Having not seen the movie adaptation of Submarine, I came to Joe Dunthorne's novel cold.
It tells the tale of only child Oliver, enduring life as a 16 year-old in 1997 Swansea.
Yup, 1997 and not the '80s which I gather is when the acclaimed film is set.
The novel's a debut. Honestly, I think that shows a bit in the structural issues though overall it's entertaining and very readable.
The reviews compare it to Catcher In The Rye. I suppose that's short-hand for teenage-narrated adult fiction. Me, it reminds me a lot of Sue Townsend's Adrian Mole books.
Oliver's a far more complex character than Adrian. Darker. More manipulative.
But the comparisons are obvious, and acknowledged in the book itself.
The 90s setting actually distinguishes the novel from the misadventures of Mr. Mole, especially given the frequent usage of the nascent interweb. (More so than I remember, but things might have been different in Swansea)
A fun read but it could have done with some tightening.
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