To everything there is a season. A time to be born, a time to die ... and a time to have a bloody good moan. Following the huge success of Grumpy Old Men, Stuart Prebble, writer of the highly acclaimed TV series, gives us a more in-depth look at what it's really like to be a pissed-off man of a certain age. In painstaking detail, he takes us through a year in the constantly irritated life of a Grumpy Old Man, recounting the manifold vexations and absurdities he has to put up with in the perpetual torment that we call modern living. Drinks parties, holidays, hospital visits, his children's misdemeanours, buying presents for the wife, watching television, attempts to visit the gym, trips to the shops, the trials and tribulations of everyday life - each event has something to tip him over the edge. Stuart's diary proves that grumpiness is not just an occasional mood or a temporary feeling, but a way of looking at the world, and will strike a chord with all those who are proud to call themselves Grumpy Old Men.

本作は、加齢に伴う不機嫌さを単なる気難しさではなく、現代社会への痛烈な美学へと昇華させています。プレブルは日常の不条理を鋭い観察眼で切り取り、ユーモアへ変換します。日記形式ならではの濃密な内省は、孤独な苛立ちを普遍的な共感へと変質させる文学的力強さに満ち、読者に斜に構える快感を授けます。 テレビ版が不満を客観的に楽しむ娯楽だったのに対し、本書はその内面へ深く潜り込みます。テキスト特有の饒舌な独白は、映像では捉えきれない男の自尊心と悲哀を克明に描き出します。映像で笑い、本でその哲学を咀嚼する。この往復こそが、現代を生き抜くための毒を味わい尽くす至高の体験となるでしょう。