A Shock

{{Short description|2021 novel by Keith Ridgway}} {{Use British English|date=October 2022}} {{Use dmy|date=October 2022}} {{Infobox book | author = Keith Ridgway | name = A Shock | language = English | image = File:A Shock.jpg | caption = First edition (US) | published = 2021 | publisher = New Directions (US)<br>Picador (UK) }} '''''A Shock''''' is a 2021 fiction novel written by Irish novelist Keith Ridgway. It was published by Picador in the United Kingdom,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mesure |first=Susie |title=Studies in vulnerability: A Shock, by Keith Ridgway, reviewed|url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/studies-in-vulnerability-a-shock-by-keith-ridgway-reviewed |access-date=2022-10-22 |work=The Spectator|date=8 July 2021 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Meek |first=James |date=2021-11-18 |title=Never been to Hamburg |volume=43 |work=London Review of Books |issue=22 |url=https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v43/n22/james-meek/never-been-to-hamburg |access-date=2022-10-22 |issn=0260-9592}}</ref> and by New Directions Publishing in the United States.<ref name=nyt>{{Cite news |last=Scholes |first=Lucy |date=2021-07-06 |title=A Novel Follows Intersecting Lives on London's Margins |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/06/books/review/keith-ridgway-shock.html |access-date=2022-10-22 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> It was shortlisted for the inaugural Goldsmiths Prize (2021)<ref>{{Cite web |title=2021 Prize |url=https://www.gold.ac.uk/goldsmiths-prize/prize2021/ |access-date=2022-10-22 |website=Goldsmiths, University of London}}</ref> and won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize (2021).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Fiction winners |url= https://www.ed.ac.uk/events/james-tait-black/winners/fiction |access-date=2023-07-19 |website=University of Edinburgh}}</ref>

== Plot == The book follows a group of loosely connected characters appearing, disappearing, and reappearing around contemporary London. The nine chapters are "The Party", "The Camera", The Sweat", "The Joke", "The Story", "The Flat", "The Pigeon", "The Meeting" and "The Song". It has a number of characters that experience different social issues on different levels; sexuality, racism, drugs, class struggle, troubles finding accommodation in a progressively changing city.

== Reception == Anthony Cummins in ''The Guardian'' wrote: "a plot-driven panorama along the lines of John Lanchester's ''Capital''".<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2021-06-27 |title=A Shock by Keith Ridgway review – life behind London's twitching curtains |url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/jun/27/a-shock-by-keith-ridgway-review-life-behind-londons-twitching-curtains |access-date=2022-10-22 |work=The Guardian|first=Anthony|last=Cummins}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

Category:2021 Irish novels Category:Picador (imprint) books Category:New Directions Publishing books