Gabriel's Gift is in many ways an old-fashioned coming-of-age novel that gives early adolescent angst its full pathos but Kureishi is saved from the potential mawkishness of his subject by prose attuned to the streets, pubs and people he writes about:
"The place was full of childish men from the post office and the local bus garage gazing up at the big TV screen. Dad's grey-faced mates were playing pool. They all looked the same to Gabriel with their roll-ups, pints and musty clothes. They rarely went out into the light, unless they stood outside the pub on a sunny day, and they were as likely to eat anything green, as they were to drink anything blue or wear anything pink."
Gabriel's gift is that he is an artist trying to find his own colour-palette in the grey-tinged North London world described above and overcome the pain his parents' messy personal lives cause him. A meeting with Lester Jones, an ageing glam rock star, and former pal of Gabriel's somewhat hapless dad gives him the energy and opportunity to embark on his task of self-making and finding a better place in the world. Lester's lesson is that Gabriel's life and work need to be one thing. Gabriel's ally on this path is the voice of his remembered twin brother Archie. En route, his parents reconcile; his father finds some sense of purpose in teaching guitar and important friendships with his schoolmate Zak and the local gay restaurateur, Speedy, are formed.
The tentative sweetness of its protagonist remains the novels greatest strength. The writing is wistful, almost whimsical, though one misses a little of the anarchic nastiness that characterised the best of Kureishi's earlier work. (amazon)

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Accompanying Margaretha the teddy bear to Finland along with some little goodies.
Enjoy!

Book and all the other goodies received, thank you so much!

Hanif Kureishi is one of my favourite authors and this novel didn't disappoint me either. I liked its optimism and the light touch, both of which were definitely missing in the novel preceding this one, Intimacy. And I always enjoy his quirky characters.

This review from The Guardian sums up my thoughts quite nicely:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2001/feb/25/fiction.hanifkureishi1

I still haven't read Kureishi's latest book but it's sitting on my shelf, waiting to be picked up. Can't wait now!

***

This book will now travel on to hippolein, who chose it from a VBB running on the Finnish forum.

I've been waiting for a chance to pass this on to hippolein at one of our Helsinki meetings but we haven't made the same meeting for ages... Now Annelis has kindly offered to act as a courier, thanks!

I hope you'll enjoy this, hippolein!

This is a nice surprise, didn't know what book to expect and have to tell that the start is very promising.
Thanks a lot for putting this book in the "bookbox"!

I don't know what happened with my journal entry, but it seems to be gone :(

I read the book right away after I got it from the meeting, as it was too good to put it waiting after having started it. It had some nice surprises on the road and was very well written. Will have to start looking for other books by this writer.