Buy Taste the Bright Lights
"...the most terrifying book I've ever read... Incendiary reading. Exemplary writing. I read it in one sitting and couldn't move for an hour afterwards. In fact, I'm still having nightmares about it."
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I gave her chest one last, hard, dig, and I got up. I looked round at everyone, but there was just silence. In a film I would’ve won the crowd over with my skill and nerve, and some people would’ve come over and shook my hand and quietly said Good job there mate. Then we would’ve laughed evilly at Kelly, haw haw haw, and I would’ve walked off into the sunset with my new friends’ arms round me. Some chance. They all just stood there gawping at me. They were pissed off cos I’d won. I didn’t care. I hated all of them. I pushed past them and got my schoolbag and I went back into the school on my own. |
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Since being published in March 2008, Taste the Bright Lights has had 100% positive reviews and has a 5 star rating on Amazon. Here are just some of the comments:
"This book completely knocked me sideways. Laura Canning's portrayal of the forgotten and misunderstood youth of today is vivid and shocking. Told in the voice of 14-year-old Lisa the writing is perfectly pitched and displays an uncanny understanding of teenage angst. It is very cleverly written and the writer manipulates the reader's emotions not only by the gritty realism but also by what is left unspoken and unwritten by the troubled Lisa. I would heartily recommend this book to teens or adults. It's a page-turner and an eye-opener. It is fresh and original and speaks for the disenchanted voice of a generation much like 'Catcher in the Rye' would have done to the youth of the 50s."
"Stunning, gritty, heartbreaking."
"...a powerful, vivid and enjoyable book, very highly recommended for both adults and teenagers. Incidentally, although it is set in Northern Ireland, the experiences of the characters are those of urban adolescents across the 'developed' world and will be recognized as clearly in London or New York as in Belfast."
"A powerful book that should be on all parents' buying list. Canning's writing is that rare thing in the world of books: original and totally honest. My teenagers loved this book and have given it five stars."
"...destined for great things, one of those 'important' novels that critics sometimes harp on about. All teenagers should read this book. One day I'm sure this book will be handed around the classroom as a lesson in what NOT to do after school. This is grim reality. I'd recommend it to anyone, teenagers and adults alike." – Keith Robinson, author of Island of Fog
"Breathtaking... I finished it in one swoop and was totally amazed by it. Outstanding. By god it deserves a hearing." – Sam Millar, bestselling author of On the Brinks.
"Within a couple of pages I was brought right back in the Craigavon I grew up, and also back to the teenage confusion I thought I had forgot. The language the imagery and the characters were absolutely convincing. It is a work of complete honesty and authenticity. Laura Canning has managed to get into the head of a problem teenage girl and brings you with her in sympathy and a complete understanding of why someone would make the seemingly crazy choices she makes, you are left understanding how a child could end up going from a bad A to a horrendous B and the worrying thing is that it seems to the child a logical and correct route. This amazing work should be on the school syllabus as a warning to children and teachers alike."
"...a heartbreaking and bitter story about teenage growing pains, with amazing emotional reach and a cast of characters that fizz and crackle off the page. I thoroughly enjoyed and fully recommend it."
"Utterly remarkable work – should be a compulsory text on every educational curriculum without a doubt!"
"...manages the enviable feat of being both brutally stark and genuinely touching... highly recommended."
"Wasn't too sure at the start, I'm not a reader but gripped me from the first page and I truly didn't want it to end, what a story."