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Aberystwyth Noir #3
The Unbearable Lightness Of Being In Aberystwyth
A highly imaginative, fantastical and ironic black baroque-comedic plot; set in the North Wales (UK) university town of Aberystwyth.
259 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
24 people are currently reading
373 people want to read
About the author
Malcolm Pryce
19 books126 followersMalcolm Pryce is a British author, mostly known for his noir detective novels.
Born in Shrewsbury, England, Pryce moved at the age of nine to Aberystwyth, where he later attended Penglais Comprehensive School before leaving to do some travelling. After working in a variety of jobs. including BMW assembly-line worker in Germany, hotel washer-up, "the world's worst aluminium salesman", and deck hand on a yacht in Polynesia, Pryce became an advertising copywriter in London and Singapore. He is currently resident in Oxford.
Pryce writes in the style of Raymond Chandler, but his novels are incongruously set on the rainswept streets of an alternate universe version of the Welsh seaside resort and university town of Aberystwyth. The hero of the novels is Louie Knight, the best private detective in Aberystwyth (also the only private detective in Aberystwyth), who battles crime organised by the local Druids, investigates the strange case of the town's disappearing youths, and gets involved in its burgeoning film industry, which produces What The Butler Saw movies.
Born in Shrewsbury, England, Pryce moved at the age of nine to Aberystwyth, where he later attended Penglais Comprehensive School before leaving to do some travelling. After working in a variety of jobs. including BMW assembly-line worker in Germany, hotel washer-up, "the world's worst aluminium salesman", and deck hand on a yacht in Polynesia, Pryce became an advertising copywriter in London and Singapore. He is currently resident in Oxford.
Pryce writes in the style of Raymond Chandler, but his novels are incongruously set on the rainswept streets of an alternate universe version of the Welsh seaside resort and university town of Aberystwyth. The hero of the novels is Louie Knight, the best private detective in Aberystwyth (also the only private detective in Aberystwyth), who battles crime organised by the local Druids, investigates the strange case of the town's disappearing youths, and gets involved in its burgeoning film industry, which produces What The Butler Saw movies.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 60 reviews
July 19, 2015
Upon reaching the final page of this book; reeling from a lack of panache, precision and brevity I involuntarily blinked in relief at the blessed release from this “acorned swill of the world”. Contrived and convoluted description bearing none of the carefully constructed forethought, vision and elegance of the Welshman (D.M.T); “The Unbearable …” had worn my patience thinner than would have modelling strudel pastry starring on “The Great British Bake-Off”.
I do ‘get it’. I can see why a number of members of Goodreads have really enjoyed “The Unbearable Lightness…”. I expect they’ll go on to read and enjoy Dylan Thomas, Richard Brautigan, and to watch Ronnie Barker (at, for example, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0q-u_...) and to enjoy the sound of John Lennon’s lyrical drug-fuelled passage through the 1960s.
Fundamentally I really liked Malcolm Pryce’s wicked sense of humour. All I ask is that he should give me time and space to savour his work, rather than be swept off my feet as if by the truly ferocious storm force winds and waves which battered the seafront (and much more) at Aber’ this last winter; and which has given me the metaphor for both my experience of “The Unbearable …” and for Mr Pryce.
I do ‘get it’. I can see why a number of members of Goodreads have really enjoyed “The Unbearable Lightness…”. I expect they’ll go on to read and enjoy Dylan Thomas, Richard Brautigan, and to watch Ronnie Barker (at, for example, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0q-u_...) and to enjoy the sound of John Lennon’s lyrical drug-fuelled passage through the 1960s.
Fundamentally I really liked Malcolm Pryce’s wicked sense of humour. All I ask is that he should give me time and space to savour his work, rather than be swept off my feet as if by the truly ferocious storm force winds and waves which battered the seafront (and much more) at Aber’ this last winter; and which has given me the metaphor for both my experience of “The Unbearable …” and for Mr Pryce.
December 1, 2019
The third in the Louie Knight series, desperate for cash Louie takes on the mysterious case of a missing monkey, but once involved the underworld of Aberystwyth is not prepared to let anyone know its secrets. When Louie’s love, Myfanwy, disappears it really becomes personal. A darker take on the Louie Knight series this time, but the Welsh humour also shines through.
