I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning
by Keiran Goddard
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Pub Date 8 Feb 2024 | Archive Date 15 Feb 2024
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Description
Five friends. Five lives. Countless hopes.
Patrick, Shiv, Rian, Oli and Conor grew up together. They played together, skipped school together, and dreamt of everything they'd do with their lives.
Now they are thirty, and only Rian has made it out of the estate and moved away to another city, but his money doesn't stop him clinging to a vision of the past that is quickly slipping away. Oli is fading by the day, drinking and snorting his way through the endless boredom, while Conor has a baby on the way and a business plan he hopes will change everything. Patrick and Shiv are as in love as ever, but even they are rocked when an old secret opens up new wounds...
Bold, ambitious and stylistically striking, I See Buildings Fall like Lightning asks what happens when all the things we expect from our lives end up ... not happening. It lays bare the ways that place and circumstance shape us, explores the redeeming and transforming beauty of friendship and examines the true limits of hope and forgiveness.
Advance Praise
'A virtuosic and devastating exploration of the relationships that bind us, and the places that always call us back. Tender and fierce in turn, Goddard writes about class and friendship with the deftest of touches' -- Sophie Mackintosh, author of The Water Cure
'One of the most beautiful novels I've read in a very long time, full of rare elegance, sorrow, wit and warmth, I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning tells the story of what's left when dreaming feels impossible' -- Ali Millar, author of The Last Days
'What does it mean to claim one another, and to let one another go? Intimate with its surprises, I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning has an honesty that shows us how to love one another and hold onto what matters most' -- Tice Cin, author of Keeping the House
'This is a novel full of hard material but infused with dignity and originality. The language is swaggering, the character development deeply subtle ... genuinely beautiful' -- Niamh Campbell, author of We Were Young
'A very affecting novel about working class love, friendship and grief. Bound by kinship and place, Goddard's multiple narrators create a story that is truly communal, demonstrating our interconnectedness and bravely rejecting the idea that the novel form is built to tell the stories of individuals only' -- Yara Rodrigues Fowler, author of There Are More Things
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9781408717813 |
| PRICE | £16.99 (GBP) |
| PAGES | 256 |
Links
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
Kevin H, Reviewer
I see buildings fall like lightning by Keiran Goddard follows the lives of 5 childhood friends - Rian, Oli, Conor, Patrick and Shiv - as they navigate lives as adults, growing apart but desperate to stay close.
Rian has made it out of the small town where they grew up, but inevitably finds himself drawn back in despite making a success of himself. Oli, once handsome, has been savaged by drugs and has not lived up to the promise he once had. Conor is desperate to make a success of himself and prove everyone wrong and Patrick and Shiv are desperately trying to keep their relationship alive.
If that sounds grim, then it is. At 256 pages, this book packs so much life into a relatively short space. The book centres on the complex relationships of the 5 main characters yet there is very little dialogue in the novel. Told from alternating perspectives, the lack of dialogue really draws you into the mind of each character and the struggles each of them face, both alone and together.
At what point do you let go of the past and those who you grew up with? Should you ever let them go, in fact, can you let them go? These are the complex questions which Goddard poses in a brutal, hard hitting yet honest way which will resonate with many people who have grown up desperate to be someone better.
Thanks to Netgalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK, Abacus, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. One of my favourite books of the year.
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