‘We have not yet come to the most remarkable episode in this quasi-mythological quest for the genesis of the eel.’
Graham Swift was born in London in 1949.His novels include Waterland, Shuttlecock and Last Orders (Picador/Vintage) which won the Booker Prize in 1996. His most recent novel, England and Other Stories, was published in 2014. He was one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists in 1983.
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‘I think there should be a National Service of Hospitality. The best way to see the true face of humanity is to serve it a plate of chips.’
Camilla Grudova on bad-mannered customers.
‘Anyone who has ever worked night shifts will understand the vertiginous feeling that comes with staring down the day from the wrong end.’
A.K. Blakemore on working nights.
‘I was constantly reading job ads, trying to find my holy grail – a job I could stand to do, and someone foolish enough to hire me.’
Sandra Newman on learning how to play professional blackjack.
‘I loved being a receptionist. What I loved about it was playing the part of being a receptionist.’
Emily Berry on being a temporary office worker.
‘Every part of you would swell, including your eyeballs, and no matter how much water you drank, you were always dehydrated.’
Junot Díaz on working for a steel mill.
‘Frank Randall had three sons: Michael, Eddy and Mark. That was fine by him‘.
‘The death of a father is, in most cases, an inevitable passage of life.’
‘Sometimes it haunts you like a knell, sometimes it's the motto for unimagined privilege.’
‘Then he led me out into the noise and the glare and the stink.’
‘Sorting out the world! He should have sorted out himself and his own jeopardized household.’
‘I wonder what George Bush had for dinner last night. His fork must have been clinking on the china just about the time when his marines were killing Omar's family.’
