Synopses & Reviews
The first novel, in revised form, from “possibly the best living writer in Britain” (
The Daily Telegraph)
In The Colour of Memory, six friends plot a nomadic course through their mid-twenties as they scratch out an existence in near-destitute conditions in 1980s South London. They while away their hours drinking cheap beer, landing jobs and quickly squandering them, smoking weed, dodging muggings, listening to Coltrane, finding and losing a facsimile of love, collecting unemployment, and discussing politics in the way of the besotted young — as if they were employed only by the lives they chose.
In his vivid evocation of council flats and pubs, of a life lived in the teeth of romantic ideals, Geoff Dyer provides a shockingly relevant snapshot of a different Lost Generation.
Review
“Of all the hyped novels of 1980s London, it remains one of the most genuine.” New Statesman
Review
“Dyer writes crisp, Martin Amis-inflected prose, full of acute perceptions and neat phrases....The book abounds in colourful descriptions of familiar aspects of London life.” The Times Literary Supplement
About the Author
Geoff Dyer is the author of Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi and three previous novels, as well as nine nonfiction books. He won a National Book Critics Circle Award in 2012 for Otherwise Known as the Human Condition. He lives in London.