Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Electricity
    Electricity
    Electricity
    Ebook363 pages5 hours

    Electricity

    By Ray Robinson

    4/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    This novel of a thirty-year-old epileptic woman and her estranged family is “mesmerizing . . . and unexpectedly tender” (Jim Crace, author of Harvest).
     
    Lily O’Connor lives with epilepsy, uncontrollable surges of electricity that leave her in a constant state of edginess. Prickly and practical, she’s learned to make do, to make the most of things, to look after—and out for—herself.
     
    Then her mother—whom Lily has not seen for years—dies, and Lily is drawn back into a world she thought she’d long since left behind. Reunited with her brother, a charismatic poker player, Lily pursues her own high-stakes gamble, leaving for London to track down her other, missing brother Mikey. In the pandemonium of the city, Lily’s seizures only intensify. As her journey takes her from her comfort zone, it leads her into the question of what her life is meant to be.
     
    “A wry, ingenuous, hugely compassionate heroine.” —The Guardian
     
    “A gritty tour of both London and the wrecked neurological pathways of epileptic Lily O’Connor. With equal parts hip misanthropy and sweet, clean-hearted sentiment, Ray Robinson convincingly channels the voice of a woman at war with the material world, for whom language itself arrives as a jarring shock to the brain.” —Jonathan Raymond, author of The Half-Life
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Integrated Media
    Release dateDec 1, 2007
    ISBN9780802199126
    Electricity
    Author

    Ray Robinson

    An award-winning short story writer, novelist and screenwriter, Robinson first won attention in 2006 with his debut novel, Electricity (Picador, 2006). It was shortlisted for both the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, and the Authors' Club First Novel Award. Robinson's other novels are The Man Without (Picador, 2008), Forgetting Zoe (Heinemann, 2010), and Jawbone Lake (Heinemann, 2014). Forgetting Zoe was the winner of the inaugural Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize and was the Observer's 'Thriller of the Month'. Robinson was hailed as 'among the most impressive voices of Britain's younger generation' by the Irish Times. Robinson is a post-graduate of Lancaster University, where he was awarded a Ph.D. in Creative Writing in 2006, and is a Literary Mentor and Reader for The Literary Consultancy. He has appeared at literary festivals around the world, including La Feria Internacional del Libro de Guadalajara, Mexico, and the Edinburgh International Book Festival. www.rayrobinson.org.uk

    Read more from Ray Robinson

    Related to Electricity

    Related ebooks

    Literary Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The First Day: One man’s walk to his own cremation.

      Aug 7, 2014

      The fog was thick when I left my bedsit and ventured out alone into the barren and murky city. I was heading for what used to be called a crematorium and these days is known as a funeral parlor. I had received a notice instructing me to arrive by 9 a

      15 min read

    • Article

      The Night That Changed Me

      May 12, 2021

      The Night That Changed Me
      8 min read

    • Article

      When Wendy Asked What We Dream

      Jul 1, 2019

      When Wendy asked what we dream, I wanted to say war and drowning. Not drowning exactly, but the moment when the choice is made to drown or not drown, before the mouth opens. Instead I said I never dream of cats. But that night I remembered the cats I

      16 min read

    • Article

      The Sound Of Bongo

      Oct 2, 2019

      The Sound Of Bongo
      4 min read

    • Article

      Summer Reads

      Dec 30, 2019

      Summer Reads
      7 min read

    • Article

      The Leather Coat

      Apr 4, 2024

      The Leather Coat
      6 min read

    • Article

      Sweet Sorrow

      Aug 19, 2019

      Sweet Sorrow
      8 min read

    • Article

      Unwante Guests Ed

      Aug 3, 2021

      Unwante Guests Ed
      4 min read

    • Article

      Book Extract

      Feb 19, 2021

      When my phone alarm chimes, I fish it out from the pocket of my cargo pants. I’ve forgotten, with the time change, to turn off the reminder. I’m still groggy with sleep, but I open the date and read the names: Iris Vale. Eun Ae Kim. Alan Rosenfeldt.

