Noughties: A Novel
Eliot Lamb is a young man about to face the truth and himself, despite his best efforts to avoid both, in this first novel by a 25-year-old Oxford graduate. Staring down a long night of typical laughter and drinking, Eliot and his fellow Oxford mates must grapple with the questions, fears, and doubts that beset all students on the eve of college graduation as they find themselves about to be thrust into the real world, in which they still have little idea how to navigate. “Our eyes dilated, flooded by harsh reality. Game over.” The somewhat hapless Eliot adds to his own complications through his confused dealings with current potential flame Ella and ex-girlfriend Lucy. Running around town to all the usual joints on this final night of youthful freedom, Eliot hashes through his own history and his potential future while riffing on such modern ambiguities as texting, hooking up, and the decisions, planned or not, that will shape him for years to come. Martin Amis fans will be pleasantly surprised by this debut of an author almost as youthful as his characters. --Julie Trevelyan