First book shows a through line in his work to the Bee Sting, still the best. Solid plot, last forty pages weren’t convincing.

Could not finish this one. Hilarious? No. Stupid? Yes.

I enjoyed it, flaws and all

good book, funny, nostalgic if you remember the noughties and probably much more if you remember the 'Celtic Tiger' years from Ireland

This isn’t even close to Skippy Dies.
If you’re here because you loved Skippy, don’t come expecting it. It’s like if you read Infinite Jest and expect Broom to be some comparable marvel. Sorry. Not happening.

An Evening of Long Goodbyes is nice though. It’s pleasant, relaxed, silly. Charles’ narrative vision is so obscured we hardly get a clear picture of the horrible conflict underlying this meaty novel.

Instead we get quips!

It’s a tremendously uneven novel. Murray said he didn’t want to shoehorn his characters into a specific genre, but it ends up feeling like they wander about for vast portions of the text without a real sense of how they’re supposed to behave. They act the way they’re supposed to act (ie: consistently), but they’re put into some very odd (and often quite dark) situations that make their behavior seem out of place...perhaps this was for effect, but it read disjointedly to me. Perhaps what enhances this sense of fragmentation is that the novel jumps from problem to problem without feeling like much gets developed or ever really resolved. Sure, restoring Amaurot to its former glory (or at least regaining a seat) is Charles’ main conflict, but what about Bonetown and the rent? What about Bel’s relationships? What about the Yugoslavians? What about Droyd? I could go on.


And none of this is to say that AEoLG is unpleasant. It is a very nice read. Charles Hythloday reminded me of many of my favorite misanthropic narrators. He’s Holden Caulfield, Lucky Jim, and Ignatius Reilly all rolled into one. If you like any of the narrators from any of those books, AEoLG will probably appeal to you in some way. Charles is witty and candid but much like Ignatius or Holden, it’s equally fascinating to see what he’s missing.

Just don’t go in thinking this is Skippy Dies.
Cause it ain’t.
3.5

A very enjoyable look in to the lives of a family of damaged upper class types, and how it slowly falls apart for all of them. For a debut novel it's bloody impressive stuff, the characters Murray has created are memorable and fun to spend time with, perhaps it takes a little while to get going but once it does it's an extremely fun read and one with a very satisfying ending too. 4.25/5

What a great book. The endpaper likened it to A Confederacy of Dunces, but this is the FAR BETTER book. The style and construction are similar, as is the main character's rather loose connection to what the world at large calls "reality". Though far from being actually idiotic, Charles is much more of Wodehouse's Bertie Wooster. There is no Jeeves to constantly put Charles right, so he makes his own mistakes and learns important lessons in life. At times you can get lost in the nonsense, but that's the point. It's nonsense. The things that are real, not the masks and chicanery are what come through at the end and have real meaning.

Thoughtful and sensitive but really witty too
4.5/5

3.5 ✨

Love how Murray writes and the characters he creates. I especially liked how he threaded Yeats and Gene Tierney throughout the novel. Hit a bit of a lag in the middle but glad I persevered.

This has been a pleasure to read. This book had me snickering in my office during lunch and laughing as I was curled up in my sleeping bag on a camping trip. Sigh.. it is over now. Maybe there are some others by this author that I may also enjoy.

Started off strong but started to meander and then go completely off the rails. Overall enjoyable but at times, directionless.

I am in the nowhere near as good as ‘Skippy Dies’ camp on this debut novel which revisits the tired cliche of the lazy upper class twit who hasn’t a clue. Waugh would have had a field day with Charles, who is forced by economic necessity to abandon his indolent torpor and get a job, but unfortunately for the reader, ‘An Evening of Long Goodbyes’ fails to mine this rich seam of comic potential. It drags on much too long and its only real saving grace is Frank, Charles’s unlikely friend, who gets scant reward for his many acts of kindness.