January 30, 2016
This was the 3rd book in the Louie Knight/Aberystwyth Noir series, and to my mind it has improved. The long drawn out humour seems to have been replaced with character development. There is still plenty of wit and absurd situations, the humour has taken a darker twist, but rather than being a run of the mill Noir series of books they seem to merge into satire as well. There seems to be a lot going on in this book, and references are made to characters and exploits from the previous books. So for anyone picking this book up at random to read, I would urge you to read those other books first, they will fill in a lot of blanks which might otherwise leave you scratching your head.
October 8, 2014
A cut above the usual run of comedic Welsh crime noir.
December 30, 2018
I loved the characters and setting of this book.
The plot was however a bit odd, meandering, hard to follow. (Maybe because I'd jumped into book 3 of the series without becoming familiar with who's who or the events leading up to this book?)
The prose is inventive, funny and colourful - but sometimes, maybe inventive, funny and colourful in a way that gets in the way of the story.
It was fun, and full of good ideas. But it wasn't an easy read.
Ah well. I'm still glad I've read it.
The plot was however a bit odd, meandering, hard to follow. (Maybe because I'd jumped into book 3 of the series without becoming familiar with who's who or the events leading up to this book?)
The prose is inventive, funny and colourful - but sometimes, maybe inventive, funny and colourful in a way that gets in the way of the story.
It was fun, and full of good ideas. But it wasn't an easy read.
Ah well. I'm still glad I've read it.
July 25, 2023
I've reviewed earlier books in the series and will gladly admit that the fact that I get a boost of nostalgia when reading about Aberystwyth is a huge part of the enjoyment I get from these books. However, I do enjoy Pryce's style - particularly his use of the unexpected and slightly humorous simile.
These books are easy to read, gentle fun and mildly amusing throughout.
These books are easy to read, gentle fun and mildly amusing throughout.
April 26, 2016
This series is getting better every time.
November 23, 2020
There’s a story (probably apocryphal) about Elizabeth Taylor’s umpteenth groom lamenting the prospect of his imminent wedding night with the thought: “I know what to do, the difficulty is, how do I make it interesting.”
A similar problem exists with Malcolm Pryce’s THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING IN ABERYSTWYTH. It’s his third foray into private investigator Louie Knight’s brooding strolls through the mean streets of the eponymous Welsh town. And it proves a case of ‘Been there, done that.”
If I’d read this before Last Tango in Aberystwyth I probably would have warmed to it much more. That book was a joyous introduction to Pryce’s outrageous fantasy world; it was a fresh, inventive, bizarre and a hugely funny original parody of the American crime novels of the 40s and 50s set, incongruously, in a place that must be the very antithesis of LA – the eternally Sunday-quiet and sleepily conservative seaside town on the west Wales coast.
Pryce has, understandably, sought to cash in on his dazzlingly innovative cocktail of Raymond Chandler and the Brothers’ Grimm meet Chapel-World. He populates Aberystwyth with improbable speakeasies, good-time gals, vicious hoods and hard-nosed cops. And his Humphrey Bogart protagonist, Knight, wisecracks his way effortlessly through the pages spraying similes like the indiscriminate bullets from a Tommy-gun. Who could blame Pryce for that? But, as clever and colourful as the initial idea was, this is a one-trick pony. A pony that wouldn’t be out of place among Eeyore’s tired and dispirited donkeys that traipse endlessly up and down the sands of Aberystwyth’s beach.
Ultimately, there is an unbearable lightness about this book. Maybe it’s time for Pryce to stop having Knight lick Sospan’s ice creams on the front and, just possibly, reverse the premise: perhaps he could now consider telling us a surreal tale of an Aberystwyth yokel, on his return from the “Patagonian War”, passing through and being bedazzled by the blinding neon lights and seductively swaying palms of Sunset Boulevard, as he seeks some comfort in the Sun-city’s only Welsh chapel.
It could even feature another monkey and an organ-grinder; different accents, of course.
A similar problem exists with Malcolm Pryce’s THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING IN ABERYSTWYTH. It’s his third foray into private investigator Louie Knight’s brooding strolls through the mean streets of the eponymous Welsh town. And it proves a case of ‘Been there, done that.”
If I’d read this before Last Tango in Aberystwyth I probably would have warmed to it much more. That book was a joyous introduction to Pryce’s outrageous fantasy world; it was a fresh, inventive, bizarre and a hugely funny original parody of the American crime novels of the 40s and 50s set, incongruously, in a place that must be the very antithesis of LA – the eternally Sunday-quiet and sleepily conservative seaside town on the west Wales coast.
