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BOOKS | Reviews
FICTION / ROMANCE KERRY HUDSON Thirst (Chatto & Windus) ●●●●●
It’s been two years since Kerry Hudson’s fantastic debut, Tony Hogan Bought Me An Ice Cream Float Before He Stole My Ma, shook readers from the cushy, Booker-induced, middle-class coma of the preceding years. And her second book, Thirst, delivers on that early promise, giving us another booze-soaked, sex-stained, bittersweet tale of love and tragic
disappointment. This time, Hudson swaps grey Aberdeen and faded Great Yarmouth for greasy Dalston and isolated Siberia. Alena, a young Russian woman, is shoplifting and sleeping rough in London when she meets south London lad Dave, who’s working as a security guard at a posh shop on Bond Street. They’re lost souls, drawn to one another like magnets. But as they fall in love, they struggle to come to terms with the dark secrets they’re hiding from each other.
Thirst alternates between Dave and Alena’s unfolding love
story and flashbacks to their murky histories. It’s a testament to Hudson’s stellar writing that the plot strands sit so snugly together. As she proved with Tony Hogan, she’s a master at creating strong, authentic voices, and this book fizzes with the thronging sounds of east London in the summer and the bustling streets of an unknown Siberian town. It’s billed as a ‘will-they-won’t-they love story’, but Thirst is
much more terrifying than that. The scarier aspects of their individual tales resonate just as much as their romance. As the last few chapters crescendo into a breathless, sob-
inducing finale, Hudson marks herself out once again as a terrifically talented storyteller who, luckily for us, is here to stay. (Yasmin Sulaiman)
FICTION EMILY MACKIE In Search of Solace (Sceptre) ●●●●●
Following an existential crisis, Jacob Little goes in search of his ex-girlfriend Solace in this accomplished second novel. Armed only with the painting of a female nude he believes looks like his erstwhile lover, and not sure if Solace is even her real name, he finds himself in the small Scottish town she grew up in. Here, his life intertwines with four of the town’s inhabitants.
Although the characters are a fascinating bundle of quirks, archetypes and meticulously original characterisation, Mackie’s unique narrative voice is the real highlight – the sly asides prevent Jacob from becoming unbearably solipsistic and lift the novel through the occasional necessary exposition. Of the characters that get drawn
into his orbit, most memorable are his self-delusional landlady, forever writing to a husband who never responds, and Max, a young genderqueer child whose layers of burgeoning identity Mackie peels back with expert precision. A nuanced look at identity, memory and modern Britain, In Search of Solace is a novel in the vein of Iain Banks at his best. (Kaite Welsh)
62 THE LIST 10 Jul–21 Aug 2014
NON-FICTION SHORT STORIES VARIOUS WRITERS The Moth: This is a True Story (Serpent’s Tail) ●●●●● DEBUT NOVEL NEIL DA STEWART The Glasgow Coma Scale (Corsair) ●●●●●
Although it immodestly describes itself as a ‘storytelling sensation’, it’s hard not to indulge The Moth's powerful sense of self. Named in honour of the days when stories were for the porch as the sun went down, the New York literary event is billed as a home for ‘real life’, where participants famous and unknown tell their true stories to an audience. This book is a selection of the best of those stories. Malcolm Gladwell ruins his best friend’s wedding in mean-spirited fashion and Sebastian Junger sees a dead body for the first time, a toe-curling, gut-punching moment. A Jewish girl from Jersey joins the Sultan of Brunei’s harem, while a man relives a small slice of the 18 years he wrongly spent on death row. Elsewhere, Bill Clinton’s press secretary recounts the heart of the Lewinsky affair.
Many of these stories are vignettes of a much longer tale and the writing quality varies (and some beg to be read aloud), but at their finest, they transport the reader to the intense heart of another’s most vivid experience. (David Pollock)
As she makes her way along Sauchiehall Street, call-centre manager Lynne is astonished to encounter Angus, her old art teacher (and long-time object of desire), begging for change in a doorway. Despite his protestations, she insists on taking him home with her, and in the process sets both their lives on a new course.
The Glasgow Coma Scale is an
engaging study of two very different but equally lost souls. Lynne has little in her life but a thankless job and a recently dead relationship, while Angus still mourns for his artistic mojo and is locked in a constant battle against alcoholism. Their unlikely friendship is the heart of the story, a classic odd couple pairing – uptight and sensible meets uncouth free-spirit – that never feels clichéd thanks to the insightful characterisation. Angus, in particular, is a delight, always knowing exactly the wrong thing to say in any situation. Aside from the odd bit of clumsy social commentary and an unsatisfying conclusion, this is a confidently written and enjoyable novel, and well worth checking out. (Ally Nicholl)
FICTION ALISON MOORE He Wants (Salt) ●●●●●
The best novels are the ones that leave you with a sense of yearning, and in He Wants, Alison Moore proves her mastery of the medium. Lewis Sullivan is a retired RE teacher whose restraint has kept him in the same village his entire life. Only now, with the return of an old friend, does he begin to question his choices. Like Moore’s previous novel,
the 2012 Booker shortlisted The Lighthouse, this is a meditation on memory and character-moulding moments. The title of chapter one asks ‘What do you want?’ and each subsequent chapter heading pinpoints something Moore’s characters are longing for, from the mundane ‘He does not want soup’ to the sublime ‘He wants to be seen’. As Lewis’s desires are revealed,
the reader is drawn into a compelling series of regrets, coincidences and reminders that life doesn’t often bestow second chances. At fewer than 200 pages, this is a short novel, and Moore’s tightly wreathed prose and assured plotting ensure a bittersweet longing for more once the final page is turned. (Lynsey May)