel to a certain type of audience as most readers fall into categories, as do most stories. However I'm finding it difficult, if not impossible with this book as it touches almost every conceivable style. It's author wouldn't be the first to try and cover all the bases, but previous examples of this risky approach to writing evolve slowly, transcending from one style to another as the book progresses; here the chapters are interspersed in every sense playing with emotions, expectations and even time itself as the story reaches back months and even years into the past, only to leapfrog over itself again before arriving back in the present using pacing tactics in a way more often employed by film directors. Whilst most new writers aspire to be the next Stephen King, Mr Friday seems far more inspired by the likes of Steven Spielberg.

Another inventive touch is that nothing is ever mentioned that may give a clue as to any specific geography and as a writer he tactically manoeuvres around the events actual location, presumably to broaden his novel's appeal; whether this technically makes it a book for everybody or nobody I'm not sure, but it worked for me... being allowed to imagine this taking place in my home town made it all the more engaging. It's also rare for a novelist to create such empathy with fictional characters, but in giving them all realistic and believable human flaws he's made it easy to forget that's all they are; it's with this notable achievement that he impresses most, although it will no doubt be the complexity of the challenging plot and its countless twists that will receive the most attention.

The end result is that it's difficult to believe 'On First Name Terms With Angels' is a debut novel... it's even harder to believe it was written by someone so young. The story's depth is testament to its author's powers of perception or vast imagination; or more likely both. It's original to say the least and in many ways belongs to a genre all of its own. Be warned though, there's not even a glimpse of what is to come during its early chapters and this can be frustrating. It also has a tendency to come across as over ambitious at times, particularly with the introduction of so many seemingly unrelated characters as by populating his pages with so many, I worried the central plot may have been gambled by someone simply trying too hard to make a name for himself. But he's somehow managed to reel them all together by the unpredictable and heart-rending conclusion without any inconsistencies leaving me wondering if the book was actually written in reverse? To sum up... its well worth the effort, but without your full concentration, the mind boggling attention to detail may be lost which could significantly dilute the fairytale like ending which is all the more magical for the intricate way you were lead there.

For the imaginative only... (1/1 people found this helpful)

I'll try and be fair here... whilst there are hints of possible genius within these exceptionally complex pages and enough plot twists to populate a dozen less ambitious books, I personally found the story itself to be somewhat far-fetched. But I've been told in no uncertain terms by my wife, and now by my daughter that in criticising the ample imagination shown here I've missed the point entirely; on reflection they are probably right. Following an impressively eerie opening chapter, the everyday events that follow escalate chapter by chapter until the book's developed an almost fairytale like quality that will no doubt strike a chord with less grouchy and cynical readers.

TISSUES PLEASE, TISSUES! (3/3 people found this helpful)

I won't spoil any of the ample plots twists by going into too much detail, but carefully crafted characters we can all relate to and scenarios extreme enough to fascinate, yet familiar enough to provoke memories and emotions make this complex story, (or more to the point `stories') more engaging than they should be.

The sheer amount of coincidences which rack up by the final chapter root this firmly in the `fiction' category but its underlying message that fate has its own plan would seem less magical without them and could have rendered it less likely to provoke the tears I don't mind saying I shed.

On First Name Terms with Angels

Ross Friday

Reader Reviews:

A novel approach to story telling . . . (1/1 people found this helpful)

Good things come to those that wait (2/2 people found this helpful)

YOU CAN'T SUM THIS UP IN A HEADING! (1/1 people found this helpful)

For the imaginative only... (1/1 people found this helpful)

TISSUES PLEASE, TISSUES! (3/3 people found this helpful)

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