Pryce has, understandably, sought to cash in on his dazzlingly innovative cocktail of Raymond Chandler and the Brothers’ Grimm meet Chapel-World. He populates Aberystwyth with improbable speakeasies, good-time gals, vicious hoods and hard-nosed cops. And his Humphrey Bogart protagonist, Knight, wisecracks his way effortlessly through the pages spraying similes like the indiscriminate bullets from a Tommy-gun. Who could blame Pryce for that? But, as clever and colourful as the initial idea was, this is a one-trick pony. A pony that wouldn’t be out of place among Eeyore’s tired and dispirited donkeys that traipse endlessly up and down the sands of Aberystwyth’s beach.
Ultimately, there is an unbearable lightness about this book. Maybe it’s time for Pryce to stop having Knight lick Sospan’s ice creams on the front and, just possibly, reverse the premise: perhaps he could now consider telling us a surreal tale of an Aberystwyth yokel, on his return from the “Patagonian War”, passing through and being bedazzled by the blinding neon lights and seductively swaying palms of Sunset Boulevard, as he seeks some comfort in the Sun-city’s only Welsh chapel.
It could even feature another monkey and an organ-grinder; different accents, of course.
July 15, 2020
I enjoyed this novel in the Louie Knight series because it was a relaxing read. I found it a page turner like the 6th book in the series, The Day that Aberystwyth stood still.
I enjoyed its quirky dark humour but am unsure whether or not I will read more books in the series in the immediate future. I love Aberystwyth and am unsure whether I appreciate its history being subverted and distorted.
I enjoyed its quirky dark humour but am unsure whether or not I will read more books in the series in the immediate future. I love Aberystwyth and am unsure whether I appreciate its history being subverted and distorted.
April 20, 2022
Another outing for Louie Knight, Aberystwyth's only private investigator.
A complex, somewhat labyrinthine plot in the dark underworld of a Welsh seaside town is hard to follow at times. The number of characters who contribute to the storyline made this a slightly tough read.
Louie is still alive, and so is Calamity, his newly qualified sidekick, so onward to the next chapter!
A complex, somewhat labyrinthine plot in the dark underworld of a Welsh seaside town is hard to follow at times. The number of characters who contribute to the storyline made this a slightly tough read.
Louie is still alive, and so is Calamity, his newly qualified sidekick, so onward to the next chapter!
April 21, 2018
Always enjoy the Aberystwyth Noir novels,but they always leave me drained!There is always so many different characters and plot lines weaving about,at times it’s difficult to keep up with what’s going on.
But definitely worth the effort.
But definitely worth the effort.
December 20, 2018
It's hard not to like this book but I can say it's not my favourite of the series so far.
That said, these books are intensely pleasing and I love the poetic style if writing that the author has. Worth readi g without a doubt .
That said, these books are intensely pleasing and I love the poetic style if writing that the author has. Worth readi g without a doubt .
October 26, 2023
A unique trio of novels into an alternate Aberystwyth. There is a something for everyone, wth humor, action, colorful characters, philosophy, a dark and gritty underworld, and the perseverance of the Knight(s) Errant.
June 10, 2024
Book 3 of the series and on a par with Book 2, a complicated, multi-layered story, with flashes of humour, but a very dark side. Oh and lots of shovel wielding. Louie really should get a hard hat!
The usual characters (suspects) are joined by some new, unusual ones, in a great story.
The usual characters (suspects) are joined by some new, unusual ones, in a great story.
April 10, 2019
Hilarious fun. Not read any noir before so as a Welsh woman this was a great intro. Gripping stuff with as many twists as a bucket of lug worms.
January 26, 2020
Love these books. Witty and convoluted stories.
Not sure I completely get them, but brilliant fun.
Not sure I completely get them, but brilliant fun.
August 29, 2020
Absolutely brilliant!
December 8, 2020
Always find these books hard to read at the beginning, but they are always worth perseverance.
October 7, 2017
I quite like the noir style this is written in, it's made me want to read others in the style. However I haven't found the books funny, absurd yes enjoyable but not funny. That said I will read the next book.
December 31, 2016
Another in the Aberystwyth Noir series of mysteries. The plot takes second place to the author's take on traditional noir detective novels. I enjoy the similes and metaphors used by the author which are not to be taken seriously. I happen to know the town of Aberystwyth on the Welsh coast so the use of local place names also amuses me but you don't have to be a resident to appreciate the humour of these books.
