The Last London

Starred review from October 2, 2017
Multigenre Welsh author Sinclair (London Overground) investigates London—his home and the almost exclusive focus of his work for half a century—and the extremes of capitalist development that have transformed it “to the point of obliteration.” In Sinclair’s estimation, London has become more similar to and intertwined with “other expanded conurbations” internationally, such as Berlin, Madrid, and Vancouver, than to England. Navigating his city and what he dubs “the strategic destruction of the local,” Sinclair compares Camden’s Munster Square, a seedy “nowhere” that he nonetheless praises for still being itself, with Hackney, whose recent gentrification into “riparian bohemianism” has displaced the area’s less prosperous residents and threatens to erase its rich history. As he crosses London, Sinclair explores the relationship between cycling and neoliberalism, contrasts the decay of a long-closed municipal swimming pool in yet-ungentrified Haggerston with the Zen luxury of the swim club on the 52nd floor of the Shard building, and watches in fascinated horror as the city’s richest residents burrow ever deeper into the ground in order to build subterranean personal gyms and cinemas. Mourning London’s alteration into a site in which “everything is pop-up, nothing is true,” Sinclair is nonetheless the liveliest of guides. If this is truly Sinclair’s final word on the city as he claims, he has saved the best for last. Photos. Agent: Laura Longrigg, MBA Literary Agents (U.K.).

December 1, 2017

Sinclair (London Orbital), a longtime London resident, examines the changes that have occurred in his city and neighborhood over the last 40 years in this volume of essays. His writing is influenced by psychogeography, which uses strategies that take pedestrians off the beaten path to explore their urban surroundings. He investigates neighborhoods throughout the city, including some that were questionable in the past and are now gentrified. Setting out alone on foot or accompanied by other authors, artists, filmmakers, or eccentrics, Sinclair delves into the hidden corners of the historic city. His densely packed prose can be exhausting to read but will satisfy those who appreciate his use of language, occasionally surgically precise or hammering a point home with a cudgel. Among the objects of his scrutiny are the site of the 2012 Olympics, which displaced the poor from their homes, Brexit, smug bicyclists, and swimming pools built in high-rise buildings that are under surveillance by helicopters (a few of the essays have been published in different forms). VERDICT Readers interested in popular culture and the history of London and who enjoy challenging and provocative essays will find this volume at times enraging, amusing, and eye-opening.--Susan Belsky, Oshkosh P.L., WI

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from October 15, 2017
An unconventional, atmospheric exploration of London from one its most unique chroniclers. At first, some readers may experience confusion about the latest from Sinclair (American Smoke: Journeys to the End of the Light, 2014, etc.), trying to discern if this book is just a stream-of-consciousness trip. Not to worry, however, as the narrative is a bright collection of the author's walks over the years, and they're all enlightening. This is a book by a man who knows London seemingly inch by inch; he walks everywhere and takes in the environment and the people--e.g., the "Vegetative Buddha" on a bench in "modest London Park" or "Mole Man of Hackney," who has spent decades burrowing beneath his house. Sinclair also notes the many people consistently wedded to their digital devices, oblivious to what is going on around them. They're all part of London, and they all make the city what it is. So, too, does the detritus the author carefully observes: the general trash, polystyrene cups, chip packets, chewing gum, etc. The massive Shangri-La Hotel, aka the "Shard," which features the highest pool in Europe, "is as an implanted flaw in the eye. It moves as we move, available to dominate every London entry point, to endstop every vista." Sinclair has particular vitriol for the "peloton," which he calls the groups of bicyclers taking over the footpaths ever since the bicycling initiative broke in as a transport solution. The author's walks also encompass the underground and even elements of the countryside. In each, Sinclair picks up snippets of conversations, usually unconnected and unrelated except by geography. Readers interested in the history of London will greatly enjoy tracing the author's walks, and even those who think they know everything about London may be pleasantly surprised. This is no ordinary memoir, but we wouldn't expect such from one of England's most inventive psychogeographic writers. Patience will reward each reader in his or her own way.

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