books
reviews HISTORICAL FICTION
Another World
Pat Barker (Penguin £6.99) 1* i t *
Pat Barker's follow-up to The Regeneration Trilogy is a well-paced portrait revolvrng around a man who moves into a haunted house With his second family. Playing on the theme of history repeating itself, the unfriendly stepkids seem set to unknowingly imitate the house’s grisly famin murder.
When the hero's ancrent grandfather becomes traumatised by nightmares of his experiences in World War I, the past further encroaches on the present. His 101 years may seem implausible, but his last days of life are painted as poignant and movrng.
Another World is an immensely readable novel by a skilled technicran, With wonderful characters and a gripping storyline. But, despite interesting issues, Barker’s words fail to probe fully the darkness hinted at, the narrative skipping over any real intensity to life's deVilish underbelly. Even the title is vague in its reference and seems to say: ’take it as you like’. (AH)
CONTEMPORARY FICTION
Cunt Stewart Home (Do Not Press £7.50)
Lenny Bruce showed how a pejorative like ’nigger’ could be subverted into a form of empowerment, even celebration. Reclaimed from a verbal assailant and returned With interest. But Stewart Home is no Lenny 8. He hilariously styles himself as ’Bukowski With balls’, which is about as credible as claiming to be ’Hemingway With guns' or 'lrvrne Welsh with drugs’.
The bard of barflies he ain’t. And frankly the guy c0uldn’t write a shopping list. Ironic too that his take on the sex and shopping novel should neglect the consumer angle entirely. After 100 pages of endless shag and tell, I find myself practising the reverse of how as a teenager I once read Jackie Collins — flicking past the porn cliches to find the good bits. There are none.
Devoid of plot, setting, characterisation, Wit, intelligence, or anything resembling believable sex or dialogue, this is certainly a load of bollocks. (RE)
SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY Laurie Gunst
Born Fi’ Dead (Payback Press £6.99) ****
Too often regarded merely as an exotic holiday resort, Jamaica has a battle-
scarred past, the last 25 years of which
is expertly contextualised by Laurie Gunst. In telling the story of Jamaica's
, social and political struggles from the
inside, Gunst reveals a country crushed
by debt and manipulated by corrupt
political tyrants.
This spawned a criminal underworld
which in turn has bred ruthless street
E gangs or 'posses’. In an attempt to
escape the hardships of the streets of Kingston, many posse members have found their way to the US, their
passage fuelled by drugs and guns. Gunst’s life as a student is paralleled With the country’s fluctuating political
fortunes and the growth of the posses.
She deftly illustrates the part the pohticrans played in the evolution of the posses and their eventual spiral out of the polrtrcrans' control. The portrait she paints is not pretty, but is a fascinating insight nonetheless. (MR)
COMIC ART Witch
Lorna Miller (SIab-O-Concrete ES) 9.- 1k * s
Caustic, pugnaCIous and instinctively observational, Lorna Miller’s comic strip art cuts to the bone. Sometimes it works simply as comic strip: her four cell strips of ’Angela — Sales As5istant’ could easily sustain on a weekly basis and the illustrations to the ’Nobody Likes Me’ worm-poem are a diabolical treat.
The bold, halftone-free style works best on the longer strips, however, Where she has a chance to develop some subversion into the plot as With the ’Little Catholics’ story about bigotry at school. It helps that she is never afraid to break the frame Where necessary.
There is a deal of autobiography here and by far the best piece is the graphic diary of a Visit to Berlin in June, I990. Naive observation and strong drawing style combine for a highly effective piece of work. Miller has much to say and the skill to manipulate her chosen medium to say it well. (TD)
LITERARY MYSTERY The Deep Field
James Bradley (Review £9.99)
*i’tfi
Set in Sydney and Hong Kong sometime in the near future, The Deep Field depicts a world both strange and recognisable. The conflict between India and Pakistan has escalated into all-out nuclear war, freakish weather
conditions are the norm, disease is
rampant. Anna Frasier, a photographer haunted
T by the disappearance of her twin
brother, Daniel during a brutal
Continued over page
i t tr * t * Outstanding
i * * t * Recommended 3 r t it Worth a try
I t it 50-50
J it Poor
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22 Jul-S Aug 1999 THE lIST105