{"title":"John Niven","description":"\u003cp\u003eJohn Niven’s works traverse diverse realms, from incisive \u003cem\u003ebiography and memoir\u003c\/em\u003e to rich explorations of \u003cem\u003earts and culture\u003c\/em\u003e. His storytelling offers sharp insights into the complexities of creative lives and the cultural scenes they inhabit, blending wit and depth with a compelling voice.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eReaders can expect narratives that balance humour and poignancy, whether delving into the music world, personal histories, or fictional reflections on human experience. Niven’s writing invites reflection on the interplay between art, life, and identity in contemporary settings.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"o-brother","title":"O Brother","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJohn Niven's little brother Gary was fearless, popular, stubborn, handsome, hilarious, and sometimes terrifying. In 2010, after years of chaotic struggle against the world, he took his own life at the age of 42.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHoping for the best while often witnessing the worst, John, his younger sister Linda, and their mother, Jeanette, saw the darkest fears they had for Gary played out in drug deals, prison, and bankruptcy. While his life spiralled downward and the love the Nivens shared was tested to its limit, John drifted into his own trouble in the music industry, a world where excess was often a marker of success.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTracking the lives of two brothers in changing times—from illicit cans of lager in '70s sitting rooms to ecstasy in '90s raves—\u003cem\u003eO Brother\u003c\/em\u003e is a tender, affecting, and often uproariously funny story. It is about the bonds of family and how we try to keep the finest of those we lose alive. It is about black sheep and what it takes to break the ties that bind. Fundamentally, it is about how families survive suicide, 'that last cry, from the saddest outpost.'\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45706692362476,"sku":"9781805300588","price":45.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781805300588.jpg?v=1725890689"},{"product_id":"the-bands-music-from-big-pink-by-john-niven-9780826417718","title":"The Band's Music from Big Pink","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eMusic From Big Pink\u003c\/i\u003e is a moving book that succeeds not just in vividly evoking its time and place but in distilling one young man's cliched and minor destiny into something approaching tragedy. This well-written first novel captures not just some of the dreams of that bygone era, but the way those dreams died.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e- Greg Kamiya, The New York Times Book Review\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eMusic From Big Pink\u003c\/i\u003e is faction: real people like Richard Manuel, Rick Danko, Bob Dylan and Albert Grossman rub shoulders with fictional characters, and actual, documented events thread their way through text alongside imagined scenarios. Through the eyes of 23-year-old Greg Keltner, drug-dealer and wannabe musician, we witness the gestation and birth of a record that will go on to cast its spell across five decades—bewitching and inspiring artists as disparate as The Beatles, Eric Clapton, Travis, Wilco and Mercury Rev.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47455753404652,"sku":"9780826417718","price":21.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/71usUXxUOnL._SL1500.jpg?v=1774796339"},{"product_id":"o-brother-by-john-niven-9781805303343","title":"O Brother","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAN INSTANT \u003cem\u003eSUNDAY TIMES\u003c\/em\u003e BESTSELLER\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSHORTLISTED FOR THE GORDON BURN PRIZE\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSHORTLISTED FOR SCOTLAND'S NATIONAL BOOK AWARD\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA \u003cem\u003eGUARDIAN\u003c\/em\u003e BEST MEMOIR OF 2023\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA WATERSTONES BEST BOOK OF 2023\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eJohn Niven's little brother Gary was fearless, popular, stubborn, handsome, hilarious and sometimes terrifying. After years of chaotic struggle against the world, he took his own life at the age of 42.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTracking the lives of two brothers in changing times — from illicit cans of lager in 70s sitting rooms to ecstasy in 90s raves — \u003cem\u003eO Brother\u003c\/em\u003e is a tender, affecting and often uproariously funny story. It is about the bonds of family and how we try to keep the best of those we lose alive. It is about black sheep and what it takes to break the ties that bind. Fundamentally, it is about how families survive suicide, 'that last cry, from the saddest outpost.'\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48010603561196,"sku":"9781805303343","price":32.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781805303343-o-brother.jpg?v=1785153410"},{"product_id":"the-fathers-by-john-niven-9781837261123","title":"The Fathers","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e'A blockbusting explosion of toxic masculinity'\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003cem\u003eSpectator\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn a busy maternity ward, first-time father Dan meets Jada, a dad welcoming his fifth - no, sixth? - child into the world. But Dan and Jada come from very different places: both called Glasgow. Dan is a successful TV writer with a townhouse in the West End and a shiny Tesla ready to drive his wife and baby home. Jada is a hustling, small-time criminal who is already planning how to separate Dan from some of the luxuries Jada has never been able to enjoy in his tiny flat in a Brutalist sixties council block. When a tragedy occurs, Dan and Jada's worlds are brought closer than either could ever have imagined - close enough that it could mean destruction for both of them...\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'Outrageous' \u003cstrong\u003eMARINA HYDE\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\"A class satire with grit... Very funny... A comic melodrama that's never dull\" ― \u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGuardian\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\"Without losing any of the propulsive, sweary energy or outrageous comedy of his early work, Niven has added real, lingering depth to his fiction. It's this new richness of heart that makes \u003cem\u003eThe Fathers\u003c\/em\u003e such a blockbusting explosion of toxic masculinity. A week after finishing it, I still feel my ears ringing as I wait for the smoke to clear\" ― \u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSpectator\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\"Bitingly funny, inkwell black and surprisingly tender\" -- \u003cstrong\u003eADAM KAY\u003c\/strong\u003e, author of \u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTHIS IS GOING TO HURT\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\"Like the bastard son of Irvine Welsh and Martin Amis, Niven manages to appal, amuse, terrify and make your heart ache in the same paragraph\" -- \u003cstrong\u003eJOJO MOYES\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\"A witty account of parenthood and masculinity\" ― \u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eIndependent\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\"Niven is on fine form, inventive and excruciatingly funny, but beneath his darkly comic prose lurks a hitherto unseen tenderness\" ― \u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eMail on Sunday\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\"The novel is laugh out loud funny at points but its serious intentions are many. Inequality, criminality, substance abuse, class, social and economic horizons and even housing are themes which linger under the surface, alongside the numbing, dizzying forces unleashed by grief. Niven broaches all these things nimbly through [with] smart, funny, laser-focussed prose\" ― \u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHerald\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\"A hilarious and harrowing piece of brilliance\" -- \u003cstrong\u003eLUCY MANGAN\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin Aotearoa New Zealand","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48126633378028,"sku":"9781837261123","price":27.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781837261123-the-fathers.jpg?v=1785972673"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.live\/collections\/john-niven.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}