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list.co.uk/books Reviews | BOOKS
COMEDY DRAMA IRVINE WELSH A Decent Ride (Jonathan Cape) ●●●●●
In ‘Juice’ Terry Lawson, one of Irvine Welsh’s most popular creations since his first appearance in Glue back in 2001, the author has crafted a comic book anti-hero, a character so absurd that all you can do is sit back and enjoy the ride. Terry’s exploits as a cab driver in Edinburgh see him embroiled in misadventures with an American reality TV star, along with countless, easily seduced women. These include sex worker Jinty, who disappears during a storm. While there is very little damage caused by ‘Hurricane Bawbag’, symbolically it’s hugely destructive and acts as a catalyst for Terry’s transformation.
While the corkscrew-permed, leisure suit-wearing Terry is a throwback to something from the pages of Viz, a new resident in Welsh’s Edinburgh, Jinty’s boyfriend Wee Jonty Mackay, is more intriguing and emotionally complex, providing some of the novel’s more memorable – and degrading – scenes. The issue with A Decent Ride is that there are too many
diverse plot strands, and several narrative voices pulling the reader in multiple directions. Yet, as Terry’s existential crisis deepens and his character emerges from its sex-mad cocoon, real pathos develops. This may be set in a caricatured world, but its subtext – from
the treatment of sex workers to the mortal fears that arise in middle age – has real depth. It may not hit the heights of previous novels, but A Decent Ride is a welcome addition to Welsh’s Edinburgh canon. (Kevin Scott) Out Thu 16 Apr. ■ Irvine Welsh is in conversation at the Mitchell Library, Glasgow, Fri 17 Apr (part of Aye Write!) and Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, Sun 19 Apr.
SOCIAL DRAMA TONI MORRISON God Help the Child (Chatto & Windus) ●●●●● MUSIC MEMOIR STUART DAVID In the All-Night Café (Little, Brown) ●●●●●
DEBUT NOVEL JANE ALEXANDER The Last Treasure Hunt (Saraband) ●●●●● FANTASY TIM CLARE The Honours (Canongate) ●●●●●
Toni Morrison’s latest novel explores the damage adults inflict upon children and the lasting effect it has on their lives. Most of the book's events have taken place years previously and we are only witness to an aftermath calmly recounted by grown-ups. It’s an unflinching account of the prevalence of child sex abuse with nearly every character a victim, a witness or directly affected by the exploitation of parents, teachers and landlords. Protagonist Bride has suffered years of racial abuse at the hands of her own mother. With a daughter blacker than herself, Sweetness strove to prepare Bride for the cruel world of white privilege. By adulthood, attitudes have shifted yet she never escapes being judged by her looks, negatively as a girl then superficially as a woman. Predominately a female-driven narrative, only one man speaks: Bride’s lover Brooker. While individually the couple explore the wounds of their childhoods with complexity and tender horror, their emotional connection to each other remains unconvincing. (Rowena McIntosh) Out Thu 23 Apr.
‘Stuart, this is Stuart.’ Those were the words, remembers the first Stuart (David), of the moment he was introduced to the other Stuart (Murdoch) in the kitchen of a friend’s flat in Glasgow – and a new chapter in the city’s musical history was born. When they were finished singing songs to one another, their friend insisted on gleefully showing them the bondage dungeon he kept in his cellar. It’s that kind of tale, gentle memories and abrasive honesty going hand in hand, which tells of David’s early-90s journey from small town origins to wide-eyed early years in Glasgow as one of the founders of Belle & Sebastian, ending with the launch of debut album Tigermilk.
David (now a solo artist as Looper and a three-time novelist) writes prose which is crisp and easy to read, even as it feels filled with a sense of place and character. Fans of the group will be pleased with a book which never refers to anyone by their surname, diary entry-style, and which favours fond memories over backbiting. (David Pollock) Out Thu 16 Apr.
Scottish author Jane Alexander’s debut novel follows Cam, a blokey Gen-X barman who, after reconnecting with childhood friend turned Hollywood star Eve, finds himself at the centre of celebrity. Early on, The Last Treasure Hunt is more Hello! than Hollywood Reporter. The semi-endearing Cam’s Scottishness isn’t enough to save him from blandness, yet it’s an absolute requirement for his journey through passive celebrity to make sense.
Beyond character study, the book’s
strength comes in conveying how our stories morph and change in the retelling. As Cam becomes caught up in the manufactured aspects of his own story, the author raises questions of authenticity and not just in the stories we read, but the ones we tell ourselves. Alexander has an ear for Scottish dialogue and pleasingly descriptive prose. Though occasionally diverging into more telling than showing, there’s an underlying humanity being honed here as she leads Cam on his journey towards the final hunt. (Nicola Balkind) Out now.
In his debut novel, poet Tim Clare has succeeded in creating a world that is at once fantastical and absorbingly real. Initially, the story seems to follow a familiar spy thriller trajectory: 13-year- old heroine Delphine is displaced when her family move her to Alderberen Hall to join an elite society. She suspects its leaders of warmongering, and sets out to expose them for the good of her country. When the true purpose of the society is unveiled, the novel seamlessly shifts gear. The war that Delphine feared is against an enemy from another world: one full of new, dangerous creatures that she must learn how to best.
When Clare introduces this element
of fantasy, he spikes the storyline with unexpected yet welcome unpredictability, and what begins as just another pre-war thriller quickly becomes one of the most exciting fantasy fiction tales of recent years. Following Clare’s complex characters as they flit between the familiar and fantastic is a pleasure. Let’s hope this isn’t the last piece of prose with which the poet surprises us. (Rebecca Monks) Out now.
2 Apr–4 Jun 2015 THE LIST 69