Raven Smith’s Trivial Pursuits

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Pub Date 2 Apr 2020 | Archive Date 29 Dec 2020

Description

‘Funny, interrogating, refreshingly self-aware and irresistibly readable’ DOLLY ALDERTON

’You’ll laugh. You’ll cry’ LENA DUNHAM

A hilarious, smart and incredibly singular debut from Raven Smith, whose exploration of the minutiae of everyday modern life and culture is totally unique and painfully relatable.

Is being tall a social currency? Am I the contents of my fridge? Does yoga matter if you’re not filthy rich? Is a bagel four slices of bread? Are three cigarettes a meal?

From IKEA meatballs to minibreaks, join Raven Smith as he reflects on the importance we place in the least important things and our frivolous attempts to accomplish and attain. He also tackles his single-parent upbringing, his struggles as a lonely teenager and his personal experience of coming out.
 
Packed with brilliant humour, great tenderness and lingering pathos, Raven Smith’s Trivial Pursuits is a book for anyone who has ever asked ‘when I get to the pearly gates of heaven, will a viral tweet count for or against my entry?’

‘Funny, interrogating, refreshingly self-aware and irresistibly readable’ DOLLY ALDERTON

’You’ll laugh. You’ll cry’ LENA DUNHAM

A...


Advance Praise

‘The unofficial spokesperson of the modern millennial'

SUNDAY TIMES ‘STYLE’ MAGAZINE

‘Funny, interrogating, refreshingly self-aware and irresistibly readable: Raven Smith has written a hilarious, relatable guide to the contradictions and complications of modern life’

DOLLY ALDERTON

‘It’s rare a writer is as funny in their prose as they are in their social media. But Raven is that rare author who is somehow even better, as he tartly explores pop culture and its influence on his inner life. You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. You’ll wonder if you’re really just another millennial a**hole on this guided tour of Raven’s beautiful, singular and deeply hilarious mind.’

LENA DUNHAM

‘Raven Smith’s writing is as current as it is biting!’

CANDICE CARTY WILLIAMS

Fresh, funny and fabulous!’

JONATHAN ROSS

‘Raven Smith is rollickingly good fun and Britain's sassiest social commentator. Trivial Pursuits is a linguistic acid trip and a showcase of his ability to shape even the most useless piece of information into something riveting.’

PANDORA SYKES

‘It’s unlike anything I’ve ever read…in a good way! I’m laughing out loud, wincing in recognition and shaking my head in wonderment about some of the batshit metaphors that shouldn’t work but do!’ ELIZABETH DAY

‘It’s hilarious. The funny stuff made me do small wheezes and the honest stuff made me wish I could write so boldly. The chapter on long term partnerships made me feel strangely like I wanted to go and hug my sleeping husband and I reached the end furious that there wasn’t more to come…I feel like he wrote it from inside my brain but only if my brain was cleverer and more articulate.’

BELLA MACKIE

‘I challenge anyone to finish Raven Smith’s kaleidoscopic, breathless, cogently scattergun musings on modern life without feeling a) less guilty, b) better understood, c) a bit bereft that he’s not your best friend.’

MARINA KEMP

‘The unofficial spokesperson of the modern millennial'

SUNDAY TIMES ‘STYLE’ MAGAZINE

‘Funny, interrogating, refreshingly self-aware and irresistibly readable: Raven Smith has written a hilarious...


Available Editions

EDITION Ebook
ISBN 9780008339975
PRICE £2.99 (GBP)
PAGES 192

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Average rating from 18 members


Featured Reviews

Surprisingly I really enjoyed this. Something different to my usual read, but once I got into it, I wanted to continue reading. Very apt in the world we live in and humorous with it. Found myself nodding along and agreeing with so many things.

Thank you NetGalley for my complimentary copy in return for my honest review.

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I'm honestly not really sure what to make of this book! I suspect I'm well outside the target audience (too female, too straight, too old, too provincial, too white) so it was a bit like reading an insight into what it means to be young(er) and gay and black and living the high life in hipster-ish London.

Still, Raven Smith is a clever, witty and engaging writer, so makes an excellent guide through his world. I'm never going to understand Instagram or the need for perfect lighting in my house or the stealing of plates from restaurants visited. However, I can appreciate the funny way this is all delivered and the endless similes that are at once surprising and fresh and intelligent. I'm not sure I'm totally there with the pace of the book - it's like a million-mile an hour tour and you have to pay attention for the sudden shifts in focus, but it's all interesting. Smith himself fears that he is 'too much' for his friends and I can kind of see that - as charming and humorous as he is, I feel like I need a lie down after finishing this!

I would recommend this book if you want an diverting and fun read. It touches on serious matters, but the main focus is the endless trivial things that distract us and make up our daily lives. Raven Smith might be living a different life to me, but there are some very relatable things talked about and I enjoyed this book immensely.

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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I loved this book; funny, sharp, sarcastic and observationally accurate.

Only dropped a star because the writing style is a bit full on so you have to read just a few chapters at a time.

Recommended.

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