      6 min read

    • Article

      Hollywood, Ending

      Feb 13, 2018

      Hollywood, Ending
      7 min read

    • Article

      What The Magpie Says

      Oct 16, 2022

      What The Magpie Says
      8 min read

    • Article

      Finding Peace—and Briefly, Freedom—at My Grandfather’s Funeral

      Oct 11, 2019

      “Saying goodbye with the people who loved him—and me—I remember that I am not the tomb that imprisons me.”

      6 min read

    • Article

      A Wolf On The Bus

      May 10, 2021

      Exhaustion flooded my body, leaving a dull ache pulsating just behind my eyes. With my right thumb and index finger, I squeezed the bridge of my nose, exhaling deeply, trying to soothe the pain. This tactic worked temporarily; at least until the bus

      17 min read

    • Article

      The Truth Is I Never Left You

      Aug 17, 2017

      The Truth Is I Never Left You
      8 min read

    • Article

      Rising Sign

      Feb 4, 2021

      Rising Sign
      10 min read

    • Article

      Station to Station

      Dec 3, 2020

      Station to Station
      6 min read

    • Article

      Three Poems

      Mar 1, 2020

      Then I heard a violinand it didn’t matter that I was a Jew,they are painting swastikas on campus walls.What happens when they paint them on my doorfor my kids to see?I will sic the cat after them.I will sic the violin after them.What can a violin dot

      2 min read

    • Article

      Longer on Moon

      Sep 22, 2022

      Longer on Moon
      19 min read

    • Article

      A Wolf On The Bus

      Apr 10, 2024

      Exhaustion flooded my body, leaving a dull ache pulsating just behind my eyes. With my right thumb and index finger, I squeezed the bridge of my nose, exhaling deeply, trying to soothe the pain. This tactic worked temporarily, at least until the bus

      17 min read

    • Article

      Why I Don’t Write

      Mar 7, 2019

      Why I Don’t Write
      6 min read

    • Article

      Ghost Girl, Banana

      Aug 21, 2023

      By the time I was 25, there were only two things I remembered about Mumma. The first was that she smelled of watermelons, the second was that we were happy. We’d taken our father’s name of course, but a name is only half a story. The other half exist

