Swan Songs is an experimental, surreal novel about a man from the North East named Leonard Swanson. His mission: to create greatest rap album of all time. This story is given to us in contained snippets that meander from start to finish with some unexpected stops along the way. Swan Songs is a satirical commentary on class in the UK , with much of the story following Leonard Swanson finding ways to trick the benefit system, as well as the rich paying to inhabit the bodies of the poor. It explores what it means to have a dream, and what it takes to follow one.

As is often the case with more surreal and experimental work, it's quite easy to lose the thread of the narrative but if you stick with it, you will find they create a bow. Having read another book by a rapper - Supermarket by Bobby Hall - there are surprising comparisons, both in terms of narrative styles and plot twists. Also, whilst both narrators break the fourth wall, Scott does in a more mocking style creating some lightness to this surreal novel.

This is definitely not your every day novel. The publisher, Repeater Books, is dedicated to giving voices to more off-beat artworks of which this is one. If you don't mind a slow burner and you're looking for something surreal and satirical, this may be the book for you.

Swan Songs is a novel about a man from a town in the north west of England trying to make the greatest rap album of all time, but finding strange things keep getting in his way. Leonard Swanson lives in a dead end town trying to write his rap album, but instead ends up having to work at the local factory. When he quits and leaves the town, searching for fame and fortune (at least more than the nothing he currently has), it turns out things are a bit stranger than expected, but that won't stop him trying to find money and make the greatest rap album of all time.

An experimental novel that combines satire with surreal elements and the struggles of trying to create whilst still needing money to live, Swan Songs is split into chapters that function like episodes, occasionally disorientating, but following Leonard through his adventures in drink, drugs, and finding somewhere to stay. Without wanting to give away any of the plot, which takes an unexpected turn later on, I will say that there is some good satire of class and the mega rich wanting to know what it is like to be poor in a kind of poverty tourism way, even though the concept behind this is similar to other things, particularly a fairly recent horror film. I liked the meandering anecdotes and episodic nature of the novel, though I did sometimes lose track of what was going on.

This is a witty and weird book that satirises class, place, and trying to make it in the early 2000s, with a dash of surreal sci-fi. If you like strange, experimental British novels, it's worth a read.