Tony Interrupter by Nicola Barker

When an audience member at an improvised jazz session ( who becomes the Tony of the title), stands up and questions the honesty of the performance, the wheels of reaction and consequence start to turn. We live in a World where such episodes are unlikely to escape filming, posting on line and going viral. So is the case this time. The fallout though is not only on the lives of characters, but also causes them (and us) to reflect more deeply on philosophical questions relating to honesty and freedom. It also highlights some of the differences of opinion which occur between the generations within a household; something which may resonate equally with readers at each end of the age spectrum.

I did find it a challenge keeping up with the different characters at first and the flow of the story. I may benefit from reading a few things back.

4,5
I always enjoy reading Nicola Barker, but I admit it's not always easy and it took me some time to really get into 'TonyInterruptor.' It seemed too highbrow or intellectual to me at first, but once I got used to the style, the original play with words, the smart discussions and rants, etc I was hooked. It reminded me of Nell Zink's latest novel 'Sister Europe' and it was just as funny.
Barker mainly explores art here, its ideas and meaning, and whether it can be honest or real at all. The same with people: are they truthful or are they pussy-footing (my new favorite word :-)? We are all flawed, but does giving in to that make us real and honest?
This was great and interesting, sometimes hilarious and it certainly made me look at the actor Anders Danielsen Lie differently.
Thank you Granta and Netgalley UK for the ARC

Bold, eccentric, and wildly original ⚡🎭. TonyInterruptor is an offbeat, clever novel full of absurd humour, quirky characters, and sharp social commentary. Nicola Barker’s fearless storytelling and playful style create an unpredictable, unforgettable reading experience. I adored the chaotic energy and underlying satire. Perfect for fans of experimental fiction with wit.

Nicola Barker’s H(a)ppy won the 2017 Goldsmith Prize and was longlisted for the 2018 Women’s Prize (in the days before that prize majored on an accessibility criteria). It was a perfect fit for the former – which looks to reward fiction “that breaks the mould or extends the possibilities of the novel form” with its narrative and typographical experimentation and was one that according to the partly autofictional narrator of her next book – the quirky novella “I Am Sovereign” “to all intents and purposes destroyed the novel (as a form) for The Author”.

Well here is her next book (to be published later in 2025) a novel and one which is less experimental than H(a)ppy but which has instead a narrative which at times seems deliberately (and self-referentially) freestyle and improvised in a way which reminded me partly of Isabel Waidner (another Goldsmith winner) and partly of Helen Oyeyemi (a past Goldsmith shortlistee and judge).

It opens with an unknown man interrupting a live music performance – an “improvisational jazz show in a moderately affluent southern English cathedral town” (a fictionalised version of Canterbury) saying “Is this honest? Are we are all being honest here”. Backstage – Sasha Keyes, a trumpet player whose ensemble was playing, has a “heated post-performance exchange” with Fi Kinebuchi (his ex-wife, still in his band, music lecturer at the nearby college) and sarcastically christens the man as TonyInterruptor.

A film of the incident is captured and uploaded by a teenage girl in the audience (India Shore) and a fellow band member adds the hashtag #TonyInterruptor which then goes viral.

From there we spend much of our time with the Shore family – father Lambert (a professor of archaeology at the same university as Fi), his second wife (India’s stepmum) Mallory and their 8 year old, special needs daughter Gunn, as Lambert and Mallory bicker over a conceptual art piece the former is planning involving Fi – and as India despairs in teenage daughter fashion over her parents inability to understand new social media concepts (this latter part is at times amusing but I would say far from original). We also meet the interruptor – real and John Lincoln Braithwaite who appears to spend his time mainly contemplating the fall of light and importance of silence and borrowing library books (and apparently looks like Andrew Danielsen Lie – apparently an actor).

