Guy Gunaratne throws words against the wall and makes us watch them bounce. You feel the heat, reel from the sound, and bump to the unstoppable pulse. A novel so of this moment that you don't even realize you've waited your whole life for it. -- Marlon James, author of A BRIEF HISTORY OF SEVEN KILLINGS
Gunaratne has a gift for inhabiting the lives of his characters, and has used that gift here to give life to Londoners who are not often seen in contemporary fiction... a very fine novel -- Jon McGregor * New York Times *
Utterly alive. Joyous in its language -- James Wood * New Yorker *
A beautiful, fierce storm of a book, full of courage and hope -- Jackie Morris, author of The Lost Words
What a voice. What an ear for language. No mean feat to capture the street, the nuance of black experience, the architecture of so many different lives. It's a brave and original piece of work -- Kit de Waal, author of THE TRICK TO TIME
A riotous hymn to urban life... passionate, compelling * Guardian *
This is cracking. Original, honest voices and a vivid portrayal of a London rarely seen in literature -- Paula Hawkins
A vivid and affecting account of estate life, both blighted by frustration and elevated by dreams we can all recognise and share. Guy's characters are drawn with compassion and flair, and I was captivated by their humanity -- Stephen Kelman, author of PIGEON ENGLISH
A timely read, addressing the urgent questions of our divided society. We're sure Guy is set for big things * Metro *
Gritty, grotesque; graceful and beautiful. This is the London that we call home -- J J Bola
This novel is a love letter to the language of London's streets and to its people, but also a blistering look at a city on the edge that'll sweep you up until you reach the book's breathless, devastating conclusion * Stylist *
A blistering debut unlike anything I've read before. This is a powerful, raw, yet heartrending account of 48 hours on a London estate * BBC.co.uk *
The prose remains alive, alert and subtly integrated, with various accents and non-standard Englishes raising themselves up to the same very high literary watermark. This is one of the hardest things to pull off for a prose stylist. The Dominican-born American writer Junot Diaz is, possibly, the finest living exponent of it. Gunaratne is no doubt on his way. What you are left with - always a treat though not by any stretch as essential to all writing as some would have you believe - is a prose that benefits from being read aloud. But more so, a prose that just plain deserves to be read * Irish Times *
In Our Mad and Furious City is fraught and heartbreaking at the same time, with a biting, in-your-face clarity to it that you can't ignore. It's a searing marvel of a novel * Belfast Telegraph *
In Our Mad and Furious City is our favourite debut of 2018. Gunaratne draws on growing up in north-west London in this tale of 48 hours on a council estate, where three young boys dream of escaping * Glamour *
This riotous hymn to urban life takes a passionate, compelling look at youth culture * Guardian *
Two days of race riots, three teenage boys on a north London estate and a grittily realistic patois throughout make this debut glitter despite the darkness * Evening Standard *
Already hailed as a modern masterpiece, this timely and authentic portrayal of life for young men living on our city estates is as mesmerising as it is vital * Heat *
Gunaratne has a gift for inhabiting the lives of his characters, and has used that gift here to give life to Londoners who are not often seen in contemporary fiction... a very fine novel -- Jon McGregor * New York Times *
Place, and its dialects, run like boiling blood through the story * Times Literary Supplement *
