'Swing Hammer Swing!' by Jeff Torrington is a novel set in the waning days of The Gorbals, a slum in Glasgow facing urban renewal in the 1960s. The story follows unemployed aspiring writer, Tom Clay, as he navigates through a week in his life filled with incidents and digressions. The book captures the essence of Glasgow life with its colorful characters and humorous narrative style that blends puns, wordplay, and philosophical contemplations.

Torrington's writing style in 'Swing Hammer Swing!' is described as musical, poetic, punny, and amateur philosophical. The novel is characterized by its witty and erudite language, demanding close attention from readers due to its prolix nature. Despite the bleak setting of the Gorbals, the book maintains a comical and punny tone, offering a unique portrayal of the working-class Glaswegian cadences and the absurdities of everyday life.

Characters:

The characters are quirky representations of the working class, with Tom Clay as a witty and struggling protagonist navigating his bleak environment.

Writing/Prose:

The prose is characterized by its humor and poetic quality, heavily using puns and the Glaswegian dialect, making it both engaging and challenging.

Plot/Storyline:

The narrative revolves around Tom Clay's experiences in a decaying Glasgow neighborhood, highlighting various incidents that depict urban decay and personal dilemmas.

Setting:

The setting is the Gorbals in Glasgow during the 1960s, a neighborhood marked by poverty and undergoing significant changes due to urban renewal.

Pacing:

The pacing is slow and meandering, filled with digressions and episodes rather than a tightly knit plot.

Come Judgement Day the prosecution would exhibit the damning evidence of Paddy Cullen’s liver – a drink-maimed organ which not even his good qualities, like his sense of humour or his generosity, woul...

Notes:

The book is set in the Gorbals, a slum in Glasgow during the 1960s.

It follows Tom Clay, an unemployed aspiring writer, in the last days of his neighborhood.

Tom Clay's wife is in the hospital expecting their first child.

The story is told in a picaresque style, focusing more on character incidents than a traditional plot.

Torrington spent over 30 years writing this novel while working an auto factory job.

It is written in Glaswegian dialect, making it both colorful and challenging for some readers.

The humor balances with themes of poverty and displacement as the Gorbals is demolished.

The book features unique characters, like Talky who communicates with the blind and deaf.

Jeff Torrington only wrote two novels before Parkinson's disease affected his writing ability.

The writing is noted for its witty, poetic, and musical qualities.

The protagonist's observations and thoughts are essential to the story, hinting at a potential film adaptation.

The book is compared to 'A Confederacy of Dunces' for its humor and style.

Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings

Content warnings include themes of poverty, urban decay, and references to societal issues, which may resonate as heavy or distressing for some readers.

Has Romance?

While the novel does incorporate romantic elements, such as Tom Clay's one night stand, the focus remains primarily on humor and the protagonist's existential musings.

From The Publisher:

From the infamous Glasgow slum, the Gorbals, Tam Clay chronicles a week in his life, in the last days before the demolishers move in. Intersecting friends, old-timers and eccentrics, navigating his pregnant wife, frisky bedfellows and debt collectors, Tam stumbles through a derelict world on an odyssey of self-discovery. Wildly funny, outlandish and insanely ambitious - thirty years in the writing - Torrington's pulverised '60s Glasgow is crammed to the crevices with a blizzard of his unique and insatiable genius.

What can you read after
Swing Hammer Swing!?

See the list (13 books)

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Swing Hammer Swing!

Jeff Torrington

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