A later section is set 3 years later brings many of the characters together in the artistic and personal aftermath of the first part – Braithwaite with a very oddly if not inappropriately voiced (by Barker) Francophone African ex-nun who works as a registrar in an Parisian art gallery with a video installation art produced by Shore and Kinebuchi around the idea of interruption; India and Lambert at a concert Sasha and his ensemble are giving to launch a new concept album – named after Mallory (who left home in the immediate fall out of the original concert).

At one stage the Tonyinterruptor name is either claimed to be a song by the post punk band The Fall (whose lead singer provides an epitaph) or from Martin Amis’s “Lionel Asbo”. I find it hard to think of many literary novels that less appeal than late-Amis although even that does not give me the same level of dread as “improvisational jazz” or “post punk” or “conceptual art” which is all by way of saying this was not a novel that really worked for me at all.

I'm afraid I found this difficult to read - the whole text was full of interruptions! I'm sure the digressions are relevant and interesting, but I found they got in the way of the narrative for me. I'm sure that many will love this thought - it will probably be a 'marmite' book.

“Engage with the true... true substance of the thing? Stop framing everything in terms of ART and IDEAS and MEANING, stop communicating only in GESTURES and SYMBOLS, stop always making everything so ... so INTELLECTUAL, SO META, and just... just ... for once in your life risk being real?”
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In a way this quote sums up this book perfectly. It is amusing in parts, the gentle skewering of middle class pretensions around art and culture. It is also I guess pretty smart, perhaps bordering on pretentious?
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Truth be told, I didn’t get it. Perhaps I’m simply not au fait with this world or fully understanding the concepts outlaid at times in wittily written sentences. It felt like being on the outside of an in-joke. An in-joke from the cool group of kids at school, who like dissecting in infinitesimal ways language, high art and perpetually on the hunt for authenticity.
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Perhaps it’s those people that the book is gently mocking, a fact that didn’t particularly land with me. It’s all very clever and knowing, a wink and nod. I enjoyed Barker’s quality of writing, and there were parts that did make me chuckle. This just left me a bit cold, alongside adolescent flashbacks of never quite fitting in with the arty cool kids at school.

I’m new to Nicola Barker, so this was a bit of an experiment. A very worthwhile one as it turned out. Intriguing characters and situations, gorgeous prose, and an oh so true reflection on the inside of the the head commentary that all of us have going on as we stumble through life, navigating work, culture, relationships and family. Not for those who want a conventional linear narrative, but perfect if you value novels that resonate long after the reading.

This was the first book by Nicola Barker that I have read, and I'm still not completely sure what I think of it. Yes, the writing is clever and the premise is philosophical,. but I never really got invested in the story. I struggled to like any of the characters and found the going tedious at times. There were big chunks of dialogue with no plot movement and a couple of times I almost gave up before I got there in the end.
Maybe this one wasn't for me and I might try another of hers at some point.

Thanks to NetGalley for a free e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the set up of this book and the writing is entertaining and eloquent. However the premise felt a little laboured at times and I lost interest in the threads. Modern and chaotic, the book will appeal to readers who enjoy literature that shares challenging conversations.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this book.

I will be honest here because, can we be honest? Yes. we can.
This is a fun read which is layered, rich, and full of cultural references.
There is a jazz concert in the beginning, and then something happens, and that changes everything.
Cleverly written with interesting and competent prose.

An indulgent and comic exploration of the oddities of modern society! Loved it!

TonyInterruptor as yet unnamed stands up in the middle of the gig and asks the question: ‘Is this honest? Are we all being honest here?’

The man then points to the trumpet player, Sasha Keyes, and finishes his disruption by commenting, almost pityingly 'You, especially'. The interruption takes people by surprise, this man doesn't appear to be your ordinary heckler.

This disruption is caught on video, posted on social media and goes viral. The book 'TonyInterrupter', is the fall out of the disruption - the tussle and tumble of the characters that try to each understand themselves and each other in the ensuing aftermath.

