Description

An award-winning comic novel about truth, lies, and storytelling, with an unforgettably unreliable narrator, translated from its innovative Swiss vernacular back into the Glaswegian that was its original inspiration

Known only as "the goalie," the novel's narrator is always taking the blame. He's just been released from jail, having kept quiet during a drug bust at his local pub. The goalie is a sucker for a good story, he lives and breathes them, is forever telling stories to himself and anyone who'll listen. He returns to his hometown broke, falling in love with Regi, a barmaid. On a trip together to Spain, to hook up with his shady friends, Regi realizes that this obsession with storytelling has its downsides, the goalie all too ready to believe the yarns his so-called friends spin. This novel is a charming, hilarious tour through the goalie's anecdotes. Storytelling is his way of avoiding problems and conflict, his crowning achievement and tragic flaw. Regi concludes that it isn't a woman the goalie needs, but an audience. Pedro Lenz harnesses his considerable powers as a performer and oral storyteller in this powerful and unforgettable celebration of the rhythms and musicality of the spoken word.