How Late It Was, How Late
James Kelman
    Like Irvine Welsh? Then you’ll love Kelman. This book deservedly won the Booker prize in 1994. Written in a gritty Scots vernacular and set in Glasgow, it is a tale with both bleak despair and shining hope. And, it all happens to Sammy who awakens from a drunken stupor one day, to find himself literally lying in a gutter. Robbed of his new shoes by persons unknown and left ill-fitting sneakers in their place, he is soon picked up by the “polis”, taken down to the station and according to himself “given a doing”, i.e. roughed up.The scuffle results in Sammy losing his sight and the rest of the book documents how he negotiates life as a blind man.
    Kelman’s dry humour is sustained throughout. This is a sardonic, lively and satisfying tour de force!