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This Good Book by Iain Hood

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This Good Book

Author
Iain Hood
Narrator
Clare Grogan
Publisher
Renard Press
Publish Date
1 October 2023
Run Time
5 hours 54 minutes
Format
Audiobook
Genre
Modern and contemporary fiction: literary and general, Humour
$13.95

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What to expect

'Sometimes I wonder, if I had known that it was going to take me fourteen years to paint this painting of the Crucifixion with Douglas as Jesus, and what it would take for me to paint this painting, would I have been as happy as I was then?' Susan Alison MacLeod, a Glasgow School of Art graduate with a dark sense of humour, first lays eyes on Douglas MacDougal at a party in 1988, and resolves to put him on the cross in the Crucifixion painting she's been sketching out, but her desire to create 'good' art and a powerful, beautiful portrayal means that a final painting doesn't see the light of day for fourteen years. Over the same years, Douglas's ever-more elaborately designed urine-based installations bring him increasing fame, prizes and commissions, while his modelling for Susan Alison, who continues to work pain and suffering on to the canvas, takes place mostly in the shadows. This Good Book is a wickedly funny, brilliantly observed novel that spins the moral compass and plays with notions of creating art.

Critics Review

  • 'This Good Book works as a commentary on the 'art is life, life is art' idea… it's also funny and has an offbeat writing style, which utilises Scottish dialect. Whether one is into religion or not, This Good Book's innovative use of art is definitely worth a read.'

    Robert Pisani

  • 'A novel about Glasgow, about art, and about obsession. This Good Book will have you gripped from the opening chapter to its disturbing conclusion. Iain Hood is an original new voice in Scottish fiction.'

    Colette Paul

  • 'Astonishing, funny, bonkers, charming, disturbing, challenging, audacious, and, ultimately, profound.'

    Melissa Fu, author of Peach Blossom Spring

  • 'I have no words to say how good this book was. So dark and poetic, so original and intelligent, and so utterly unputdownable.'

    Tim Ewins, author of We Are Animals

See more reviews
  • 'If you like your fiction fresh, original and challenging, This Good Book is for you… I had to think about it, for quite a while, and it's that kind of resonance that separates truly good books from the crowd.'

    Simon van der Velde, author of Backstories

  • 'This is a more than a good book… This is a very good book! I savoured every page… a fabulous read that I highly recommend to one and all!'

    Karen Mace

  • 'This is a damn good book… It is a very exciting thing as a reader to discover a book that feels entirely new. I can't recommend this book highly enough – you honestly won't have read anything like it before.'

    Ellie Hawkes

  • 'The work of a true poet, this book is as dark and psychotic as it is beautiful and delicate… No book has ever reminded me of The Picture of Dorian Gray quite like this…'

    Amelia Bashford, The Publishing Post

  • 'Nineteen-eighties Glasgow is evoked well… [and] the realisation of where the duo's commitment to their art is taking them is genuinely chilling. Hood's debut has a dark, compelling urgency.'

    The Herald

  • 'Highly original, darkly funny… a compulsive read.'

    Leigh Chambers

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Details
Author
Iain Hood
Narrator
Clare Grogan
Duration
5 hours 54 minutes
Release Date
1 October 2023
ISBN
9781804471883
Format
Audiobook
Publisher
Renard Press
Genre
Modern and contemporary fiction: literary and general, Humour

Synopsis

'Sometimes I wonder, if I had known that it was going to take me fourteen years to paint this painting of the Crucifixion with Douglas as Jesus, and what it would take for me to paint this painting, would I have been as happy as I was then?' Susan Alison MacLeod, a Glasgow School of Art graduate with a dark sense of humour, first lays eyes on Douglas MacDougal at a party in 1988, and resolves to put him on the cross in the Crucifixion painting she's been sketching out, but her desire to create 'good' art and a powerful, beautiful portrayal means that a final painting doesn't see the light of day for fourteen years. Over the same years, Douglas's ever-more elaborately designed urine-based installations bring him increasing fame, prizes and commissions, while his modelling for Susan Alison, who continues to work pain and suffering on to the canvas, takes place mostly in the shadows. This Good Book is a wickedly funny, brilliantly observed novel that spins the moral compass and plays with notions of creating art.

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