I really wanted to enjoy this book, having loved the Manchester music scheme of the mid/late 80s BUT I just could not identify with the characters. I found the group of friends really annoying. Had I seen a similar group in the 80s, I would have given them a wide berth and hoped not to bump into them at a venue.

I didn't even make it as far as the second half of the book. It seemed pointless, given the theme of the book hinges on friendship and I couldn't find endearing qualities in either of them!

Mayflies is a great, moving read about friendships, the things that bring us together (in this case, music), and the many directions that life takes. Set over two timeframes, the books succeeds in creating a sense of nostalgia about the 80s and the music scene from that time.

It's a beautiful story of a friendship, portrayed and captured with a lot of depth and heart, especially in the second part of the book. On the whole, it's a book that I enjoyed reading over a slow, lazy weekend.

'Manchester was a byword for who we all were together, who Tully was in particular'.

Told in two sections, Mayflies tells the story of two men: James and Tully. In 1986, they leave their small Scottish town for one weekend of debauchery in Manchester, fuelled by alcohol, drugs, and music. Many years later, in 2017, their friendship is still strong; but James still isn't expecting the phone call from Tully, drawing on an old favour and making James question what friendship and love truly mean.

The two time periods in which Mayflies is set were brilliantly written, and contrast fantastically well. The first section is gritty, filled with the music and atmosphere of the time. 'Evocative' and 'atmospheric' feel like over-used words, but they really sum up the first half of the novel. I felt like I was there, in Manchester, worshipping The Smiths; it made me nostalgic for a time I never experienced. Similarly, the second section felt wonderfully modern, infused with the anxieties and concerns of the UK in recent years, without feeling cliched or over-done. I saw this again in the descriptions of Sicily and Switzerland- each place was described so well, I felt like I was there.

A further stand-out feature in relation to the novel being told in two sections is that the time-frame is vastly different. 1986 takes up near enough half the book, but covers a weekend; the latter section spans over a year. Although these sound conflicting, and like they might get muddled or feel too contrasting, this wasn't the case at all. I chose the quote this review started with because I think it encapsulates the feeling of the book so well; Manchester is a defining, and explaining, time for all the boys, but especially Tully. Therefore, it becomes the perfect narrative with which to enter the second half of the book. The second half, then, is slower- but also more urgent.

Another absolutely stand-out feature of this novel, and one that really adds to the strong sense of context, is the wide use of intertextuality. I found that I felt compelled to note down a million and one songs, paintings, things to look up; knowing implicitly that they would give me the same feeling as the novel did, that every one was carefully selected. Even though half of the references were lost on me (I hate to say it, but 1986 was over a decade before my time!), this didn't effect my enjoyment of the book at all, and if anything probably added to it. It was discovering a whole new world, one familiar yet completely strange.

There were some issues; I got that the homophobia in the first section was a way to show the time and context, and in that way it didn't feel offensive. However, there were comments in the latter part- particularly about Prince- that felt more jarring. There were also a great number of characters, each with nicknames and Christian names used interchangeably, and I got lost over who was who, especially when their escapades were referred to in the later years. At times it also felt like the plot was rushing past me a bit, and some of the finer points were lost in that I think. I didn't realise, for example, how deep Cloggs and Hoggs (I think those are the right names?!) animosity ran until later. In other ways, this feeling of rushing really worked. The weekend in Manchester felt harried and rushed, just like it likely did in real life. I think also racism was paid a lip service that 'did the job' without really scratching the surface; it felt a little like a tickbox, or like a way of showing Tully to be a good character, which is pretty problematic.

I don't think it's much of a spoiler to say that Tully is diagnosed with a terminal illness, and that he entrusts James with the responsibility to help him die the death he chooses (at least, I hope it's not much of a spoiler! I inferred it from the blurb anyway!). Mayflies examines death the same way it examines everything else: unflinchingly, but with a certain amount of humour. There was a ridiculousness to it that helped lighten what could have been a very sombre second half, and that spoke to Tully's wonderful characterisation. I really liked the way that James talked about Tully's dying as being a dying of them all, of their childhood. Again, brilliantly described, leading to something very moving and brimming with accessible empathy.

I know there are lots of conflicting and important viewpoints on euthanasia; however, I think Mayflies did a good job of looking at a number of them, if not all. There was so much conflict, between and within the characters, and this really came across. Up until the end, I wasn't entirely sure how it would turn out, even as I completely knew.

