Overview

Told through the alternating perspectives of five childhood friends from the same housing estate in England, I See Buildings Fall like Lightning is a story about friendship, place, loss, addiction and the ways in which lives, minds, and bodies can be limited by material conditions; it also speaks powerfully to the ways in which humor, loyalty, and family can bestow meaning and life even in the toughest circumstances. Only Rian has made it out of the estate and moved away to another city, but his money doesn't stop him from clinging to a vision of the past that is quickly slipping away. Oli is fading by the day, drinking and snorting his way through the endless boredom. Things are looking up for Conor, but he is never too far away from chaos. Patrick and Shiv are as in love as ever, always the calm in the eye of the storm, but even they are rocked when old secrets begin to open new wounds. Bold, ambitious, and stylistically striking, I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning lays bare the economic, psychological, and spiritual impact of poverty, explores the redeeming and transforming beauty of friendship and examines the true limits of hope and forgiveness.

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Reviews

"""Some extraordinary writing about ordinary people.""--Kirkus Praise for Hourglass ""This book is such a sneaky head f*ck--an epic poem in an ancient style about the brutalities of modern love, a masculine interrogation of feminine heartbreak, a really beautiful way to spend an evening""--Lena Dunham ★ ""Goddard's narrator writes movingly of his emotionally fragile mother, his complicated relationship with faith and other factors that define his life. 'You have to live, ' he says. 'What else is there to do with a life?' Hourglass is an elegant testament to the difficulty of figuring out how to do that.""--Shelf Awareness (starred review) ""A funny and smart, insightful and strange story about time, memory, and grief... This is a lyrical meditation on love as well as storytelling itself.""--Kirkus Reviews ""The charms of Hourglass, like those of the narrator himself, are insidious. This is a sad book that is somehow wickedly fun to read.""--Los Angeles Times ""Like in the best comedy, Goddard disguises some of our deepest and hardest truths in jokes that make us both laugh and then--maybe hours or days or even years later--ask ourselves how we could possibly have found humor in such misery.""--New York Journal of Books ""In addition to poetry, Goddard's project brings to mind the atomized tweet-inspired novels of writers like Patricia Lockwood. Like a distinctly revealing internet thread, this will capture readers' attention.""--Publishers Weekly ""Hourglass glows in the heart of the reader.""--Max Porter ""Evocative, ecstatic and saturated with off-kilter wit.""--Alexandra Kleeman ""Hourglass will stay with me for a long time. Hypnotic.""--Lemn Sissay ""If ever a book could be read as a pilgrimage to discover what the heart finds sacred, this is it.""―Irish Times ""A book for anyone who ever has been or ever will be heartbroken.""--Hollie McNish ""A stunning reimagining of the love story...every word shines new and true.""--Sophie Mackintosh, author of The Water Cure"

"Praise for Hourglass ""This book is such a sneaky head f*ck--an epic poem in an ancient style about the brutalities of modern love, a masculine interrogation of feminine heartbreak, a really beautiful way to spend an evening""--Lena Dunham ★ ""Goddard's narrator writes movingly of his emotionally fragile mother, his complicated relationship with faith and other factors that define his life. 'You have to live, ' he says. 'What else is there to do with a life?' Hourglass is an elegant testament to the difficulty of figuring out how to do that.""--Shelf Awareness (starred review) ""A funny and smart, insightful and strange story about time, memory, and grief... This is a lyrical meditation on love as well as storytelling itself.""--Kirkus Reviews ""The charms of Hourglass, like those of the narrator himself, are insidious. This is a sad book that is somehow wickedly fun to read.""--Los Angeles Times ""Like in the best comedy, Goddard disguises some of our deepest and hardest truths in jokes that make us both laugh and then--maybe hours or days or even years later--ask ourselves how we could possibly have found humor in such misery.""--New York Journal of Books ""In addition to poetry, Goddard's project brings to mind the atomized tweet-inspired novels of writers like Patricia Lockwood. Like a distinctly revealing internet thread, this will capture readers' attention.""--Publishers Weekly ""Hourglass glows in the heart of the reader.""--Max Porter ""Evocative, ecstatic and saturated with off-kilter wit.""--Alexandra Kleeman ""Hourglass will stay with me for a long time. Hypnotic.""--Lemn Sissay ""If ever a book could be read as a pilgrimage to discover what the heart finds sacred, this is it.""―Irish Times ""A book for anyone who ever has been or ever will be heartbroken.""--Hollie McNish ""A stunning reimagining of the love story...every word shines new and true.""--Sophie Mackintosh, author of The Water Cure"

"""Some extraordinary writing about ordinary people.""--Kirkus ""Goddard's startlingly truthful sentences and the collaborative narration style, with a few pages at a time from each character, make his sensitive novel nearly impossible to put down, each snippet a behind-the-scenes look at all the others. Amidst the loss, hardship, and heartbreak in these friendships, there is luck and much love, too.""--Booklist Praise for Hourglass ""This book is such a sneaky head f*ck--an epic poem in an ancient style about the brutalities of modern love, a masculine interrogation of feminine heartbreak, a really beautiful way to spend an evening""--Lena Dunham ★ ""Goddard's narrator writes movingly of his emotionally fragile mother, his complicated relationship with faith and other factors that define his life. 'You have to live, ' he says. 'What else is there to do with a life?' Hourglass is an elegant testament to the difficulty of figuring out how to do that.""--Shelf Awareness (starred review) ""A funny and smart, insightful and strange story about time, memory, and grief... This is a lyrical meditation on love as well as storytelling itself.""--Kirkus Reviews ""The charms of Hourglass, like those of the narrator himself, are insidious. This is a sad book that is somehow wickedly fun to read.""--Los Angeles Times ""Like in the best comedy, Goddard disguises some of our deepest and hardest truths in jokes that make us both laugh and then--maybe hours or days or even years later--ask ourselves how we could possibly have found humor in such misery.""--New York Journal of Books ""In addition to poetry, Goddard's project brings to mind the atomized tweet-inspired novels of writers like Patricia Lockwood. Like a distinctly revealing internet thread, this will capture readers' attention.""--Publishers Weekly ""Hourglass glows in the heart of the reader.""--Max Porter ""Evocative, ecstatic and saturated with off-kilter wit.""--Alexandra Kleeman ""Hourglass will stay with me for a long time. Hypnotic.""--Lemn Sissay ""If ever a book could be read as a pilgrimage to discover what the heart finds sacred, this is it.""―Irish Times ""A book for anyone who ever has been or ever will be heartbroken.""--Hollie McNish ""A stunning reimagining of the love story...every word shines new and true.""--Sophie Mackintosh, author of The Water Cure"

Author Information

Keiran Goddard is the author of one poetry pamphlet (Strings) and two full-length poetry collections, For the Chorus and Votive, the first of which was shortlisted for the Melita Hume Prize and runner-up for the William Blake Prize. He speaks on issues related to social change and currently develops research on workers' rights, the future of work, automation, and trade unionism. His debut novel, Hourglass (Europa, 2023), was selected as an 2023 ABA Indie Next List pick and was longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize.

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