BOOKS reviews

' 0i, Ref! . Joseph Gallivan (Faber £999) is a " A h 0 The thought of a priest and a referee going on the rampage in a W t t , city centre on a Saturday afternoon _ I a, e O n e S is a distinctly Pythonesque one, but Joseph Gallivan’s debut novel “m” , ' ' brings it too readily to mind. Waterstone S I n M a d I With the ever-looming threat of Edinburgh Renault after Citroen being tipped

onto their sides in time for this summer’s World Cup, Oi, Ref! is one

WED EAST END of a rash of books which has

detoured out of Hornby Avenue

I 3 and careered into the almost A WM Ahm¢g, forgotten arena of football Law. am a. ,, I

violence. It gives an altogether “Wm” F O D E I \ I different spin on the phrase ’kick 4. off, JOSEPH —— Tommy Burns - no, not that one, / 7 . although this character gets to officiate an Old Firm game is the ref in question. He is a former bootboy TH U EAST END with fellow Aston Villa follower Mark, now Father Mark. The two men in

The tale rather hamstrings along with even the violence failing to push

T I I O M S O N the adrenaline up - it is neither distanced enough to be chilling nor

claustrophobically harrowing enough to make you wince. By time up. any feelings you may have mustered for our 'hero' will have dissipated in an overwhelming yearning for closure. (Brian Donaldson)

black reacquaint and deSpite himself, Burns ditches his reformation and : z t R l 1 P E R I returns to his head hunting ways. MAR

7.00 PM ._-__

sweep the nation and old ideals are 3 I terrorism the catalyst. (SM) Award-Winning singer/songwriter 1 i ballads of her background, the trials of this is a study of New York’s Illegal

' re ected Levov's ca itulation into this Bodies Of Water 1 9 daughter, this slim collection packs LOW Llfe womanhood are to the fore birth, underground between 1840 and 1919

_ new order is involuntary, his perfect Rosanne Cash (Indigo £5.99) ss- steak 1 nine intense tales into 111 pages. Like LUC 530191613013 {7-99) * * * i love and adversity. Although told With which, given the SU1)]CCI matter, covers ' delicacy and real emotion, clangers of a lot of ground, backed up With

5100< RE\.”'E;‘.‘."S (entwined I ~ o ; (30s, however, the \‘Jlll(1S of change daughter's embrace of revolutionary A literary debut for Johnny’s Grammy 1 j the heartfelt country 'n' western Much iinrnortalised in film and print, cliches and moments of maudlin let intensive research. An often unpleasant

I L L O f 110' “OW”. (SM) read, illustrated wrth some gruesome 1 ' ' murder stills, Low Life considers the APR Body Politic

—— _ . = structure of the criminal fraternity and

1 7 PaUI 101111510” (New EnQI'Sh L'bfaf)’ I its interaction With the law. (SM) ' £5.99) * it at * FRI The Collector Collector

1 EAST END 1 '1 Edinburgh, an independent outpost, g has eradicated crime and restored

Come the 21st century, UK society has . . _ Tibor Fischer (Vintage £5.99) at at If air ( order. The Council of City Guardians ; - l H . prowdes for all citizens, a 10pm Curfew ' L E c T 0 R -. ' operates and, God forbid, there is a l C T 0 R

reigns supreme. Only one city,

collapsed and the law of the iungle 7.00 PM

year-round festival. Then the murders and mutilations begin. (SM)

All these events are free, tickets ; : 1 t , ' Strange Days : available from appropriate branch. pamcia KennealyMomson

. (HarperCollins £6.99) t s— 1? g Tlckets 71010 071 Salefor 'My Life With and Without Jim 3 I "’1‘ 5.: ff:

Morrison' by the rock critic, high 5 J priestess and Mensa member he i __ ,. ,. a 0 married in a Celtic handfasting Here, Fischer's sense of the obtuse has at The Queens Hall? Aprll’ ceremony in 1967 As much the . surpassed itself —< the result his oddest dissection of a stormy relationship as and most compelling work to date. £3’ ° concs' 3 an exposure of the Lizard King, her : Our narrator is an ancient Sumerian honest approach enables her to defend i bowl With a sharp eye for detail and a 1 and praise the man she loved while, 3 reSIgned attitude to its enwronment -- a 1 conversely, condemning and despising j Brixton flat inhabited by Rosa, who 83 George Street, Edinburgh his treatment of her, (SM) interacts wrth objects d’art, and her [€12 0131 225 3436 - sex-addict, kleptomaniac friend Nikki. American Pastoral t W) 1

West End, 128 Princes Street. Edinburgh . PM. R h V. £6 99 w _ w tel:0131 226 2666 "p 0! (image . ) w

East End. 13-14 Princes Street, Edinburgh I WA'I‘ERS'I‘ONE8 tel: 0131 556 3034/5

Post-war America has, in return for j REVIEWERS THIS ISSUE:

hard work and clean IiVing, been good f Brian Donaldson, Damien Love, Alison to Seymour Levov, Wealth, status, and ; Maxwell, Alastair Mabbot, Deirdie

an enwable family are all his Come the i MOIIOy, Susan MaCkGflZIC.

94 THE LIST 20 Mar—2 Apr 1998