Nicola Barker has such fun with her subjects, twisting their situations and rollicking in their discomfort. I won't list all the characters, because much of the enjoyment is the reveal of each new person and how they are connected through this event. But to Sasha Keyes who is singled out by the Interrupter, there is this delightful description from the view of his Manager:

'She feels now - and has always felt - that Sasha is an extremely unpredictable and intermittently vicious clinically obese 17-year-old Rottweiler with mesmerizingly yellow teeth and advance arthritis living inside the body of an inordinately pale and skinny 45-year-old suit model with a powerful jaw, giant hands and Supermanstyle spectacles (whose only real purpose, surely, are to be hurled off during a life-and-death crisis). '

At first I puzzled about how this would look, but by reading on, Sasha displays himself and the embodiment of his inner unpredictable Rottweiler leaps from the page.

While I thought the characters were great fun, I really enjoyed the exploration of so many oddities of our modern society. They are not deeply analysed but lightly played upon, and the question is clearly established - why do these oddities exist, and how did they become so profound? What is authenticity and originality in music... or art? Do the origins of a hashtag matter? In a world of spontaneous videos who is the owner of the content? How should one handle disgrace in the face of the media? And with everything in the world being comically odd, why do we try and hold our human forms rigidly to some societal expectations and not others?

Nicola Barker has a different way of looking at the world which is full of punch and relish. Smiling at one pertinent observation, and trying to pause to enjoy, you are careened into another. It is a roller coaster. And sadly, in my view, over too quickly. She is a unique voice!

I demolished this book in just over two days. It has been 18 years since I finished 'Darkmans' and I am now realising that it is too long and I'll certainly be seeking out her other books. Thank you so much #NetGalley and #GrantaBooks!

I'm afraid I only pressed on with this book because it was relatively short.
The phrase 'art for arts sake' kept running through my mind as I read.
I enjoy books with great characters and a plot, so this really wasn't for me, despite being a qualified English Teacher. It really was too literary for me. It raised the occasional smile but no real enjoyment.
Thanks to NetGalley the author and publisher for the opportunity to read an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I found the premise of "TonyInterruptor" to be fascinating. The protagonist seeks to question honesty and integrity in how we live our lives, which results in some profound self-reflections and learnings by the other main characters. I read this just after having a conversation with a colleague at a charity I volunteer for, about how we always say we are "fine" or "good" but that doesn't reflect the hidden depths or challenges that we have running through our lives - which led to a much deeper conversation and connection. Authenticity in a world that is fast-moving with social media, and a multitude of connections (some closer than others) is something to think about!

This was my first book by Nicola Barker and I would read others of hers as I enjoyed this one.

Thanks to Nicola Barker, Granta Books and NetGalley for this ARC in return for an honest review.

An extremely erudite book. One that I can imagine English Literature undergraduates discussing until the early hours.
I enoyed some of the badinage, but generally it was over my head.
Buy it if you enjoy arguing minor points of meaning of words and phrases, as it is common nowadays, and are always using google on your mobile phone to check everything that someone says.
Bang up to date with the arguments. Interesting , but not for my taste particularly nice charcters.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

A wryly funny novel in which a man who interrupts a concert inadvertently becomes a social media sensation and the lives of those he touches begin to unravel. This is smart, dry as a bone and gorgeous. I loved it.

This is a review of TonyInterruptor by Nicola Barker. The novel opens on an improvisational jazz performance, where the eponymous Tonyinterruptor(a going by the initials JLB) brings a halt to proceedings when asking “Is this honest?” A social media brouhaha ensues with the small cast of characters all affected in deep and lasting ways by the fallout.
JLB is brought to recognisable life in a few short sentences -“He is respectful of books in the way that he is respectful of people, and in the way that he is not of live music performances. Why is this?It’s unknown. It’s a mystery.Although there will be a reason, surely?
Some triggering experience that taught him that it was important to leave( or politely-always politely- object to)a live event if something feels vaguely’off’”.
Similar in tone but smaller in scale to Caledonian Road, and therefore much easier to follow, this is a cutting and highly amusing satire, which gallops along through the array of those connected by the performance, allowing the reader to enjoy a skewering of Woke constraints.
I would say this is for lovers of beautifully constructed arguments, and character development(with the characters being universally wonderfully awful) rather than plot.
I raced through this with gleeful abandon and will look for other titles by this author.