Overall, this is a great book- at times both slow and rushed, but always worth sticking with. Incredibly moving, and one of the most atmospheric and evocative novels of the year.

I had high hopes for this novel but unfortunately I really couldn’t get on with it The group of guys it centred on were very unrelatable and therefore quite annoying to me and as a result the narrative often when over my head. I lost focus constantly because of the many pop-culture references from before my time that seem to be included in every other sentence.

This novel may be more suited to someone familiar with the music scene in the 80’s who yearns for the nostalgia of the time, as i’m sure it would be much more appreciated!

I read this book with the Smith's "There's a light that never goes out" in my mind" and thinking that it should come with a playlist listing the song that are in the plot.
I could summarize my review quoting the Smiths: And if a double-decker bus/ Crashes into us/ To die by your side/Is such a heavenly way to die
This book is the double decker that crashed into me and cause a lot of different emotions like nostalgia, sadness, fun,.
The first part was a sort of "Oh to be twenty again! ". I didn't live in UK but I listened to the same music the characters do. It was like travelling back in time and reliving those moments, what we said and what we loved.
The second is the now when we start to face our mortality and what it could mean losing a friend to a serious illness. I couldn't help thinking of Joy Division's Atmosphere: Walk in silence/don't walk way in silence.
I read it in one sitting never being able to putting, never feeling tired and never wanting this book to end.
It's the first book I read by this author and I think I will read all the other because I loved the great style of writing and storytelling, the excellent character development and how well he can make you feel the character's emotion.
It was a very intense and complex reading experience that I won't to feel again.
I strongly recommend it because everyone should be able to live that richness.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Mayflies by Andrew O’Hagan took me right out of my DC row home and threw me right into 1986, in the midst of a group of young men in Scotland just exploding with energy and the rebellion of punk. I felt that in order to truly get into the mood, I just had to listen to The Smiths and The Cure and anything of that moody, angsty, ilk, much beloved by the characters we meet in the novel.

Set in Glasgow, the first half of the book feels like a whirlwind. It captures just a weekend in which a group of childhood friends go to Manchester via bus for a music festival. With no plans or place to stay, and many of them without even a change of clothes with them, they’re buffeted by their radical beliefs, and fueled by the chance to see their god Morrissey live (along with plenty of drugs and alcohol).

Narrated by James, the quiet, thoughtful, and bookish one of the group, we meet a cast of characters drawn together by their love of music and the ideations of punk itself. But the focus is often his best friend, Tully - the life of the party. His infectious energy is often the focus of James’ and every one else in the room’s attention. The kind of guy who can charm his way into a concert without a ticket and break up a near bar room brawl by jumping on a table and singing. The second half of the book is set thirty years later, when many of the had men fallen out of touch, but James and Tully retained their close friendship. When Tully confides devastating news to James, he must find a way to help Tully along, at the risk of ruining the lives of many around them.

I’ll be honest, Mayflies nearly lost me there at the beginning of the book. I’m not sure if it was the Scots accent or the references I didn’t quite all get - from references to British politics, or Marxism, or just musical references I missed - I felt a little out of sorts. But once I let that go (and did some Googling), I found it to be thoroughly engaging and saw myself and my friends reflecting in some of the moments throughout. The second half of the book broke my heart and it tells such an important story of what it means to stand by a friend and how impossible a task it can be to help fulfill last wishes.

When the two halves came together, it felt like a slow coming of age. Where the first half was fast-paced and freewheeling, the second half is more measured, written in a more mature voice and pace. We see the beginning of it as these young energized men are desperately trying to find themselves and find where they might fit in the world, and then the end of it as they accept who they are and where they’ve found themselves. Tully’s character shines bright throughout but he wasn’t without his flaws and where he may have seemed charming as a 18 or 19 year old, he at times came across as brutally stubborn as a middle aged man, often to the detriment of his relationships.

James and Tully’s friendship is realistic and at the same time feels like the ultimate friendship - though I found myself often siding with their wives throughout. It begs the question, how far would you go to help your friend, even if it breaks your heart?

Andrew O'Hagan is undoubtedly a gifted writer. He has a knack of depicting ordinary lives in a direct and honest way. Mayflies is about friendship, in particular male friendship. His protagonist James is a working class boy from the North Ayrshire new town of Irvine, developed like East Kilbride and Cumbernauld, to take the overspill from Glasgow's slums. James has a friend Tully, someone to whom he is intensely loyal and who is loyal to him in return. In fact Tully and his family replace to some extent James' own family.

