A Great Big Shining Star

Griffiths's language is lyrical, brutal and startling; it requires and deserves a robust reader.

Jenn Ashworth, Guardian

An eloquent and sustained howl of outrage and despair, boiling with lyrical fury, aimed at a culture which is so fixated on celebrity that is it prepared to sacrifice innocence and individuality and all moral scruples at the altar of wealth, fame and glamour.

Brian McCabe, Herald

Pulverising satire on the pursuit of celebrity… There is certainly no denying the visceral eloquence with which Griffiths shows us the skull beneath the spray-tanned skin.

Trevor Lewis, Sunday Times

Griffiths’ incantatory style has always been his strongest card, and it is put to good use.

Jonathan Gibbs, Independent

With his heightened style, strong grasp of north-west English and Welsh vernaculars and delight in nature’s distractions, Griffiths is always a brutal and barbarous pleasure to read. Few authors capture youthful vacuity and obsession better…creatively it’s a call to arms.

Paul Dale, The List

A Great Big Shining Star feels like one of the most culturally important novels I remember reading.

Bookmunch

This is sincere, visionary writing, come from the traditions of Blake and Lawrence as well as the American counterculture heroes like Denis Johnson and Charles Bukowski. There are lines of startling clarity throughout… This is a raw, gutsy, deeply moral novel and a cri de coeur for British writing to return to its romantic, lyrical roots and tackle subjects that actually matter. If there is any literary counterculture still left in this fast-failing country, Niall Griffiths is right at the front of it.

Julia Bell, Bookbag

A devastating satire on a society fixated on image and celebrity.

North Wales Daily Post

A satirical look at the pursuit of celebrity

Western Mail