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Caledonian Road Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Andrew O'Hagan (Author), Michael Abubakar (Narrator), Faber & Faber (Publisher)
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From the author of Mayflies, an irresistible, thoroughly enjoyable state-of-the-nation novel - the story of one man's epic fall from grace.

May 2021. London.

Campbell Flynn - art historian and celebrity intellectual - is entering the empire of middle age. Fuelled by an appetite for admiration and the finer things, controversy and novelty, he doesn't take people half as seriously as they take themselves. Which will prove the first of his huge mistakes.

The second? Milo Manghasa, his beguiling and provocative student. Milo inhabits a more precarious world, has experiences and ideas which excite his teacher. He also has a plan.

Over the course of an incendiary year, a web of crimes and secrets and scandals will be revealed, and Campbell Flynn may not be able to protect himself from the shattering exposure of all his privilege really involves. But then, he always knew: when his life came tumbling down, it would occur in public.

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  1. Listening Length
    22 hours and 51 minutes
  2. Author
    Andrew O'Hagan
  3. Narrator
    Michael Abubakar
  4. Audible release date
    2 April 2024
  5. Language
    English
  6. Publisher
    Faber & Faber
  7. ASIN
    B0CS3ZYJV8
  8. Version
    Unabridged
  9. Program Type
    Audiobook
  10. See all details
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Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
1,012 global ratings

Customers say

Customers find the reading experience excellent and well-told. They also say the plot jumps around and the characters are recognisable. Opinions are mixed on the characters, with some finding them recognizable and others finding them unlikeable and clunky.

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Reading experienceReadabilityCharactersOverall quality
11 customers mention ‘Reading experience’11 positive0 negative

Customers find the book an excellent, enthralling read. They also say it's rich, well-written, and cleverly addressed.

"...Many ‘deadly sins’ type issue cleverly addressed in this rich, well told, though provoking novel." Read more

"Good book and full of recognisable characters. Addresses some of the current issues through the storylines. Accurate description of London...." Read more

"...This is a rich literary feast, and one I am sure I will be revisiting shortly." Read more

"...So well written and enthrallingRecommend !" Read more

8 customers mention ‘Readability’8 positive0 negative

Customers find the book well-told, complex, and easy to read. They also say the dialogue flows and the pacing never drags.

"...Many ‘deadly sins’ type issue cleverly addressed in this rich, well told, though provoking novel." Read more

"...Accurate description of London. Easy to read. Recommend." Read more

"Although only started reading this - love itSo well written and enthrallingRecommend !" Read more

"...Packed full of colourful characters and sharp observations. A tale earth telling." Read more

13 customers mention ‘Characters’7 positive6 negative

Customers are mixed about the characters. Some mention that the book has a wide range of characters expertly developed, while others say that they're unlikeable, immoral, nasty, devious, and self-centered. They also say the characterisation is superficial and hackneyed.

"This is such an interesting book. So many characters I thought it wouldn’t work but it does because you just follow the main chap which all other..." Read more

"Andrew O'Hagan has written a fat novel whose characters are without exeption unlikeable, immoral, nasty, devious, self-deceiving, vain and dull-..." Read more

"Good book and full of recognisable characters. Addresses some of the current issues through the storylines. Accurate description of London...." Read more

"...Overall I thought the plot jumped around, the characterisation was superficial except for the elderly Polish mother of the people trafficer, the..." Read more

7 customers mention ‘Overall quality’0 positive7 negative

Customers find the overall quality of the book disappointing, with a plot that doesn't work well. They also say the story feels contrived and like a box-ticking exercise of contemporary issues.

"...without exeption unlikeable, immoral, nasty, devious, self-deceiving, vain and dull-witted. They live in a London and Britain that are blighted...." Read more

"...Overall I thought the plot jumped around, the characterisation was superficial except for the elderly Polish mother of the people trafficer, the..." Read more

"...The plot didn't work well, with too many complicated elements that were not always drawn well together...." Read more

"A slightly disappointing read aftera the pre publication hype! Characterisation limited and unconvincing!" Read more

Top reviews from United Kingdom

LFM
5.0 out of 5 stars Complex but real depth
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 12 June 2024
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This is such an interesting book. So many characters I thought it wouldn’t work but it does because you just follow the main chap which all other stories/characters connect to. Many ‘deadly sins’ type issue cleverly addressed in this rich, well told, though provoking novel.
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ALB
4.0 out of 5 stars Good for summer reading
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 4 July 2024
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Good book and full of recognisable characters. Addresses some of the current issues through the storylines. Accurate description of London. Easy to read. Recommend.
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Jonathan Price
5.0 out of 5 stars A Novel Peopled by Monsters
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 3 May 2024
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Andrew O'Hagan has written a fat novel whose characters are without exeption unlikeable, immoral, nasty, devious, self-deceiving, vain and dull-witted. They live in a London and Britain that are blighted. Welcome to the badlands. I can't fault the writing, or the story - gripping in its horror. Vanity Fair, a Circus in a Circle of Hell.
4 people found this helpful
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Susan Duncan
3.0 out of 5 stars Dickens- lite
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 6 May 2024
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This book comes recommended by Monica Ali, John Lanchester and others. I'm sure Andrew O'Hagan's status as the editor of the London Review of Books, and member of the media class is no hindrance when it comes to what Private Eye call log rolling.

The book is a state of the nation novel. The action orbits around Campbell Flynn an art critic who grew up on a council estate in Glasgow who has just published an aclaimed book on Vermeer, has a podcast and is a cultural commentator.

