It follows an excruciatingly slow-motion, marriage breakdown and tracks the subsequent decision about where their profoundly autistic son will end up - both in terms of his education and his long-term, post-break-up home.
All of this is set against the protagonistās drink problem, failing business, money issues and the discovery that his father, a Jewish refugee, is very, very ill.
Itās a debut novel but youād never know as itās written with confidence and such a clear voice.
Best thing Iāve read recently is The Gallows Pole, by Benjamin Myers. Which is based around the story of a gang of coiners in Yorkshire in the 18th century; basically a bunch of fellas snipping bits off coins and minting their own money. Itās a fucking brutal story but almost delicious in its brutality, with a load to say about our continued struggle over state approved impoverishment. And the notion that capitalism is basically the vicious barbs of wounded male pride.
And now Iām finally reading Dune some 30 years after starting it as a child, andā¦ itās really good! But you probably already knew that.
Another holiday and a bit of reading. My kindle is playing up so didnāt get through much.
Why Iām No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge (spoiler she hasnāt actually stopped). I can see there are some mixed reviews of the book. I found it to be an interesting and thought provoking read.
part through The Secret Barrister: Stories of the Law and How Itās Broken which is a bit of an eye opener about the legal system.
I have just started Zone 23 by CJ Hopkins and its better than i could have ever hoped.
I will update when finished, but in the meantime hereās someone elseās review.
āZone 23 by C. J. Hopkins is like a head-on train crash between comedian/linguist George Carlin and science fiction writer Philip K. Dick.ā
Sort of following dingers recommendation I am reading Pig Iron by Benjamin Meyers and so far am thoroughly enjoying it. Cheers dinger. Will do a proper review when I am finished. Also down loaded The gallows pole so looking forward to that too.
Ruud Gullit - How to Watch Football - this will be my holiday book in readiness for the new season when I come back. I will be the next Motson or Keown.
Have now finished The Gallows Pole, a tale of the Crag Valley Coiners, a group of 18th Century Yorkshire counterfeiters. The book pits the Coiners against the newly formed establishment as they are pursued by the taxman and other men of the King. Meyers paints a bleak picture of the hardships faced by country folk in the face of encroaching industrialisation.
Pig Iron, also by Benjamin Meyers is the story of John-John Wisdom, a young traveller released from prison and struggling to come to terms with life in turn of the Millennium North East of England and the spectre of a violent father. Violence and the threat of it runs through this book as John-Johnās traveller heritage and bond with the natural world clashes with the drugs, squalor and hopelessness of council estate kids on the dole.
A cheery holiday read
Actually I thoroughly enjoyed both books.
I got through about the first 15 mins of an audio book and gave up as the reader was Baldrick from blackadder and I could not dissassociate Baldrick from the book he was reading so it was not making any sense.
