Maxwell Sim’s world is crumbling; he is on bad terms with his father, recently divorced and is in a broken relationship with his only daughter. Even when he may have seventy-four friends on Facebook, there is nobody in the world with whom he can talk about his problems. Then a business proposition comes his way and he has to drive from London to a remote retail outlet on the Shetland Isles.
Setting out with an open mind, good intentions and a friendly voice on his GPS navigator for company, Maxwell finds that this journey soon takes a more serious turn, taking him into some of the deepest and darkest corners of his own past. This sparkling, disillusionment and men self-discovery road novel is an examination of what is like to be alone in the early 21st century and about the peculiar shapes into which technology can bend our experience of being solitary. This is a hugely enjoyable book where the author reinvents the picaresque novel for our time.
Coe, Jonathan. The terrible privacy of Maxwell Sim, London : Viking, 2010.
Interview with Jonathan Coe
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