The Bricks that Built the Houses

Wonderful * Lauren Laverne *
Soaring … Tempest’s flair for language is tempered by [their] sense of rhythm and pace … Deeply affecting: cinematic in scope; touching in its empathic humanity … Tempest’s voice – by turns raging and tender – never falters * New York Times *
This is a bold, bright, beguiling novel; a lustrous pageant that dazzles and grips … An irresistible, immersive snapshot of a changing world, delivered in woozy, staccato sentences … There’s great pleasure to be taken from Tempest’s debut … [They] may well be unstoppable * Sunday Telegraph *
One of the leading wordsmiths of our time … [They] turn [their] raw, observational skills in book form to the urban young growing up poor – sex, drugs and increasing poverty amid the looming threat of gentrification * Jon Snow *
It’s hard not to be blown away by Tempest … A stirring, post-Dickensian lens trained on London’s lonely underbelly * Evening Standard *
This book is almost everything I hoped it would be. That is praise indeed, as I had high hopes ... As lyrical as it is gritty, and as devoted to (south-east) London as it is to humanity, with all its foibles * New Statesman *
Tempest has a knack for the devastating throwaway line – a skill-honed, no doubt, from years of rapping and spoken-word performances. [Their] work is rich with underlinable lines … Captivating * New Yorker *
Everything Tempest does comes from the same gnawing desire to tell stories and change the world ... The book covers come-ups, comedowns, gender identity, parents torn apart by activism and the brutal, beautiful face of survival against the odds... Blistering **** * NME *
Explosive … Fresh and vivid visions of a familiar world … It recalls two other great, recent, experimental novels about being young: Jon McGregor’s If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things and Eimear McBride’s A Girl Is a Half-Formed Thing. There’s the same sense of daring and linguistic inventiveness, the same feeling of language pushed to its limits … It fairly flies off the page * Observer *
A story of accidental adventure and loss in what feels like London’s boiling crucible of race, class and sexuality … This novel requires giving oneself over to its linguistic world … It seems not just to describe a contemporary world but chart the migratory and class movements that has led it to its current state * Andrew McMillan, Independent *
Angst-ridden lyricism captures the energy and loneliness of London life in this dizzying, genre-busting debut ... A remarkable piece of writing, filled with verbal echoes and half-rhymes ... [One reads] for the pinpoint evocation of a milieu, its texture and contours, all delivered with an intensely gathered and focused energy ... Transformative * Guardian *
The passion, pace and pulsing narrative of [their] novel is like an extended Arctic Monkeys track … London emerges as the beating heart, a melting pot of race, class, sexuality and drugs. Tempest is a clearly talented writer with a distinctive and engaging voice … Passionate and political * Irish Times *
Tempest is a worthy champion for a generation of disillusioned youth … [Their] lyrical talent comes through * Sunday Times *
Tempest’s words really soar from the grime of London … Smart, lyrical observations of city life won me over … Tempest proves [their] witty, unique take on the world **** * Stylist *
Tempest is brilliant at capturing a distinctly contemporary state of mind, one hollowed out by drugs, ennui and too many late nights, but also one bursting with frustrated feeling and desire. [They] have a poetic sensibility that feels physically hewn from London's unloved corners ... [Their]writing has a startling, unmediated freshness reminiscent of Jack Kerouac ... Full of beauty * Metro *
[Their] characters sing … This is yet another impressive achievement for Tempest, and one which leaves this Generation Xer understanding the woes of millennials much better * Scotland on Sunday *
A novel of discontentment, rage and good intentions … Tempest sharpens [their] tongue to good effect * The Times *
A startling debut novel … The call-to-arms urgency with which Tempest writes about the issues affecting [their] generation – from social prejudice and unemployment to modern love and selfies – has earned [their] comparisons to the Beat poets * Vogue *
A whirlwind journey through modern city life ... You'll be gripped from start to finish * Elle *
There’s plenty of inspiration and perspiration in the literary world, but Tempest’s sense of urgency is rare ... Tempest does come across as an enemy of beige prose … [They] depict their interior worlds as roiling; the intensity of their inner lives explodes on the page * National Post *
Tempest portrays the lives of generations of Londoners with an unflinching but sympathetic eye * Big Issue *
A lager-stained, rain-soaked love letter to London … Flows like a prose poem about drugs, dual carriageways and desire * Red *
A novel about youth and drugs and desire and dancers … It’s also about the changing face of the capital city. About gentrification and its costs * Herald *
Tempest has a gift for making you feel you’re walking on the edge of something: between text and sound, or between a great night and the worst one … Many bursts of lyrical prose, heavy and kaleidoscopic * Saturday Paper *
Tempest gets at foundations: If families are houses, then each family member is a cracked brick … This might be Tempest’s first novel, but it’s also poetry … By artfully intertwining the stories of people who are broken by the city they love, The Bricks That Built the Houses creates a complex narrative that rarely falters and eventually coheres into a strong and lyrical whole * The Millions *