October 9, 2016
Just wonderfully clever-silly Welsh noir, where every random incident and character neatly and cleverly gets tidied up into a very odd mystery by the end. Brilliant. I've read the first one of these Aberystwyth books, have the second kicking around although I'm not sure where. But I came across the third, it has a monkey on the cover and hey, how could I resist? I didn't feel as though it spoiled the reading experience, although it may spoil the second a wee bit. Having said that, I bet it'll be years before I come to reading the second one, at which point I'll have forgotten all of the finer details.
Louie Knight is our private eye of Aberystwyth and our narrator of this tale. He has an apprentice detective with him now, Calamity Jane (who else?) and some very odd cases coming up. An organ grinder who carries a suitcase he's terrified to open brings Knight a case - to solve a murder mystery over a hundred years old. He is accompanied by a monkey mother who speaks sign language and is looking for her missing son, Mr Bonjangles. Which in itself turns out to be a rather tragic story. Then there's the case of Knight's girlfriend, who seems to be trapped in some kind of catatonic state. She's kidnapped, so he also has to figure out who has taken her and why. Intermingled in this are all the characters you'd expect to find in a good old noir mystery, but with their own eccentric Welsh twists. Can't really fault it.
Louie Knight is our private eye of Aberystwyth and our narrator of this tale. He has an apprentice detective with him now, Calamity Jane (who else?) and some very odd cases coming up. An organ grinder who carries a suitcase he's terrified to open brings Knight a case - to solve a murder mystery over a hundred years old. He is accompanied by a monkey mother who speaks sign language and is looking for her missing son, Mr Bonjangles. Which in itself turns out to be a rather tragic story. Then there's the case of Knight's girlfriend, who seems to be trapped in some kind of catatonic state. She's kidnapped, so he also has to figure out who has taken her and why. Intermingled in this are all the characters you'd expect to find in a good old noir mystery, but with their own eccentric Welsh twists. Can't really fault it.
August 12, 2012
The Unbearable Lightness is a well crafted book and an enjoyable read. Pryce’s alternative universe – Aberystwyth in geography, but socially kicked left out of kilter and filtered back through a noir and a nationalist parody – is fully worked through and engaging. The book is well plotted and paced, and it is clear time has been spent making sure the atmosphere is suitably noir, the similes are inventive, and the text lyrical. The story itself is meanders along a complex path and the twists are not telegraphed, which made a nice change to some crime fiction I’ve read recently. Like Jasper Fforde, Pryce’s books are nicely intertextual. In particular, I liked the Rimbaud character in this book (although he was underplayed in the plot). Rimbaud is a veteran of the Patagonia campaign – a doomed 1960s war in which the Welsh try to protect their diaspora brethren in Argentina – hassled unjustly by a bigoted local cop, he escapes into the local forestry commission land using his military skills to torment his pursuers. Indeed, the books are nicely intellectual without being pretentious.
Read
September 17, 2011I picked this up in Prague and finally got around to reading it. I gather that it's the third in a best-selling series, and while one can often jump into a series midway, this time I was really a bit baffled. Before long I did grasp that these are bizarre and comic noir novels set in a parallel-world version of Wales, but all the same I was often unsure whether I ought to know something from an earlier book in the series, didn't recognize a product or practice from British culture, or what. It's inventive, zany, and makes playful use of poetry, while at times sounding somewhat like a Dylan Thomas short story (the style is usually compared to Raymond Chandler's, but I'd say only if you mixed Chandler with Thomas and threw in Jasper Fforde to boot). I wasn't really satisfied with the book but it was strange and original enough that I'd like to try starting at the beginning of the series.
August 14, 2013
Pryce just keeps getting better and better. Definitely must be read in series order, and Pryce expands on characters and themes from his earlier novels.
In the previous book, Pryce deftly spun humor and horror; here he ups the stakes. The social commentary, on class and gender relations, and on the treatment of veterans, is stepped up, and some of the story developments are truly gut-wrenchingly horrific.
And yet, the deadpan absurdist humor remains, from small observations and turns of phrase to the main plot of the amnesiac with a veteran-astronaut organ grinder monkey needing a solution to a centuries-old murder as the clock ticks, and the ending beat of just what to do when your problem demands a miracle...
