BOOKS | Reviews
MODERN HISTORY GRAHAM STEWART Bang! (Atlantic) ●●●●●
The 1980s was not just the decade that taste forgot (shoulder pads, yuppie braces, Level 42), it was a time when Britain was split in two by culture, ideology, money and politics. At the very heart of all this was Margaret Thatcher, the Tory leader elected by the country in 1979 who ruled with a Victorian rod before being booted out by her own rank and file in 1990. By simply laying out the events and personalities of the decade, Graham Stewart’s Bang!: A History
of Britain in the 1980s is certainly an entertaining and nostalgic read for anyone who lived through the period. But his tendency to stand slightly detached from proceedings gives the book a somewhat lighter feel than the 500+ pages should merit. In his summing up chapter, ‘Legacy’, Stewart is almost whimsical in his praise of Thatcher, who seemingly made a lasting impact that the PMs who followed (Major, Blair and Brown) could only dream about. Despite all their flaws, those three sought more of a consensus politics, realising that the carnage on a (literally) industrial scale caused by the strident economic policies she pursued with zeal and the triumphalist posturing against Europe and South America left behind a trail of devastation.
Because she was the Iron Lady, and ‘not for turning’, and believed that there was ‘no such thing as society’, these nicknames and catchphrases apparently made her inherently more memorable. Try telling that to the war dead of the South Atlantic, the families destroyed by her support of various brutal dictatorships across the Americas or the families whose lives were destroyed by her determination to wreak vengeance on the mining communities. If you want a more critical analysis of her reign, best look elsewhere. (Brian Donaldson)
HISTORICAL FICTION OWEN MARTELL Intermission (William Heinemann) ●●●●● MYSTERY COMEDY NICHOLAS ROYLE First Novel (Jonathan Cape) ●●●●●
HORROR NOVELLA MELVIN BURGESS Hunger (Hammer) ●●●●● SHORT STORIES GEORGE SAUNDERS Tenth of December (Bloomsbury) ●●●●●
Celebrated American jazz pianist Bill Evans was haunted by tragedy. Raised by an abusive father, he saw his bassist Scott LaFaro die in a car accident and witnessed the suicides of both his girlfriend and brother before he finally succumbed to decades of heroin abuse in 1980. One friend called it ‘the longest suicide in history’. In his debut English-language novel,
Welsh author Owen Martell imagines the intermission in Evans’ heart- breaking narrative when, distraught following LaFaro’s death in 1961 just days after recording the seminal Sunday at the Village Vanguard, he disappeared. Quoting Miles Davis – ‘don’t play
what’s there, play what’s not there’ – Martell invites you to read between his words, a rhythmic, figurative language resembling a kind of jazz prose. The perspective shifts around his family before finally landing on Evans, the heavy silences between the characters evoking a spectre of intolerable confusion and sadness. It’s a cold, bleak, consciously uneventful read, but written with real soul. (Malcolm Jack)
74 THE LIST 13 Dec 2012–24 Jan 2013
‘What’s the difference between a publisher and a terrorist? You can negotiate with terrorists.’ So goes the mantra of many a long out-of-print novelist. Education has been the savour of one-time author Paul Kinder. His one forgotten book lies behind him and now he teaches creative writing at a university in Manchester. As he researches his second novel, Kinder’s obsession with other literary debuts is exacerbated by his interest in dogging and a possible murder.
Prolific writer and editor, and real-life writing lecturer, Nicholas Royle is certainly writing from a place of smart investment here. With First Novel he toys with the cliché of literary jealousy, delusion and the constant search for inspiration.
Cult horror brand Hammer continues its multi-media reboot with this grizzly, fast-paced novella from Melvin Burgess, best-known for 1996’s Junk. First-year student Beth wakes up one morning covered in bruises and dirt, with no memory of the night before. Soon, she, her brother and their friends stumble upon a world in which demons, ghouls and vampires not only exist but are impossible to kill. Hunger is littered with knowing
cultural echoes: a battle in a library is pleasingly familiar territory for Buffy fans and there’s a nod to Dracula when the group seek refuge in Whitby, where Bram Stoker’s novel is partly set. A few plot turns seem thrown-in and the dialogue is often wincingly cheesy, but it all suits Hammer’s historic image.
This lithe, quirky and occasionally The brand’s recent revival has seen
inspired novel maintains itself against a background of privilege and perversion. Like Malcolm Bradbury’s The History Man rewritten by Geoff Dyer and Howard Jacobson in an awkward collaboration, First Novel is strange, memorable and, arguably, way ahead of its time. (Paul Dale) reissues of cinema classics like The Curse of Frankenstein, as well as an upcoming theatrical foray and this literary imprint, Hammer Books. Hunger might not be Burgess’ best work but it’s certainly a great addition to this entertaining canon. (Yasmin Sulaiman)
It might seem like damning with faint praise, but George Saunders is an interesting writer. His tough tales are never going to be everyone’s litbag (even those disposed to his idiosyncratic style of writing) but you can almost smell his cult appeal. This fourth collection of short stories
spans a 1995 micro-tale, ‘Sticks’ and features a 2000 McSweeney’s contribution, ‘Exhortation’, while the majority have been plucked from the last five years. A little too often, Saunders uses his undoubted skills to bamboozle and infuriate rather than dazzle and inspire, but he does have the ability to hit some true high notes, such as with the title story about two lonely souls coming together and ‘Escape from Spiderhead’, a futuristic tale of thwarted desires.
But the overall effect is rather
insubstantial. While reading some of these stories, you can feel the quality trying to break through the page, only to find that you’re struggling to recall what you read a couple of hours earlier. (Brian Donaldson)