Toy Fights cover art

Toy Fights

A Boyhood

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Toy Fights

By: Don Paterson
Narrated by: Don Paterson
Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £21.99

Buy Now for £21.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

Don Paterson was born in Dundee, Scotland, in 1963 and spent his boyhood living on a working-class council housing estate. Toy Fights is the remarkable story of his first twenty years.

This is not just a book about music and family, but also about 'schizophrenia, hell, money, narcissists, debt and the working class, anger, swearing, drugs, books, football, love, origami, the peculiar insanity of Dundee, sugar, religious mania, the sexual excesses of the Scottish club band scene and, more generally, the lengths we go to not to be bored.

A truly remarkable feat of storytelling - as funny as it is dark - this is a memoir that sits alongside Lorna Sage's Bad Blood, Clive James' Unreliable Memoirs, Deborah Orr's Motherwell and Douglas Stuart's Shuggie Bain.

©2023 Don Paterson (P)2023 Faber Audio Funny Sports

Listeners also enjoyed...

 O Brother cover art
Shadowman cover art
From Mohair Suits to Kinky Boots cover art
Touching Cloth cover art
Rambling Man cover art
Erotic Vagrancy cover art
Windswept & Interesting cover art
Spaceships Over Glasgow cover art
Ramble Book cover art
Rolling Fields cover art
Without Warning and Only Sometimes cover art
The Marches cover art
Nina Simone's Gum cover art
Son of a Silverback cover art
Haywire cover art
Orwell: The Essays cover art
All stars
Most relevant  
Great story, well told. Don is an engaging writer who has a lyrical flair. His recounting of stories from his childhood is in part hilarious and sad at the same time. He recalls his mental breakdown in dark, desperate detail, but the tone of the book is always uplifting and positive; this is accentuated by Don reading the book himself without a shred of self-pity.

I didn't enjoy all the chapters on music as much as the rest but there is much to enjoy.

Thoughtful and engaging

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I love his poetry and his amazing book The Poem, but there's something about Don Paterson that's hard to like. He's a poetic genius, but has no grace about being that genius. Not that he's aloof - just gritty and difficult to feel empathy for. And so I felt all these things when I began listening to the book. But once started, I didn't want it to end. There is an abundance of beauty, wit, and almost breathtaking fun in the footnotes alone. The book itself is perfectly written, with a poet's ear for language and a musician's dexterity. Much of the subject matter is dark - but there was much in there that brought back dark episodes in my own life, and the book made me feel satisfied about accessing my own feelings. Nice book, well read, of course...

Against my will - I enjoyed this

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This is Paterson’s nickname for the Sunday Post, at a time when the couthy family newspaper was an enormous bestseller, based in his home city of Dundee. The Post was, and is, owned by the powerful DC Thomson publishing dynasty, for which Paterson’s father worked; later Don was a DC Thomson trainee sub-editor on the Commando comic, a job he loathed, though he provides a highly detailed and very funny account of its personnel (and shameless recycling of old war-time storylines). This is Paterson’s story of growing up on a scheme in Dundee until the age of 20. In an environment seemingly full of quiet despair, and not much money, religion and music kept him sane - well, almost. He writes movingly about his battle with schizophrenia. We hear about his early encounters with poetry - he sat down with a book and taught himself the basic principles of the craft - but there’s not a lot about Paterson the poet to be found here. There’s more about his love of guitar. Playing live restored some mental stability. This isn’t a misery memoir, though at times perhaps veers towards it - it’s too funny to qualify as one. The footnotes contain some of the best material. A highlight is Paterson’s description of the Scottish culinary delicacy tablet - less a sweet, he says, than an ‘alchemical procedure’. Maybe there’s a bit too much about obscure guitarists - and you can bet that Paterson doesn’t have much time, if any, for your mainstream musical tastes and favourite songs. There’s some polemic or at least political rumination - but mostly it’s funny and well-argued. This is a wonderful memoir - a portrait of the poet as a young man. Give it a listen now!

Kailyard Pravda

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This listen had me laughing out loud whilst walking my dogs. It reminded me of the child-like logic friends and I applied to events and experiences we had and that I had long forgotten. A delightful read.

A reminder of wonderful childhood memories

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Brilliantly performed, funny, sad, wise, honest and open account of growing up in Dundee. I really loved this and didn’t realise before listening that the writer was at the same primary school as me at the same time and that much of it would be based in the same area that I grew up in. The references to Snouter, cribbie and Granny brought it all back. The much-feared depute headmaster was called ‘Snouter’ because a wasp landed on his nose as he conducted the morning ritual of getting us lined-up children into the school or so the legend went. The personal memories added a special resonance for me but I would have enjoyed this story and performance just as much without them. Very much looking forward to the next book.

Superb

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The footnotes were my favourite bit of an absorbing and at times hilarious listen. Roll on vol 2 ( everhopeful )

A joy.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I love this book. I have listened once then went back to hear one chapter again ( about Narcs) and had to start from the beginning again. Its just beautiful. Find out for yourselves. It stays with you and helps and is full of light. I will love this book forever. Thank you for writing it.

Most favourite Audio Book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Just so very, very wondrous.
Thanks so much, Don Paterson. I’m restored to sanity for a while.

Magical.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Unlike many audiobooks read by their authors this is greatly enhanced by Don’s laconic, self-deprecating narration.

A knowledge of Dundee further enhances the work, but is not necessary.

bravo!

Brilliant wry writing

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.