The Adulterants by Joe Dunthorne

The Adulterants

Joe Dunthorne

A hot summer in London. Riots and looting in the streets. Thirty something Ray, about to become a first time father, blunders along. Getting arrested for looting, being beaten up, stalking his wife. Somehow through the chaos he manages to be extremely funny - so you can forgive him anything. Short but brilliant. I loved it.

Extract
The billboard truck came to the end of the road and parked.

Shop a Looter.

It was a good line, considering they can't have had long to design it. I gave Garthene and Lindsey their yumyums, the walked over to take a closer look at the billboard. It was a bit embarrassing but the looter with the shorts was wearing a shirt that I own, the off-white one with tiny blue dots. Of all the suspects, he was the easiest to hate. He had a can of lager in one hand, another in his pocket. He looked picnic-ready, smiling. I wasn't too proud to recognise a bit of myself in him and then slowly recognise all of myself in him because I was him and he was me, my own personal self.
Parallels
  • Ordinary People by Diane Evans
  • Submarine by Joe Dunthorne
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Violence
Explicit sexual content