{"product_id":"party-animals-9780099478973","title":"Party Animals","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eSHORTLISTED FOR THE \u003ci\u003eSLIGHTLY FOXED \u003c\/i\u003eBEST FIRST BIOGRAPHY AWARD\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDavid Aaronovitch grew up in Communist Great Britain  a Britain hidden from view for most, but for those on the inside it was a life filled with picket lines, militant trade unions, solidarity rallies for foreign Communists, the Red Army Choir, copies of the \u003ci\u003eDaily Worker\u003c\/i\u003e, all underpinned by a quiet love of the Soviet Union.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn this idiosyncratic blend of memoir, history and biography, David Aaronovitch uncovers the story of his family's life by picking through letters, diaries and secret service files, which in turn unleash vivid childhood memories of a lost and idealistic world. \u003ci\u003eParty Animals\u003c\/i\u003e is about personal life and political life becoming tragically intertwined, and one family's search for meaning in the twentieth century.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAn affectionate and insightful account of 20th-century history that also amounts to a manifesto for the power of words – and belonging.\u003c\/b\u003e -- Helen Davies * Sunday Times, Book of the Year *\u003cbr\u003eCompassionate and wise… \u003cb\u003eAn effervescent and essential writer\u003c\/b\u003e. -- Nick Cohen * Observer *\u003cbr\u003eDavid Aaronovitch is to be congratulated on his Le Carre like sleuthing into the deceits and self-delusions of his parents and their communist friends. He has produced \u003cb\u003ea wise, funny and sometimes heart-breaking account of how otherwise good and nice people are capable of believing a load of total and utter b*ll*cks about the world\u003c\/b\u003e, the class system and themselves. It is an invocation of a vanished tribe that is still relevant, alas, to the Britain of Jeremy Corbyn, Ken Livingstone and Owen Jones, \u003cb\u003eI loved it.\u003c\/b\u003e -- Boris Johnson\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eParty Animals \u003c\/i\u003eis an utterly engaging  and truly humane story about fitting in, opting out, and finding meaning.\u003c\/b\u003e Unflinchingly honest, it is by turns \u003cb\u003eharrowing and hilarious\u003c\/b\u003e. Not since Clive James's \u003ci\u003eFalling Towards England\u003c\/i\u003e has there been a memoir so clearly \u003cb\u003edestined to become a classic in its own time.\u003c\/b\u003e -- Amanda Foreman\u003cbr\u003eDavid Aaronovitch has written a compelling account of the Communist mindset in post-war Britain: a superb mix of social history, Marxist philosophy and often painful family biography. It is a \u003cb\u003ehugely revelatory\u003c\/b\u003e insight into a lost world and its modern legacies. -- Tristram Hunt\u003cbr\u003eA raw…\u003cb\u003eextraordinary\u003c\/b\u003e new memoir-cum-social history… \u003cb\u003eVivid and moving\u003c\/b\u003e. -- Rachel Cooke * Observer *\u003cbr\u003eThe extraordinarily gripping final section… elevates his book above similar memoirs by other children of party members… \u003cb\u003eTremendously frank, often moving\u003c\/b\u003e. -- Dominic Sandbrook * Sunday Times *\u003cbr\u003eA \u003cb\u003ecolourful, sentimental, damning and funny part-history, part-autobiography\u003c\/b\u003e.  That is, until an extraordinarily brutal final chapter… [that] reveals \u003ci\u003eParty Animals\u003c\/i\u003e to be \u003cb\u003emore than just a revealing memoir\u003c\/b\u003e, but, hopefully, Mr Aaronovitch’s catharsis. -- Mark Leftly * Independent on Sunday *\u003cbr\u003eDeeply personal… A \u003cb\u003eclever and moving\u003c\/b\u003e portrait of a strange, unexplored subculture, of dedicated self-education by desperately poor young men, of undoubtedly good causes adopted for the advancement of a wicked and dangerous purpose. -- Peter Hitchens * Mail on Sunday *\u003cbr\u003eA rich and forensic examination, all the more uncomfortable for its honesty and the authoritative knowledge of Left-wing politics that Aaronovitch brings to it … Like Lorna Sage’s \u003ci\u003eBad Blood\u003c\/i\u003e, this is \u003cb\u003ea riveting autobiography that forces you to think about your own family history.\u003c\/b\u003e * Evening Standard *\u003cbr\u003eAn \u003cb\u003euncommonly gripping\u003c\/b\u003e book, not just as political or social history…but as \u003cb\u003ean account of the lies that families tell themselves to survive.\u003c\/b\u003e -- Robert Hanks * Daily Telegraph *\u003cbr\u003eAn honest portrait of communist obsession… A stirring personal yet expansive history of the ideals his committed communist parents strived towards… Aaronovitch fuses his adolescent memories with historical landmarks in the communist way of life… \u003cb\u003eA memoir’s reach is too narrow, a historical biography’s too vast. \u003ci\u003eParty Animals\u003c\/i\u003e is a smart and well-balanced mix.\u003c\/b\u003e -- Guy Pewsey * Independent *\u003cbr\u003eIn his closely observed memoir…Aaronovitch has concentrated both the tragedy and comedy of western communism into a family, his own… The description Aaronovitch gives of his family and of the Party community is \u003cb\u003erich, subtle and poignant\u003c\/b\u003e… The best thing he has done. -- John Lloyd * Financial Times *\u003cbr\u003eA \u003cb\u003epainfully honest\u003c\/b\u003e memoir. -- John Sutherland * The Times *\u003cbr\u003eAaronovitch’s \u003cb\u003esong of love and pain\u003c\/b\u003e for the lost family of British communism. -- Martin Kettle * Guardian *","brand":"Vintage Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48732242706775,"sku":"9780099478973","price":13.49,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780099478973.jpg?v=1719996108","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/party-animals-9780099478973","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}