The first half of this novel revolves around a trip to a music festival in Manchester made in 1986 by Tully, James and three other friends. I found this much more difficult to engage with than the second part. I found the endless references to music and films a little tedious to be honest and it reminded me of nights out in male company where they'd show off to each other about their knowledge of a particular group or book or film, each trying to outdo the other. Add to this lots of alcohol and drugs and although very well written, it just wasn't my cup of tea.

The second half more than makes up for this. We fast forward thirty one years. Tully has terminal cancer and he knows what to do about it and who's going to help. It deals with issues of life and death with compassion and tenderness and will stay with me for a long time.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This is a story of friendship, and how far a person will go to honor that friendship.

Jimmy and Tully’s story starts in 1986. They are teens in Thatcher’s Glasgow, and on their way to Manchester for a music festival. The second part of the novel takes place in 2017. Tully has been diagnosed with cancer, and has little time left. He calls upon Jimmy to help him with his final wishes, as Tully’s girlfriend opposes them. They have remained close for all these years, and Jimmy agrees, though he’s not happy about it.

Tully is a larger than life character in Jimmy’s eyes. As a teen, he jumped on Morrisey’s limo, and wasn’t afraid to speak his mind to anyone. Though he has mellowed some over the years, eg: teaching English Lit, he still has that big personality. Saying goodbye will be difficult.

The book was well written. The characters are formed, and they grow into responsible adults, though they still have fun. It was easy to relate to them as adults. It was easy to relate to them as teens, too, since I was a teen in 1986, and liked a lot of the same music. The politics in the first part went way over my head, but that’s because I was raised in the US.

The second part of this novel really shined for me. The mundane day to day is interrupted by a cataclysmic diagnosis, and it is dealt with realistically. But the emotions were big. It was easy to sympathize with all the characters, their dreams and their responsibilities.

This was a well done novel, that I will remember for a long time.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

4 stars

This was a very character led book. We follow a bunch of friends back in the late 80s when they skipped Glasgow to head to Manchester for a music festival full weekend. Led by Tully, we mainly focus on our MC James as they hit the heady city lights. Fast forward to the present in 2017 and they have mostly gone their separate ways, some keeping touch, others falling by the wayside. Tully and James have always remained tight though so it is to James that Tully spills his devastating news and also spells out what he wants him to do next.
This book is more about the characters than the actual story if you get what I mean. It's an example of friendship. Of life and love and loss and all things in between. The past sections evoke memories of exactly what was going on in the 80s. The politics, the music, films, and the culture scene of the time. The season of festivals and the things that go hand in hand with that. Bonds are formed that will never die and it's the bond between Tully and James that leads to what happens next. All of which is handled most sensitively, given the subject matter.
I loved my trip back in time. I was a child of the 80s and reading this book really did take me back. It was so authentically crafted and, aside from the story being told, I went through my own reminiscences of what was a happy time for me too.
Being a character driven novel, the characters have to be strong enough to hold the story and they absolutely do. I've already mentioned the two MCs but the rest of the cast, especially their other halves, are just as well described and all play their parts very well. It was interesting to see how the youths of their pasts turned into the adults they became.
All in all, a wonderful trip down memory lane for me, all wrapped up in a very emotive story in the present day. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

This was one of my few deceptions of this year 

In this bool, we have two timelines: 1986 and 2017, both narrated by Jimmy. In 1986, we follow Jimmy and more four/five teenage-revolutionaries-communist-friends going to a music festival on Manchester. This took almost half of the book, since they leave Scotland and go to the event.

And here's the first problem: in order to keep this page with so little going on, and philosophical conversations and actions of little importance, the reader needs to like the characters, which didn't happen to me. In fact, I stated the book a little lost, I didn't really understand the relationship they had, but then I started to like it, and then I didn't like it anymore and then I stayed in this back and forth of feelings that prevented me from liking the story.

And then we have 2017, when one of these friends calls Jimmy and gives him news. And now, more than half of the book is left for two things: a wedding and a trip, with more philosophical conversations and thoughts of "Is what I'm doing right????"

And here's another problem with the book: the characters, which I didn't know much about, suffer a turning point in time of more than 30 years, which took me even further away from them. Now adults and almost at the end of life (some are already gone), the book becomes a less melodious "Me Before You", but still boring and uninteresting.

I started to do speed reading after 80%, since I didn't care about anyone and just wanted to know how it was going to end. It is precisely in that part that the emotional burden of the book is left, that moment that leaves the reader reflective and thinking about life, but I just wanted to throw the book on the wall and say THAT’S ENOUGHHHHH!!!!!!

