ECONOMIC ANALYSIS WILL HUTTON
The Writing on the Wall
(Little. Brown) 0000
Taking complicated economic arguments and turning them into coherent and accessible reading is no mean task. But Will Hutton has long been a master of making the difficult easier to digest. His previous books have looked at Britain’s economic and political outlook in
the 905 (The State We’re In) and the relationship
between the US and Europe (The World We’re In) but now, as the planet continues to fret over the dark side of Islamic Fundamentalism, Hutton is on the money by looking at how Europe and the US will react to the
economic threat posed by the astonishing rise of
China.
In a couple of months Mark Leonard, the man who coined the term ‘Cool Britannia’, unleashes his own analysis of China from the Chinese perspective, but for now Hutton is more concerned with the bigger picture and how the West might be won over. But somewhat going against the perceived grain that the continuing fiscal and employment glory of China is inevitable, he
concludes that the Chinese government (still
essentially a Communist regime running its own brand of market socialism) must open itself up wholly to capitalism and liberalism. If not, then its sensational turnaround in fortune will come crashing down around
its ears, potentially taking the West with it. If you
succeed in crawling through acres of ancient history and reams of vital but numbing facts and figures, the
core of Hutton’s book is utterly fascinating.
(Brian Donaldson)
Reviews
FRIENDSHIP iAlt RUTH THOMAS Things to Make and Mend
(Faber) COO
Edinl)urgh-l')ase(l author Ruth Thomas has garnered a reputation as a skilled. award-Wiiining writer of short stories and makes a conwncing transition to novel writing with her archetypal story of two women whose friendship is brought to a premature end by an unexpected and shocking event. Their career paths diverge dramatically: Sally becomes a professional needlewoman while Rowena travels the world as a translator. the pair coming together again when Sally wins an embroidery award and travels to Edinburgh to give a talk.
The premise of friendship between two
contrasting females. their bond sun/wing personal crises and long distances. may bring to mind such 80s tearJerkers as Beaches. but this is an altogether subtler beast. eschewing mawkish sentiment. As with her story collections. the emphasis here is on the strength of the writing rather than sensational plot tWists and turns. Thomas' deceptively guiet tone and understated wit effects an unexpectedly moving and insightful tale. (Allan Radcliffe)
HORROR DRAMA WILL ELLIOTT The Pilo Family Circus (Ouercusi 00.
If anyone. anywhere still finds clowns anything other than deeply sinister. this book is the one to change your mind. Excessively Violent and twisted. it's like some garish cross between The Magic Faraway free and Stephen King's worst excesses. Still. and despite such schlocky potential. young Brisbane debutant Will [Elliott's prose is sharp and engaging.
When Jamie » a young man who is so buttoned up that he meticulously arranges his room in order to impress girls
FA;le
'C‘RCU"?
and lets his filthy flatmates walk all over him breaks down on his way home from work. he v./itnesses three gruesome clowns arguing in a deserted car park. Retrievnig the item they're looking for. he then finds himself harz ssed into ‘auditioning' for them.
and eventually joins their
number as his twisted alter ego JJ in the grim subterranean purgatory they emerged from. Lurching and staggering towards a bloody conclusion. this intriguing book mixes fantasy With psychological horror to squirming effect.
(DaVId Pollock)
SOClAl DRAMA NIVEN GOVINDEN Graffiti My Soul (Canongate) 0000
When a book claims that in its setting that 'nothing bad ever
happens'. you can rest assured that many different variants of excrement Will be hitting the fan. With Niven Gownden's /ingy second novel. the disaffected youth of Surrey are up in arms. mobile cameras at the ready to inflict and capture a bystanders humiliation. But what if the poor innocent is the worst person you could have chosen?
This is Just one in a series of mistakes and misfortunes that afflict our teen anti~hero Veerapen Isaac Prendrapen. ‘the only kosher Tamil in Suriy'. His athletics teacher is a disgraced paedophile and his best buddy still grieves for a sister. But worst of all. the girl V- pen craves is dead. With the journey to discover hoW lvloon met her young end becoming the tales
ALSO PUBLISHED
driving force. It's a captivating novel and Govinden's eye for the atmosphere on the streets and ear for the accompanying dialogue Will prove difficult to better.
(Brian Donaldson)
POE: l RY COLLECTION DALJIT NAG-RA Look We Have Coming to Dover!
(Faber) COO
Daljit Nagra's parents moved from the Punjab to Britain in the 1950s and it's no real surprise that his poetry should be knitted together from bits of his cultural heritage and present environment. So. in the opener 'Darling & Me!” (Nagra likes his exclamation marks!) we have references to Hilda Ogden and Torvill and Dean mixing With the smells of roti bread and sounds of Bollywood classic Pakee/ah. And in “Bibi & the Street Car Wifef'. mentions of KFC and Datsuns rub shoulders With India's own celebrity chef Madhur .Jaffrey and shokri hairstyles.
The title story won a Forward Pri/e in 2004 for best single poem though perhaps here it is outshone by the likes of 'Booking Khan Singh Kumar' Whose rapid rhythms lend itself
5 JAY MCINEBNEY REISSUES
How it Ended The dark underbelly of the American Dream is exposed as a transsexual prostitute accidentally propositions his own dad, a senator gets in hot water over his dalliances and a young couple have a high old time during a decidedly white Christmas.
Bright Lights, Big City The streets of Manhattan are the setting for the book which propelled him into the big time as an unnamed hero dips into the shadier excesses all too close at hand. Ransom An American holes up in Japan to escape his past and the troubles he encountered on his travels. But everyone knows that history has a long memory.
Model Behaviour The fashion world and its empty glamour are put into perspective by one anorexic character's constant worrying about Rwanda and Bosnia.
The Good Life The main reason for all this back catalogue frenzy is the paperback of this. his 9/1 1 novel, which takes the characters from Brightness Falls and plunges them into the devastation of New York.
All books are published by Bloomsbury.
Daljit Nagra
perfectly to performance and the gently plaintive ‘On the Birth of a Daughter'.
(Brian Donaldson)
lti Jan I let) filth THE LIST 27