Praise for The Last Book You Read
“Set in Manhattan and Glasgow, these sleek, stylish and sexually explicit fables of modern anomie, mark the debut of Morrison - there is a complex and restless intelligence at work here, expressing compound thoughts in simple sentences that flow beautifully. It’s like someone you don’t know taking a disconcerting interest in you, putting their mouth so close to your ear you can feel their breath”
Jennie Renton. Sunday Herald.
“Scottish purveyor of erudite filth … you’re gonna love Ewan Morrison’s debut collection, The Last Book You Read.”
Arena
“Ewan Morrison’s debut is a collection of stories about anomie, cynicism, loneliness and sex . . . Male and female; straight, gay and bi; young and old; American and Scottish, they’re all looking for the same thing: a connection with someone, a new feeling. They’re vivid characters and their voices are all subtly different . . . Morrison leaves you some searing emotional passages and a handful of precious light moments.”
Laurence Phelan, Independent on Sunday (****)
“A brilliant collection of searing short stories - deeply poignant”
Richard Holloway. Cover Stories. BBC Radio Scotland
“Whereas (Michel) Faber’s versatility is a question of subject matter, Morrison excels in voice and form. Though he favors the monologue, some stories are told from three or four perspectives. Many manage to encapsulate entire lives and trajectories in the span of a few pages. His art can be seen at it’s finest in “Adagio”. The fragility and grief are in effective contrast to the bravado and true grit of Morrison’s customary narrative voice.”
Aamer Hussein. The Independent Arts & Books Review.
“In Scottish terms, it’s the most assured short story collection since AL Kennedy’s Night Geometry and the Garscadden Trains and the most compelling Scottish literary debut since Irvine Welsh’s Trainspotting. On an international level, it signals the emergence of a precocious literary talent - a heart-wrenching clutch of post-millennial fables”.
Sunday Times
“Ewan Morrison, whose The Last Book You Read includes stories set in New York and has already been compared to Douglas Coupland. This title heralds the launch of a new literary imprint by the Edinburgh-based publishers Black and White, and with a mesmerizing, no-holds-barred collection of short stories they have surely stolen a march on the kind of titles Canongate used to call its own.”
The Herald
“A confident and heartfelt selection of stories which flit between Scotland and America . . . Convincingly writing all ages and both sexes in the first person, Morrison equals the everyman patter of Irvine Welsh and the personable logic of Iain Banks. Yet there is also a precise mixture of the uncompromising and the tender that’s all his own, and a full-length debut novel will be eagerly anticipated.”
David Pollock, The List (****)
“Taut and direct, in the overtly masculine style of James Kelman or Charles Bukowski”
Laura Marney, The Scotsman
“Remarkably confident. An obvious influence is the work of short-story master Raymond Carver, which, as influences go, isn’t a bad one to have. Morrison has, however, poured enough of his own brand of creeping desolation into the scenarios to make these stories his own . . . There isn’t a duff story out of the 14 on offer, and there are at least a couple of exceptional ones . . . Scenes are often set with cinematic precision, and the dialogue bristles with energy. As debuts go, this is auspicious.”
Doug Johnstone, The Herald
“frankly manky”
Colin Waters, Sunday Herald
“fearless and touching short-story collection . . . masterly”
Lesley McDowell, The Herald
“Internet blind dates, a man who is penning The Adulterer’s Guide, a woman planning on seducing a friend’s husband; such fragile characters and more are featured in this rampant debut.”
The List (”Best Naughty Scottish Debut” from The Books Issue)
“Morrison’s narrative voice has the perfect level of confidence and the rawness of the emotions really stings - this book’s got soul!”
David Mackenzie, director of Young Adam
“A Scot finds his voice in America in these wonderfully assured stories.”
Bernard McLaverty
