Comments on: The Killing of a Bank Manager

By: will simmati

will simmati — Thu, 10 May 2012 17:02:50 +0000

This is a novel that takes risks; risks – which to be fair – don’t always come off. Kavanagh writes like some kind of neo-Romantic libertine given free run of an opium den and an Oxford English Dictionary. At times, the language seems incongruous and, to be honest, passé. One couldn’t help feeling that if Burroughs read this he would have winced slightly at Kavanagh’s phrasing. Still, a novel that sweeps with Joycean ambition through the European cultural consciousness in less than 150 pages deserves to be praised. What the novel may lack in technical poise and its tendency to get snared by its eagerness to appear well written, it more than makes up for in its experimental form and its author’s endeavour to affirm a genuinely humane spirit.
At its best, ‘The Killing of a Bank Manager’ conveys the comic – near-farcical – intensity of human desire and the disturbing tenuousness of these emotions. However, it strays too often into repetitious use of stock words and images, and over elaborate lists of thesaurus-mined synonyms and approximations that do little save to distract. Where pith would suffice, Kavanagh – too often, it has to be said – opts for the loquacious garrulousness of the verbose tautologist. Nonetheless, a wonderfully refreshing alternative to the ‘play it safe’, ‘no nonsense’ banality of contemporary realism and bourgeois, character-obsessed ‘meat-and-two-veg’ that usually gets served up.

By: Paul Kavanagh

Paul Kavanagh — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 22:53:21 +0000

thanks dave, thanks so much.
at the moment working on a new project called iceberg. a couple win an iceberg in a lottery. it’s an uplifting tale.
once again, thanks,

paul

By: admin

admin — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 19:58:38 +0000

Dear David,

Thanks for your positive comment. We’re glad you enjoyed reading The Killing of a Bank Manager. Our next book is going to be Homegirl! by Ryder Collins, a fast-paced punky novel full of love, sex and desire. We’re looking to have it out by the beginning of September. Nice of Chris to point you to our books as well. He’s a lovely chap.

All the best,

The Honest Team

By: David Rose

David Rose — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 13:33:28 +0000

Dear Honest, Dear Paul,
I was in Langton’s Bookshop on Saturday, and Chris pointed out his display of Honest Publishing’s titles. As by then I’d spent my weekly book allowance, I only allowed myself one title: The Killing of a Bank Manager. Loved it; finished it last night. Like Beckett rewritten by Burroughs with imagery courtesy Magritte and jokes by the Marxes – Groucho and Karl.
But you forgot the plot, man. Couldn’t get a handle. Nonetheless, a great ride, I just relaxed and enjoyed it sentence by hilariously deranged sentence.
So Paul – what’s up next?
And Honest – ditto?
Very best,
David.