Myfanwy, as much in her absences as her presence, continues to become one of the great noir dames.
Un-put-downable, great stuff.
In the previous book, Pryce deftly spun humor and horror; here he ups the stakes. The social commentary, on class and gender relations, and on the treatment of veterans, is stepped up, and some of the story developments are truly gut-wrenchingly horrific.
And yet, the deadpan absurdist humor remains, from small observations and turns of phrase to the main plot of the amnesiac with a veteran-astronaut organ grinder monkey needing a solution to a centuries-old murder as the clock ticks, and the ending beat of just what to do when your problem demands a miracle...
Myfanwy, as much in her absences as her presence, continues to become one of the great noir dames.
Un-put-downable, great stuff.
February 13, 2016
Either I'm getting used to the weirdness of this Aberystwyth Noir series or every next book is really better than the previous one, I'm still not sure, but I truly enjoyed this one. Malcolm Pryce's stories are still strange but after the first two books it's easier to get in. The plot is a bit tangled but it is being developed nicely, and we have no loose ends in the final part. It's just clear that there will be another book following this one because the evil genius Brainbocs is still there.
The things that made me happy were some particular episodes, really beautifully written (well, in my opinion). The more books I read the more I like the the main character here.
And yes, Aberystwyth is still a good place to escape this cruel reality.
The things that made me happy were some particular episodes, really beautifully written (well, in my opinion). The more books I read the more I like the the main character here.
And yes, Aberystwyth is still a good place to escape this cruel reality.
April 27, 2016
It's sometime since I read the first in this series & I haven't read the second. To be honest I think that would have made a difference as this to me, seemed be a continuation of something I knew nothing about. Most of the time I hadn't a clue what was happening & who anyone was. I didn't understand what had gone on with Myfanwy, anyone who hasn't read the previous books would wonder at the odd reference to stove pipe hats & it was all made more muddling by the fact that every time I put it down the story seemed to be instantly forgettable! The only reason I persevered was that I wanted to know what had happened to Mr Bojangles - now that DID make me snort with amusement....
December 9, 2011
Let the lamp affix its beam
The only emperor is the emperor of ice cream.
Wallace Stevens
The third installment in the series about hapless detective Louie Knight. When his dying girlfriend Myfanwy is kidnapped on a day out from the nursing home, Louie is distraught and he and his friend Inspector Llunos of the Aberystwyth police turn the town upside down in their efforts to find her.
Book 4 in the series, "Don't Cry for me Aberystwyth", has just come out in hardback. Can I resist temptation and wait until for the paperback before buying it? Unlikely.
The only emperor is the emperor of ice cream.
Wallace Stevens
The third installment in the series about hapless detective Louie Knight. When his dying girlfriend Myfanwy is kidnapped on a day out from the nursing home, Louie is distraught and he and his friend Inspector Llunos of the Aberystwyth police turn the town upside down in their efforts to find her.
Book 4 in the series, "Don't Cry for me Aberystwyth", has just come out in hardback. Can I resist temptation and wait until for the paperback before buying it? Unlikely.
December 16, 2012
It's a good deal of fun with a dollop of cleverness. Unlike conventional mysteries, satires can grate after a while. Still, Pryce is able to wind the cords of the story into a stronger rope and lash his fictional Aberystwyth into a mostly believable construct. I admire Pryce's writing more for Louie's insights away from the main thrust of the cases, where the exposition occasionally ventures towards the lyrical. Still an enjoyable read, but I'll venture on to something else before tackling the next book in the series ...
April 18, 2017
Overall this was an enjoyable story however I did find it bit of a slog at times. I enjoyed the comic aspects and the noir style of story generally however I found some of the plots a bit of a struggle to follow. This however could have been my fault as I did not relise that this was part of a series of books. I think I would try the first book in the series in hopes that the characters backgrounds are filled in , I felt that I did not get the full enjoyment as I was unaware of the characters past activites.
May 3, 2009
The relationship between 1940's classic detective setting and modern day Aberystwyth sometimes sits a little uneasy, but overall this has just the right mix of dark film noir moments and light comedy moments.
A good book for those who enjoy classic murder mysteries and detective fiction, it takes a wry look at the genre without laughing at it. A good addition to the set.
A good book for those who enjoy classic murder mysteries and detective fiction, it takes a wry look at the genre without laughing at it. A good addition to the set.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 60 reviews