The Blade Artist
| File:The Blade Artist.jpg
cover of first edition
|
|
| Author | Irvine Welsh |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Novel |
| Publisher | Jonathan Cape |
|
Publication date
|
2016 |
| Pages | 288 |
| ISBN | 978-0-224-10215-5 |
| OCLC | 946602506 |
The Blade Artist is a 2016 novel by Irvine Welsh.
Synopsis
Jim Francis, a Scottish expatriate artist in California, returns to Scotland for a funeral.[1] His wife Melanie and their two daughters suddenly realize that Jim has a dark past.[1]
Critical reception
The novel was reviewed in many newspapers. It received mostly good reviews.
In a review for The Daily Telegraph, Orlando Bird called it "lean, clever and propulsive".[2] Meanwhile, Hannah McGill of The Scotsman commended Welsh's perceptive description of the "divisions that rend families, and the minor lies and delusions that sustain relationships"[3]
Writing for The London Magazine, Erik Martiny called it a "resourceful, engagingly lively novel", but stressed that its "main interest derives less from its detective novel scenario than from Welsh’s ability to explore his protagonist’s inner struggle to contain the beast within."[4] In the Oxonian Review, Callum Seddon suggested the novel was "a take on the established trope of ‘the double’ in Scottish literature".[5] Meanwhile, Sunil Badami of The Australian assessed that the novel was "lean and purposeful", and a quick read.[6]
Reviewing it for The Guardian, Sarah Diturn suggested the characters were "unconvincing".[7] She added, "As detective fiction it’s shakily assembled, as a horror novel it can’t outpace cinematic torture porn, and as social realism it routinely sends its own plausibility up in smoke."[7]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
<templatestyles src="Asbox/styles.css"></templatestyles>
 |
This article about a 2010s novel is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. See guidelines for writing about novels. Further suggestions might be found on the article's talk page. |
