num_pages: 228
description: " Stump makes you feel that you are reading on the edge of a life in a fierce gale, vulnerable, excited, alive." ― The Guardian (London) Wet an spectacular wreckage leads to "powerful forgetting" which leads to "periodics" which lead to the "dry drunks" which go to "immersion" an "enabler" an "therapeutic alliance" an any alternative, any fuckin alternative atropine aversion therapy or Antabuse or ECT or acufuckinpuncture or snakepits or swimming with dolphins an all of that all of it comes completely back to this one pure irreducible a booming heart that burns to drink. It has taken the loss of a limb and a death threat from the Mob to make one Liverpudlian dry out and move to a small seaside town in Wales. But his past life is a recurring nightmare―filth, desperation, and blackouts. And more trouble is only a hundred miles away. Darren and Alastair leave Liverpool, heading south in a rickety old car. They have been sent by their gang boss to wreak violent revenge, but they have only a rough idea of their a one-armed man. Interspersed between the scabrous banter and a pitch-perfect street dialect, Niall Griffiths offers stunning descriptions of the Welsh landscape and a dark, knowing humor. Despite the ever present drugs, violence, and anger, he reveals a fragile humanity. Graywolf is proud to introduce this striking, distinctive voice to American readers.
language: English
title: Stump
titlecomplete: Stump
genres: Fiction, British Literature
ratings_count: 181
awards: awardedAt: 1072944000000
name: Wales Book of the Year
publisher: Graywolf Press