The Sopranos

by Alan Warner

Book Overview

As the choir from Our Lady of Perpetual Succor for Girls, in rural Scotland, is bussed into the big city to participate in the national singing finals, five of the teenage schoolgirls let loose for a... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0374266700
• ISBN13: 9780374266707
• Release Date: January 1999
• Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
• Length: 323 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.8" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

outstanding welsh-esque coming of age novel

After "slogging" (not in sopranos speak) through the first few pages of this exceptional story and getting used to the near-undecipherable vernacular of the sopranos, I was dead-on hooked. I can only describe this novel as a scottish female version of the movie "Go" or perhaps a tarantino-esque irvine welsh story, but that wouldn't do justice to the interludes of truth, meaning, and compassion that exist between outrageous scenes of cheerily lewd behavior. At the end, I knew each girl very closely and cared about the plights of each one - and, as in all good books, immediately wanted a sequel. So, you know what this story's about, just go grab it ASAP and thank me later, you won't be dissappointed.

Delightful and poignant

This is a gem of a book, and as others have noted, will make a great film. Warner's use of dialect in the novel is much more accessible than that of his countrymen James Kelman and Irvine Welsh. It's necessary, and not overdone. The Sopranos are a vivid, believeable collection of Catholic schoolgirls from the west coast of Scotland. They are lusty, naughty, loving, hating, ambivalent, caring, violent, sad--yet with a will to keep going. They're like high school kids the world over in the turn of the millenium... you'll love them, they'll shock you. You'll see girls just like them in New York and Tokyo and Paris and know they're similar in so many ways. Definitely a worthwhile read...

Wonderful--The Best Book I Have Read in a Long Time!!!

This was one of the best books I have ever read. If you are not used to the dialogues and accents used, then you might want to think of someone speaking the words as you read them--it helped me a bit. It may seem confusing or fragmented the first time you read it, but it's well worth reading again, and makes more sense the second time round besides. It really is a remarkable work of fiction--like you are reading the girls' diaries or looking over their shoulders. And, I definitely agree with the reviewers who said it would make a greatr movie, but only if it is filmed verbatim as written. Hurray for Warner! For this is truly one of the best works of our era.

Good but not as good as Morvern Callar

Although his second book was better written, it did not have the same feeling as Morven Callar. I enjoyed The Sopranos, but if you are a first time Warner reader I would have to suggest Morvern.

Simply Amazing!!!

If this isn't the best novel out of Europe this year, I'll eat my hat. This would make a hell of a movie! The characters are real, the plot develops with amazing skill, and it's as raunchy and side-splittingly funny as anything Irvine Walsh has done. The drunken debauchery and fun-crazed attitude of the teenage heroines of this story will make your eyes pop. Flaming zambucas and a large tray of tequila shots all round!