      6 min read

    • Article

      Life In The past Lane

      Aug 27, 2021

      Life In The past Lane
      5 min read

    • Article

      So Human, So Beautiful

      Dec 11, 2013

      So Human, So Beautiful
      4 min read

    • Article

      Dark Tales

      Dec 2, 2021

      Dark Tales
      6 min read

    • Article

      Klara

      May 21, 2020

      Klara
      28 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Electricity

    4/5

    21 ratings3 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      It's been a while since I found a book totally unputdownable, but Ray Robinson's Electricity has kept me spell bound for the last couple of days, and I'm so sad I've finished it.I loved its feisty protagonist, Lily, who suffers from epilepsy (so bad she's sometimes throwing several fits a day and constantly in danger from injury) but never allows the disability to define her.Physically abused as a child by her mother (the epilepsy began after she was thrown down stairs) and sexually abused by her mother's lover, Lily is shunted into a care home as an adolescent, while her brothers are sent to Borstal after a fracas with the police. She takes a job in an amusement arcade in a small seaside town and doesn't see her family again until the police come to inform her that her mother is seriously ill in hospital.Her mother's death brings Lily's brother, Barry, a big-time gambler player back into her life, but her other brother Mikey, her great childhood protector is still missing, and she knows that she must find him. With the money she inherits from the sale of her mother's house she makes the journey to London to try to track him down. It's a particularly brave venture considering the fact that she could collapse and have a fit at any moment.I felt myself really cheering Lily on - not just in her search for her brother but in negotiating the new relationships in her life, with Mel the city high-flier who rescues her after a fit leaves her collapsed in the middle of a busy road, and Dave, a hunky electrician who turns out not to be all he seems.One of the remarkable achievements of the book is that we're right inside Lily's head experiencing the often terrifying disorientating effects of the disorder with her. I learned a great deal. And it always pleasantly surprises when a bloke gets a woman's voice so well down to the page.Would I recommend it? Yes, very strongly. It reminded me in some ways of Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time.The novel is shortlisted for this year's James Tait Black Award.
    • 4/5
      Fast hätte ich das Buch nicht gelesen, weil es mich anfangs so irritierte. Das wäre aber schade gewesen, denn insgesamt fand ich es recht gut. Ich habe es in einem Rutsch durchgelesen.Lily ist 30 Jahre alt, lebt alleine, arbeitet in einem Spielkasino an der Kasse. Und sie hat Epilepsie. Nach einer harten Kindheit hat sie zu ihrer Familie keinen Kontakt. Doch als ihre Mutter stirbt, taucht ihr Bruder Barry auf. Überraschenderweise gibt es ein Erbe und Lily macht sich auf, um den dritten Bruder Mikey in London zu suchen. In London ist sie überfordert von den Eindrücken und allem, was auf sie einstürmt. Aber sie findet auch eine Freundin.Das Buch ist wirklich interessant, weil es der Autor durch seine Sprache und nichtsprachliche Elemente des Buches schafft, Lilys Welt, ihre Denkweise und ihre Krankheit auszudrücken. Das ist mitunter heftig, brutal, vulgär und verstörend, aber oft auch liebevoll, zärtlich und witzig. Irgendwie lernt man Lily durch das Buch richtig kennen, wie eine reale Person. Ich fands gut und hätte gern noch gewusst, wie es weitergeht.
    • 4/5
      Lily O’Connor’s neurology is a wild, untamed beast that knocks her on her face time and again. Afflicted with epilepsy, Lily knows the condition is more than the general public believes it be, and she determined to live as normal a life with the condition as possible. Saddled with a rough (and I mean rough) family (her mother is entirely to blame in causing the injury that led to her disorder, in an act too ghastly to mention,) Lily has learned to hide the hurt away, armed with a misanthropic wit. But the death of her beastly mother, grouped with the arrival of her gambler brother and the mystery of another sibling’s disappearance, shakes up Lily’s life in ways she never could have imagined and sends her on a quest for reconciliation on the dirty, chaotic streets of London.So, apparently this is a movie now. It’s hard to picture how a film adaptation would work, to be honest. Electricity is a otherworldly experience, an journey through the senses shedding light on a condition no one would wish on themselves or their loved ones. How will a movie give us such an unyielding look into this woman’s mind? How will a movie explain how the seizures feel? But the miracle of this novel is that Lily O’Connor is so much more than her disability.She’s tough, complicated, seriously flawed but fundamentally decent. The strength of Lily’s character ensures that Electricity will not a textbook slog through issues of disability and dignity. Also, I don’t think I’ve ever read so much onomatopoeia in one book. The book has an interesting feminine perspective on sexuality, as well as a heartbreaking take on sexual abuse (what if I didn’t fight back! What if I liked it?)Lily believed she was in love with her mother’s boyfriend when she was about nine years old, and appreciated the attention in a time when she was all too often ignored and overlooked. But does that make it any better? Of course not. Sexual misconduct with a preteen is abuse whether or not the child thinks they enjoy it or not. In a way, Lily has to move past her own feelings and perceptions about the event just as much as she has to move past the abuse itself.Lily is often a hard character to like. But you can’t hate her. You just can’t. She’s too vulnerable and damaged and real for that. However, the circumstances of her upbringing seemed a little too dire at times. That coupled with her truly horrific experience with men (only her wig-donning mentor, Al, emerges unscathed) makes Electricity a sometimes disturbing read. Lily is an often sexually ambiguous character; she reports to enjoy sex with men (although she can’t climax,) while her less-than-sisterly affections for her lesbian buddy Mel makes the reader wonder what side of the fence she’s really on.The only parts of the book I felt were lacking were the sex scenes between Lily and her boyfriend, Dave. Here we are subjected to analogies such as “He licked my breasts like lollipops” that fall short on insight into a woman’s experience of sex. They were a little corny, to be frank. They didn’t quite fit in the otherwise smooth, flawless jigsaw puzzle that was this novel. Mostly, what stands out in Electricity was the close inside view of a misunderstood condition and Lily’s unique, dialect- and profanity-salted voice. Lyrical yet not tweedy, Electricity is a engrossing read.