This book had me from the opening pages. It’s a bittersweet story of lifelong friendships, nostalgia for youth, love and devastating loss, written with such heart, compassion and sensitivity.
Part one takes place in the summer of 86, as a group of young Glaswegians take a road trip to Manchester for the ‘Festival of the 10th Summer’. These lads are full of bravado and exuberance, formed by the books and music they love and the movies they endlessly quote. Through the eyes of quiet Jimmy, and the charismatic Tully, we spend a wild weekend with them, as they dance, drink and joke the time away.
Jump forward thirty years, and this friendship is no less significant to these men, as they face Tully’s terminal illness and his final months.
Funny, moving and ultimately so heartbreaking, I loved it.

A brilliant read, jam packed with politics, music, and living life at 100 miles an hour.
We are brought all over Britain and given a taste of the times the lads are living in, how they are making sense of the state of the country and how it effects them in every shape and form.
This book is steeped in hardcore drinking, non stop smoking, and loud banging music that you can constantly hear throughout the book.
Loved it.

‘Mayflies’ - what an evocative and perfectly-chosen title. The most ephemeral of creatures, with just a single day to live its whole life, emerging to dance and sparkle in the light in a blaze of pure life force, and then gone. It’s a book of two halves - a concise rise and fall. In the first, the narrator Jimmy, his live-wire best friend Tully and their mates go to what they consider the greatest gig of all time, the pinnacle of their youth, if not their lives. In the second half, 30 years later, Tully is terminally ill and enlists Jimmy’s help in arranging his final months of life. And that’s it really.

It’s something like a stripped-down Scottish ‘Rotters Club’ / ‘Our Friends in the North’ hybrid. There’s a hefty bit of 80s social/industrial history (yay), and a lot about identity, music, youth, change, aspiration, allegiance, all set against the backdrop of the death of Scotland’s shipyards, coal mines and steel works, rather than Jonathan Coe’s Birmingham motor industry. It’s very dialogue-driven (yay again) and there is some brilliant banter between the group of friends, which reminded me of Ali Smith (another Scot) who does witty zippy dialogue while dealing with heavy stuff, and carries it off, as Andrew O’Hagan does. Must be something in the water. Or some other beverage.

Am I over-romanticising or did toxic masculinity loosen its grip a bit then as well? The post-punk era was a time when serious, shy, bookish, gentler males could be seen as cool; there wasn’t the blokey yobbery or violent tribalism of previous youth subcultures. At any rate Tully is exuberantly affectionate with his pals; Jimmy is literary and studious. Both are council estate boys, and while drinking and football are essential to their world (it begins and ends on a football pitch), both are determined to be nothing like the men their distant bitter fathers were. And they succeed.

Young Tully and Jimmy have a mania for quoting films (gangster movies and 60s kitchen sink dramas, an interesting combination), and whole conversations are carried out in film quotes, with a few song lyrics sprinkled in. I’ll be honest: although realistic, this grated a bit. It’s partly about creating a exclusive shared language of in-jokes and references as a bonding thing. But more, it felt authentic in that how as a teenager, before you’ve lived much, you appropriate these expressions to help define yourself, signal the kind of person you are or how you identify - same as wearing badges and t-shirts (and how important THEY were). Others’ words act as stand-ins to express yourself because life hasn’t given you your own words yet. It’s probably a bit overdone, but there’s a truthfulness to it. (That, and being a bit didactic at times, and few too many minor characters made it a 4-star rather than 5-star read for me.)

But the big thing, the bond between the two men, is really poignant and lovingly done. As youths, Tully offers Jimmy a home and family, and Jimmy persuades Tully to return to studying and not piss his life away as a factory worker. Three decades later their loyalty is undiminished, and Jimmy enables Tully to leave life being Tully in all his glory, in an ending which was genuinely beautiful, without being mawkish. A gorgeous bittersweet life-affirming little book that I devoured in two sittings, and highly recommend.

Mayflies starts with a beautiful verse by William Butler Yeats about friendship and how some people find the most glory of their life in their lifelong friends. The rest of the book is nothing but that. It works as a perfect allegory of Kantian philosophy of what people owe to each other. A rare gem of a book with a strong male friendship that is rarely established in books.

