Ten Storey Love Song

Starred review from August 3, 2009
A blistering, nearly stream-of-consciousness novel about the lives and loves of a group of misfits living in a British council estate, Milward's sophomore effort (after Apples
) is a collage of druggy, grungy indulgences that is unexpectedly touching. Bobby the Artist paints bright, primitive canvases while tripping on acid. Georgie, his girlfriend and muse, is devoted to Bobby, but terrified of his lifestyle. Johnnie, the local drug dealer, has a hardcore pornography habit that's left him unable to satisfy the more gentle needs of his beautiful girlfriend, Ellen. Then there's middle-aged Allen Blunt, who spends a disturbing amount of time hanging around a local primary school. After Bobby's art is discovered and he begins a meteoric ride through the art world, Johnnie and Ellen forge a more profound bond, and Allen's life disintegrates after a run of bad (and violent) decisions. The narrative moves at a breakneck pace (the book is one very long paragraph), cleverly moving between characters and finding the right moments to pause for the rare tender moment. It's a high-wire act on a par with the better Irvine Welsh books.

October 15, 2009
Milward's brilliant second novel takes place in Middlesbrough, northeast England, the territory mapped-out in his celebrated debut "Apples". In a single paragraph, hundreds of pages in length, Milward relates the tale of Bobby, Johnnie, Georgie, Ellen, and Alan, residents of a council tenancy known as the Peach House. The fortunes of each rise and fall and are often contingent upon the whims and scruples of the others. The absence of narrative breaks lends the story an urgent vitality that contrasts vividly with the depressed and desperate surroundings. While Bobby's quest for artistic inspiration and expeditions into artistic stardom and drug-induced madness propel the novel to its startling conclusion, the love that buzzes through him and his neighbors provides this book its sometimes tragic heart. VERDICT This novel is deeply and credibly humane and its characters unforgettable. Milward's work has been compared to Irving Welsh and John Updike, and readers of Will Self may also notice similarities. Ultimately, though, Milward's voice is original, relevant, and necessary.J. Greg Matthews, Washington State Univ. Lib., Pullman

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