    Book preview

    Electricity - Ray Robinson

    dbook_preview_excerpt.html|rƒ`nt||lHHBsW TwÍ?[W~؈GGl~_fДOul1CڵgٹB"Tf%aoAfv ݵC˶h̉)a~9fy%[TrK/U-o~]+N .?}̞?{/gQ^n\oCm!E գŶ7yCs)e DbY܎Za!FRLu$r6;uܲq[~w=&^,Jv?~2G?/*?v,{(OϿ={߮{շ/_ y|tQoԓITS\V,d(K.9og+L_dK>D8g[<ٳrs%&>w]n'õϿ{h3e?9Q("ٿ>m6cDIw(> .P1T#Ƒ$s]Wbax  m  9c28ÕEQۊk:em{] >#v; 3GKW>Xd?KzU>MUseC")kqcXGٰa=$+ 6|4_/#FIakQ%Q8r{AǾ|&[7PHO/Q<"%4)xpTxQg~U}ʶ[g }Y܈qe% JwKM^ǹ ZApNJK,-4̇Q䛲D^v͵}._eNRECŸØ+NE!& , vrjYacd2SUI?g!8f)6ዀ&dn+u ':f*GE"K ͐2,iU#-Vp]0aZP%VOxEJ0/JK\;pAe/(PWUᨹiڼ;n(@Qzy&gweJ>8A[GaP,o49@ߎU ֕2F|7n7T8y^ޖZd閲n&ضH!>#`>̱3W6T^G^!+|Ԩu}oi,WUHWWgwnn>\Vه{6;!i߯DW73 )K!2"}:.]8 tƕ-e6L?/#9 eͻ!^aseY7gnYV&=vhA Uh$U8=7XjcTLD+iMԺ.*"]H5"TP,|Q(`M0\lRJrm-$BRe LX"pg#@2Q6[dC 1o$&`fu9&YURnFݜ2]VH_]Q WZu2d)ӟLBcO׵[I!8/t9[~<Wwu2I>ICt 􍐩-/$+KH @D)WB(&Gٞ 8*8X+ijaۤ{ͯݶ;ߟeGmt}*MF#;ERIVa[e0T7%{@Ė1 Å*g-h1 ;FDP+pj;U&Yvvt>5`!b> ژOz {u5%(UoD%1{ R;**w~}9 9f!%$+n2E%t{{3ہƽj~AmU%n6-uyP;xx|djb&``u2}z8&NVWي1 bXDk} Ɣ|!uhL63`n)"B]wUH!BsH "d.\Mr]0aaSV䞏"Qqδ z-fOن);IǓ!hbd#zǸܛKAZawK9lf+kJ- >ԦL?!S%BǃJ/| $t>RAI.E-)mcv {"}%Ρ:ٲN4ٖ<7R7LfVf~{Aee8琼2ECZ(ASTN/ՂA.c23)J TIaPI7n~ |m)?zepŊ?`N'+9-jXm(z=VNh"f!AgT%@#mTիͮjo%)]ceIa w*NpadT0T׻#m(XjD3MR];-Q0 :7$X!B۰sKD?,e^KZ~vn "c~wsm5g"I6GY|t۲BcJ` UMfTxɲiہr;6,u}2o@SXE//$w96>jW>JUm'(I5=N"ۼJ HBVCrgN-[ꘖ> N*5XP@:%-- PtaIYCDR6GLOoShzx>)"&(ƂX&Tcd 25Y1NR#eoejysSxHV6}SjKjb|H1VLugF.^{| Uh'P! "rhk$`Ĭ@5+ܑ):95@E@WF+ndui\ G_]%ErtT/ގpXW "!W~YQG^!EFU0f!