Nicola Barker is one of the truly unique voices in British fiction, and a new novel from her is always welcome. She is very playful, postmodern and often very funny. TonyInterruptor starts with a man standing up at a jazz concert and asking "Is this honest? Are we all being honest here?" This moment, which goes viral, changes the lives of everyone involved. For this to suggest there is a detailed plot here, though, would mislead. Barker is like a jazz musician, freestyling, riffing on a theme. TonyInterruptor is another triumph from Barker, though perhaps not her most immediately accessible one. I started my love for her work with The Yips from 2012, one of her three nods from the Booker Prize. Either way, do yourself a favour and read some Barker, and let her unique worldview change you - for this is what fiction should do, and she does it amongst the best.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC.

This was my first time reading Nicola Barker. Although her writing style (long-winded, absurd, tangential) very much resonated with my own affinities, TonyInterruptor was not the best way for me to be introduced to her work.

The (art) world setting and the cast of characters felt too unfamiliar to me, alienating. I understand that one does not always have to fully "get" a piece of art in order to appreciate it, and I have enjoyed postmodern fiction before. However, in this case, I wasn't able to connect with it. I felt outside the story, as if stuck in the shallow end.

TonyInterruptor clearly has merit, and I can see people who are more familiar with the context (narrative and literary) liking it more.
Although it eventually did not work for me, I am glad to have discovered Nicola Barker, and would definitely give her a try again. Maybe even this very same book, another time.

I am a Nicola Barker fan so I was delighted to receive an ARC of her latest book TonyInterruptor (thanks Granta Publications and Netgalley!) and it didn't disappoint.

I don't think I can describe the plot as it barely exists (and anyway I don't like reviews that tell you too much about the plot, spoils the anticipation) but the story hinges on a interruption to a live musical performance and the way in which this reverberates in the lives of those involved. (You can read the beginning of the book here: https://granta.com/tonyinterruptor/)

The characters leap off the page through their conversations. Nicola Barker is very good at writing dialogue and this is very authentic, with all the pauses and interruptions. (It would make an excellent play or film.) The conversations are quite profound in places, dealing with questions around the creation of art but they are also often screamingly funny, and I really like the way she breaks the fourth wall with occasional authorial asides about the characters and their behaviour. Mallory is a particularly intriguing character who at first seems peripheral but her lengthy internal monologue is a wonderful stream of consciousness passage and she also has a later conversation in which she is high on medication in hospital which is very funny. The ending is perfectly judged but I still want to know what happens next.

Barker plays with words very effectively and entertainingly: ... 'preposterous' (which is surely just 'ridiculous' with hidden shoe lifts')... And how does she conjure up such wonderful names for her characters? I had to look up some of names scattered about to find out if they were genuine people or her brilliant invention. And I chuckled on discovering that the musician Sasha Keyes was the son of a piano teacher named... Marian Keyes...

I was hooked from the first reference to Salinger's Raise High The Roof Beam, Carpenters, a great favourite of mine and there are many references to other works - I often wonder how much I have missed with Barker's work, how many allusions have passed me by.

I rarely reread fiction but I am looking forward to renewing my acquaintance with these characters. Highly recommended.

'TonyInterruptor' is a playful, post-modern novel which explores ideas and satirises around truth and authenticity in today's society.

The events of the novel are sparked by an incident during an alternative jazz performance when an audience member stands up to ask "Is this honest? Are we all being honest here?" This moment, caught on film by another audience member, soon goes viral and changes the lives of everyone connected to this moment, from jazz musician Sasha Keyes and his band members to academic Lambert Shore and his teenage daughter India in the audience and Lambert's wife Mallory.

It feels like Nicola Barker is having a great deal of fun writing this novel, which means the reader does too - there are some hilarious moments as well as others which ask pertinent questions around what can be considered to be real. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an ARC of this novel to review.