The story is divided into two tonal opposite parts. The year is 1986 and Tully Dawson wants to have a memorable weekend in Manchester before all of his friends go on their career/life paths after college. Tully, with his larger than life presence in every one of his friends’ lives, has his hardships to go through, and he decides to get away from them with the drunkenness that the youth has to offer. And they succeed in seizing the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and witness their favourite band during a glorious weekend filled with political banter about Margaret Thatcher’s ways, the corruption of the Labour Party, the rise of capitalism, cinema, books, and music with an endless supply of alcohol.

The narrative takes a time leap of 30 years, to 2017. The group has separated, not only professionally but geographically as well. Tully calls James with a devastating truth about himself, with a final wish that he expects his Noodles (as he fondly addresses Jimmy) to fulfill.

Andrew O’Hagan is unapologetically raw in the first half. He writes his strongly opinionated and complexly layered, and ahead-of-their-time-wise-for-their-age characters through their dialogues. (Excerpt: The bouncer said it was a gay bar and Limbo told him every man should be just gay enough.) He lets his characters’ recklessness of youth to run his imagination with incomprehensible 80’s slangs that I found overwhelming at times. The tone of the book takes a complete 180 in the second half which spends most of its time in retrospect. The rawness is replaced with tender empathy for its now aged and mature characters. The story delves in nostalgia, marinates in melancholy of growing old. It questions deeper philosophies of life and death and what people owe to their loved ones, be it their friends or family or life partner in life and death. The lyrical prose is often instigating and is usually more nuanced than it appears. It will push the reader to think about the hard decisions that they’ve made/yet to make.

Mayflies is for people who want to dive deep into philosophical values of life and death and the emotional effect that it has on people. It is about the mark that one leaves behind after death. An emotional, bittersweet rollercoaster of a book and a must-read for anyone who wants to find a deeper meaning of life through unforgettable characters.

The first half of Mayflies is achingly nostalgic, and despite me being 10 years younger than the characters going wild on a weekend in Manchester in the 80s, it vividly brought back memories of the mid-late 90s gig-going and drinking so much it almost hurts. O’Hagan makes every aspect of the relationships - the unqualified love, the ritualised slagging and mockery, the obsession with music and film, the politics - feel so alive. The change of pace and circumstances in the present day is well captured, moving and still feels totally realistic - the bond of friendship, the ultimately ephemeral quality of youth, if not life itself...
Uplifting and sad in equal measure, i’ll be looking out more of O’Hagan’s work now.

This novel is full of life, even in it’s darkest points. Andrew O’Hagan evokes a strong fondness for Ayrshire (though heavily impacted by Thatcher’s economic policies), music, literature, popular culture and most of all friendships. The story focuses primarily with pals ‘Noodles’ and Tully in 1986 and in 2017. The energy of youth is captured brilliantly, night’s out took a life of their own and so much is packed in. The first section predominately covers a weekend in Manchester for gigs by The Shop Assistants one night and the Factory Records ‘Festival of the Tenth Summers’ gig the next. The tenth summer marks the 1976 Sex Pistols gig in Manchester. Bands mentioned include: The Fall, A Certain Ratio, New Order and a funny episode involving the Smiths.

Moving forward to 2017 the men are middle-aged but no less committed to one another as one facing terminal illness. This book is both hilarious and heart-breaking. The scenes in Manchester and the grotty flats in Paisley accurately reflect the reality at that time. Highly recommend, particularly for those who were in their late teens in mid-80s. Fans of Andrew O’Hagan will not be disappointed.

Thanks to NetGalley and Faber and Faber for an advanced copy.

I loved this book. It was full of bitter-sweet sadness and nostalgia and made me feel ancient but happy. Everyone can relate to this novel and its wonderful characters.

A story of a life-long friendship between two Scottish lads, opening with their love for indie music and a trip with friends to a festival in Manchester in the 80s when Morrissey was at his prime.

posted on goodreads.

Mayflies is a captivating story of a friendship you would eventually see adapted to TV, with episodes coming back and forth between the first and second parts, and of course, with a smashing soundtrack. I strongly recommend devouring this book with your Spotify ready - I definitely think about creating a playlist special to Mayflies - or streaming movies, whose lines James and Tully know by heart. I am still going back to the first part, which marvellously captures that juvenile itch any small-towner would recognise in a heart beat, wanting to get out and be at the heart of things.
Massive thanks to NetGalley and Faber & Faber for providing me this book, pre-publication.

I really enjoyed this book a lot. The characters were clever and engaging, and getting to spend time with them was a treat. I liked the writing too - it was descriptive without ever veering into flowery territory, and I would certainly be interested in reading more work by this author. The cover is great too!