Like all books that have that kind of momentum, it starts from word of mouth.

There had been times when he knew, somewhere in him, that he would get used to it, whatever it was, because he had learnt that some hard things became softer after a very little while.

Every time people force themselves to carry on with a book they're not enjoying, they reinforce the idea that reading is a duty.

Barry, you're over thirty years old. You owe it to your mum and dad not to sing in a group called Sonic Death Monkey.

my friends don't seem to be friends at all but people whose phone numbers I haven't lost.

A man who wants to die feels angry and full of life and desperate and bored and exhausted, all at the same time; he wants to fight everyone, and he wants to curl up in a ball and hide in a cupboard somewhere. He wants to say sorry to everyone, and he wants everyone to know just how badly they've all let him down.

I love the detail about the workings of the human heart and mind that only fiction can provide - film can't get in close enough.