Reviews
iii")i()f’|/,/‘i66EAN/‘ GILES F
Mimi and Toutou
Go Forth
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(HIV. f ’ifi‘n'I ’n'i‘, l/flii‘,” Hire-f; li’i.":i', {5130’} iii Africa arouer real events (irrelurliri'; the award winning [he I as? King cf .‘;r,ofianr/i and here he takes t rings one step further by recounting a bi/arre true tale from that continent in straight style. almost as if presenting a piece of research or factual account.
Mirni and Ioi/fou (jo fort/i tells the story of a strange mission during the First World War. in which Geoffrey Spicer Simson, ari oddball British navy officer. took two small boats (Mimi and loutoui to Africa in an effort to takeover
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control of the strategically important Lake Tanganyika. Spicer- Simson was an eccentric and pompous character. and the force under his coriiriiand certainly had some strange adventures across Southern Africa. but Foden's narrative lacks energy, perhaps
hamstrung by the factual
nature of the tale. This is a quirky story but it's surely only of passing interest to most readers. (Doug Johnstonel
COMIC DRAMA LISSA EVANS Odd One Out (Viking) 0.0
Darn those dafties who misdesign book covers. This irritating one bellows something about not havrng to be crazy to read this book but it being helpful. so readers whose quality control is flimsy enough not to be put off Wlii expect a trip of madcap quirkiness. They‘ll end
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Lissa Evans
up disappointed when it turns out to be no more than a warm and affectionately told story of a riflyear-old Woman (happily riiarried. so no giddy romance. thank (‘iodi and the hapless young doctor she has to share a flat With when they both get chicken pox.
l ssa Evans is skilled at bringing some eccentric characters to life. including kids dance school ladies who act like they run the Bolshoi. but something perhaps the laugh out loud factor 7 s riissing. It all leaves you wrth the feeling of havrng been told a long and kind of funny anecdote by a friend. rather than havrng been treated to something special. (Ashley Davresl
SOCIAl DRAMA PAUL GOLDING Senseless
(Picadorl COO.
Readers of Paul Goldirig's The Abomination may not be surprised at the author's return to subiects of homosexuality. dark desires and dungeon depravny. However. the central bulk of the Senseless narrative is given over to a somewhat sweeter (though no less frank and honest) account of our lead's ceaseless care for his 'Hixm" friend.
The story is recounted by a bedridden and
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WILLIAM SHAW Superhero for Hire (Obsenrer Books. 0..
William Shaw is the man responsible for Behind the Ads. a regular feature in the Observer in which he investigates the stories behind a number of weird and wonderful classifieds. This compact wee book brings together the highlights of that column. but while the stories do have a certain charm the book suffers. as many other journalism collections do, from revealing the repetitive nature of its author's style.
Shaw is to be
applauded for telling the
stories l'(3i£til\.“(}i\, straight. avoiding the temptation to oner-egg the pathos arid poigrianci.’ of stories about lll‘r‘.'."t)l'lt ‘.‘."(E(i(ill‘.t} dresses. Abba tribute bands. 88M dominatrices and all points in between. o. might have hoped that such a package of the everyday eccentricities of huriiankind ‘.'.rould reveal something o‘ our reSilience and :‘Or‘trtude in the face of adversit,
l‘ n ' r. CAROL ANN DUFFY
New Selected Poems 1984—2004
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Out of Fashion: An Anthology
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Style and verse, ha! Have you seen Ian McMillan's shirts? Hats off (as it were) then to Carol Ann Duffy for compiling a book about attire, desire, and ‘Big Pants on the Washing Line in the Wind.‘ Persuading 50 of her contemporaries to submit a poem on the theme of fashion or dress, she also asked them to select one by AN Other. The results are intriguing, from Emily Dickinson dressing up in the surf and Bob Dylan losing his girl to ‘The Man in the Long Black Coat‘ and WB Yeats spotting the difference between art and artifice.
Of the current poets, Adrian Mitchell is inspired by the bespoke elegance of Miles Davis, and Duffy herself goes upstairs downstairs with a servant warming her mistress’ pearls. Guaranteed, though, that it‘s McMillan‘s aforementioned and undulating undies that leave you in stitches.
Meanwhile, Duffy’s own writing is revisited in New Selected Poems. The Glaswegian alternates between wise and funny, abstruse and throwaway. At times her words can be overdressed - just to flog that clothes horse metaphor — revealing little sense or significance. A lot of the relationship stuff certainly disengages this reader but possibly that’s more reflective of a yin yang imbalance on my part.
At best, the lines fly off the page and lodge in your soul; one ghostly character recalls Nazi Germany and ‘how the children waved their little hands from the trains.‘ However, it’s the poems from ‘The World’s Wife’ section that really stand out. ‘Mrs Faust' and ‘Queen Herod‘ are notably flawed in their humanity, if not quite on a par with their worse halves. But it's ‘Mrs Darwin‘ who delivers the best quip: ‘Went to the zoo/l said to him: Something about that chimpanzee over there reminds me of you.’ (Rodger Evans)
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'- THE LIST 31