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Hilarious, poignant and frequently surreal, Small Holdings is a is a comedy of errors from a neglected corner of everyday life by the brilliantly unconventional Nicola Barker. An attractive park in Palmers Green plays host to Phil, a chronically shy gardener who feels truly at home only with his plants. He and his gentle colleague Ray, a man with all the sense of a Savoy cabbage, are tortured by Doug, their imposing and unpredictable supervisor, and a malevolent one-legged ex-museum curator called Saleem. In love with the truck-obsessed Nancy, Phil strives nobly to maintain his equilibrium despite being systematically mystified, brutalised, drugged, derided and seduced. But when he loses his eyebrows, he decides to fight back.
When a chronically shy gardener finds his quiet life in a Palmers Green park upended by a series of bizarre humiliations, he is forced to abandon his passivity and confront his tormentors. Phil, a man who finds solace only in his botanical work, struggles to navigate the erratic demands of his supervisor and the malicious schemes of a one-legged ex-curator. His objective to maintain a peaceful existence and pursue his affection for the truck-obsessed Nancy is constantly thwarted by the surreal, escalating chaos of his workplace. The narrative, delivered with a distinctively off-kilter perspective, tracks Phil's descent into a comedy of errors that culminates in a desperate act of rebellion after he suffers a personal indignity.
This work is characterized by its commitment to the absurd and its refusal to adhere to traditional narrative pacing. The premise suggests a focus on the friction between the mundane environment of a public park and the volatile, unpredictable personalities that inhabit it. Readers likely encounter a stylistic approach that prioritizes dark, off-center humor over linear progression, reflecting the protagonist's own sense of bewilderment. The narrative structure serves to amplify the feeling of being trapped in a surreal, inescapable cycle of workplace absurdity.
Page Count:
135
Publication Date:
2011-01-01
Publisher:
HARPER COLLINS
ISBN-10:
0007436041
ISBN-13:
9780007436040
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