+g9^a&`-r)cs jʍl$Ђs>i`ϒ=`aPE^8j-m iI͏vWlq\e%0cXT>e0EPr,wQk`,BYaXBM+\#&1Ϯ8n7.A.Am.8ӏy?jg2B2wuиT_po&R4`'>~ڜ1@J: 2rz)6[Wf:ڣ/Ai:D(&HC΂t\72:ae#4RPxPhBw򫵘Ȕf,ci`@)˭|QXTQ!Ԝw0T~rҎ9ݬބ+Z*ʰ0˙$_ւfN>vwݫMҺV VGմS>'U \#Դ;?S-0pF9p/S֣͖TmZPM>6p"I+0dzp?X]AVЯwLZt Yj ܄s?8c?\_vj9[FQ9N$T2 ?xLm|BٻZ5Z@W'`Lqly>޽~zfupu7*]rzq/b!5P m+P\t0D1vibmLx#rN_`7uJaE~oeZ "᠄lHT*v[~p捖F/w֩MX;V )hNeKUq,&TvԠو$BCY$-trpWe5(JE6e `4z#IMUwإN,xEK2]<~*uzRGQˑmہ_T.Qm)hɚ@L˄i[ $SI*t;A@1EHLAUƾ#{W߉ZQi;2UBd )T;`ZQJ6PɱEBGas2;#~ؚzm Ll:.|L%[gMJ4w=>iezW*CŽ)#C#/=3.VH~#o>[-E0l{zNXj j*6I&v~!ĥkMl_(mDVCv8m} BN#S#DA;2"mv7B, L-PECl]hq!,?qC[(YLr`9So8*kG!NYI7qM3acjA 7˶μ?.ܖDEC:;'; \$Ap1}ٽtdT.KV×m]̹Kgg'r=m'UO[ GgcǺj_eSx,/dww46W]0D&j:|̬l8bc &{{~!!-0iZ~:. zv%eʟ zQ$q[J Rhk,3ThYͶ@CaBHžYsDtS[K`YjQ;Wt.O'Nk Dk={i e{ݰP{!ނ*E 2q8T8N\L دd_<;.ԽgK'B5xΘ꩗I!̍SJ1c-v}g"QTJ>$3BaǺB;k:Xlk"͵ۈȅnP=O1JPsMclⳓR˭VF^j2ƢpИ,+zרi!@5{XOUO9mwދIw z̭g#hHR튚0qbn e$t%v"EkvVڽRʳBfgᐊ(b~f5a]^6+iJh]a|W0!ܟXH1GNۜfp1 TBd;2Ts| %*0gq:sX.{-NЈح5䢶H-3EBF9U×/ӣԁ,(\)&LD\]6v1Q^Y5݇Gcc ŎX]3#wv'%tj`ot`S8ςܕBHq̥YkV25>8/"r&+%UHb3@NJkYUP@vӻ[aq/J⁵VS'Q)H7u< QUQE9.P jx_7o-t6 7ZIMcK18?+O<(B ~J@XkD̩!FPk~0]mnmLt`(y^uRZַJv$::|ĖTN$Ep'GʎkD%Lg#aZ%z$͗S8SS(n+]e"gI-h#l6uSfYv\(/ Ƕ@CW<[3*Y.w/kP`Y&vE֩:sBwst#{oay9YZ,Isnh+vPC2' }1=21F9oB QmeW3^+)KY *ߠd/AT-d"ZmCz[|D^Ol҆-)R>$2 kc Yƒb$OShk{Y)1iOa-֏FZ@42_wnjRV|mc;6zR(ok^\:& k:S]i<-.X6[O ,G}޺NlLqKl"]wDlBY@1U@`C,Q6G^_-Ԯx|IAn9I34-J_hASO{{V۬|~m3-^ t7
    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1