His son is a DJ who appears to have sucumbed to the vacuity of the celebrity world he moves in, and his daughter is dabbling in art. His wife is an analyst, his sister an MP

Through this charater we meet, or are connected, with the lives of Russian oligarchs, second generation Polish people smugglers, an unhinged sitting tenent in the basement of the Flynn's house, the nobility, a crooked and sexually abusive bussiness man, his wife who makes his downfall into yet another topic for her newspaper column, and an assortment of actors and celebs.

The problem is the novel takes a scatter gun approach to cancel culture, corruption in high places, the perils of bitcoin, fake news,hacking,and the dark net while alluding to Campbell's demons which are never spelt out. I have not idea why he is in financial trouble or why he can't talk to his wife. His parents are alluded to as disappointed people who decided to pep up their lives by a bit of shoplifting- which I found completly implausable along with the claim that by driving a taxi his father had enabled Campbell and Flynn to go to private school Glasgow.

Perhaps Mr O'Hagan has been too long in London to recall that people of Campbell's age were old enough to benefit from the excellent state school system we had in Scotland before the SNP got their hands on it.

Flynn's research assistant Milo is a talented hacker and causes embarrassment and inconvenience along with diverting funds from other accounts - that all seems a bit superficial. Financial institutions spend considerable effort on fraud prevention. Even stranger from the beginning Elizabeth, Flynn's wife is on to Milo as a mischief maker and he takes no notice.

Overall I thought the plot jumped around, the characterisation was superficial except for the elderly Polish mother of the people trafficer, the young Pole Jakub, and the sitting tenent Mrs Voyles. Yet once again the whole sitting tenent scenario was inaccurate - a sitting tenant must allow reasonable access. In this book she refuses and provokes Campbell once too often.

Dickes had the gift of vivid scene setting and memorable characters. Most of the people in this book left me indifferent or just a bit puzzled.

Finally I just do not believe anyone born after 1995 would wear blackface.
22 people found this helpful
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James Brydon
5.0 out of 5 stars A rich literary feast, and one I am sure I will be revisiting shortly.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 1 May 2024
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There has been a lot of publisher’s hype surrounding this novel, and as far as I can see, it is all justified. I think that this was one of the best novels I have read for a long time. It reminded me at times of John Lanchester’s Capital (another favourite of mine).

The principal figure is Campbell Flynn, an academic art critic whose recent biography of Vermeer has drawn considerable critical acclaim and unusual commercial success. Gratifying though this is, Flynn is in need of a far greater economic upturn. To this end, and in a marked divergence from his previous works, he has written a self-help book, His publishers assure him that the book is likely to be a huge success. He is anxious, however, to conceal his identity as the writer, and, by chance, meets a successful actor who has just concluded a long run in a highly popular television series. The actor is persuaded to be ‘the face’ of the book, and in exchange for one third of the royalties, agree to undertake all the promotional activities including media interviews and book-signing events.

In the meantime, Flynn finds himself becoming more closely involved with one of his students, Milo Mangasha. Milo is half Ethiopian, half Irish, and has been taking one of Flynn’s courses as a subsidiary subject while pursuing his computer engineering degree. Milo introduces Flynn to radical new schools of thought, which push the older man in new intellectual and political directions. Meanwhile, there are all sorts of awkward strands from Flynn’s family life rapidly unravelling.

There are far too many subplots to capture in a review or synopsis, but they are all interwoven with great dexterity, many of them centring on Caledonian Road, a long thoroughfare extending from Kings Cross through Islington and up towards Highbury. As it happens, I know the Caledonian Road very well, having driven along it daily for many years as part of my regular commuting journey to Westminster. O’Hagan captures it marvellously, in its unusual blend of pockets of great opulence and others of deep deprivation.

The book features a huge cast of characters – in fact, the author offers a list of principal figures at the start of the book with more than sixty names – but they interact effectively. All strata of society feature, from hereditary peers, minor aristocracy, Russian oligarchs, students and rival street gangs. This is a rich literary feast, and one I am sure I will be revisiting shortly.
5 people found this helpful
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pineview
4.0 out of 5 stars Worthwhile read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 26 April 2024
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Although only started reading this - love it
So well written and enthralling
Recommend !
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars A fab read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 30 June 2024
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A glorious Dickensian sweep of London in its current disjointed form. Packed full of colourful characters and sharp observations. A tale earth telling.
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Edward
4.0 out of 5 stars Good read but meaning is elusive
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 27 May 2024
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There were to many people in the novel to truly empathise with any one. I liked reading it but I kept waiting for a twist or some deeper meaning than the stereotyped inequality, and the elites controlling our world. Did O'Hagon manage a reversal of this through his story telling? I'm left annoyed. I think watching traffic might be more satisfying.
One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

bookie
1.0 out of 5 stars disappoining
Reviewed in Germany on 23 April 2024
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Not one likeable character, pretentious style, unoriginal content
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Hewy
5.0 out of 5 stars Caledonian Road
Reviewed in Australia on 27 April 2024
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This is a classic.

Andrew O’Hagan has investigated our modern lives and values, and found us wanting.

Amazing writing.

I don’t think I will ever read a better book.

London, politics, art, academia, media, popular icons, greed, money and what it can buy, celebrity.

I’m going to cogitate for some time about this extraordinary expose of what man can do to man. With impunity.
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