Very enjoyable read, although very much a game of 2 halves. First all 80s indie and cheap speed, second middle age responsibility and anxiety. Still, O'Hahan is always worth reading

Mayflies is a compelling novel from Booker long listed author Andrew O’Hagan. It’s a story of two halves, one a vigirious stampede as a group of young men make their way from a small Scotish town to Manchester for a concert. Early on the mood is captured “I don’t want to be funny, but if we miss this we might as well be dead” and this feeling rings out throught the first phase. Its fast paced and blink and you will miss them encounters. It feels exciting, and there is great enjoyment in this. They are never anywhere long as they make their way around Manchester and the people they meet are not that important, and you know each encounter is impactful for these characters on the defining image of their youth. It seems endless and exciting until the coin is flip and the story goes to forty years later.

Then the story is given a definitive stamp and endpoint which flips the story completely. At first it was hard to ajust after the dizzing rampage of what came but it slowly mellowed and reflected into a poignant novel. It is rare that we are given a glimpse into our idolised charcters of youth grow old. Tully is the Haden Cauifield, Charlie (Perks Of Being A Wallflower) and beyond. It isn’t easy hearing the success and the failures but its authentic and that rings true in the later novel, of how these characters mould into adults and can still take charge. He is the driving force behind this novel and a character worth your time.

This really is a book of two halves. The first half centres on a group of friends who spend a wild weekend in Manchester. Although this part is crucial; for the readers' understanding as to how the friendship works it did go on a bit. I very nearly gave up as I did not know where the plot was going. Thankfully I soldiered on as the second half is a beautiful narration of a lasting friendship facing a final test. Having dragged my feet for the first half I read the second in a afternoon - the characters and emotions tugged on my heartstrings. So keep going for the fantastic second half!

Mayflies is a novel about friendship, youth, and death, as two friends live the heyday of their youth in 1986 and then deal with the harsh realities of the present. James' best friend is Tully Dawson, united by a love of music and kitchen sink dramas, and in the summer of 1986, as James leaves school, they spend a weekend in Manchester with other friends, living the dream of their lives. Thirty years later, Tully calls James with news: he has cancer, and needs someone to be the campaign manager of what he does next.

This is a novel focused on loss, both of youth and the easiness of adventure, and of an old friend, and also those lost in between. The tone is sad but also witty, and the writing makes you feel part of their old jokes and references, but also only seeing what the protagonist James wants to see. The novel feels like a quiet tragedy infused with the music of the 1980s, emulating the kind of understated domestic drama, but focusing on friendship both in the fun heyday (though, of course, there's still sadness then) and later, when nostalgia must become practicality.