BOOKS | Reviews
MEMOIR ALASDAIR GRAY Of Me and Others (Cargo) ●●●●●
Rather than take the traditional anecdotal approach to autobiography, Glasgow’s favourite polymath has spent the last few years assembling this collection of assorted non-fictional works spanning his life as a writer. Arranged roughly chronologically, it includes essays, obituaries, introductions and epilogues to his and others’ books, and even academic reports. The cumulative effect is fascinating and engaging, and offers a comprehensive insight into the philosophy and artistic approach of one of Scotland’s most vital creative minds. Several key themes resonate through these collected
works. One is the great feeling of Gray’s life and work being embedded in, and a product of, Scotland. His embrace of that Scottishness, and recognition that his own writing could be nothing but Scottish, makes for a thrilling and powerful statement about the value of Scottish art.
Equally prominent is Gray’s playful approach to facts. In his short but insightful 1960 essay ‘The World of Four to Seven’ he writes of children beginning ‘to use truths to guide them through the wilderness of mere facts’. The line between fact and embellishment is continually tested in Gray’s writing, with the implication that conveying facts should never be writing’s first priority. These works, Gray mischievously notes in his foreword, ‘describe what I think facts, though readers will dismiss some as opinions’. Gray has a rare ability to convey his thought in writing that is clear, invigorating and, in the very best way, fun. This book is all of those things, and much more besides. (Paul Gallagher)
FICTION LOUISE WELSH A Lovely Way to Burn (John Murray) ●●●●
Stevie’s boyfriend is dead. This in itself is not unusual: the ‘sweats’ pandemic is sweeping the globe and death is everywhere. What is unusual is the cryptic letter he left in the tea caddy, and the mysterious package in the loft that his medical colleagues seem keen to get their hands on. Stevie soon has reason to suspect foul play but, in a society that is falling apart, can she persuade anyone to care?
The first instalment in Louise Welsh’s Plague Times trilogy is a solid, pacy murder mystery. Welsh sticks closely to a well-worn thriller template and tends to overdo the similes, but her plague is plausible and chilling. In a city of desperate people, even the most benign places become fraught with danger, and every step of Stevie’s amateur investigation is palpably tense.
Unfortunately this tension does fizzle
out towards the end, and the final confrontation is a bit anti-climactic. Nevertheless, A Lovely Way to Burn will keep you hooked to the last page, even if it is unlikely to linger in your mind afterwards. (Ally Nicholl)
44 THE LIST 20 Mar–17 Apr 2014
FICTION CARA HOFFMAN Be Safe I Love You (Virago) ●●●●● TRUE CRIME LISA APPIGNANESI Trials of Passion (Virago) ●●●●●
Lauren Clay returns from Iraq apparently unharmed. But while she tries to reconnect with her friends and family, they begin to see that something is very wrong. Her post- combat life is balanced with equally- fraught memories of her childhood. Throughout, Hoffman’s prose is
near perfect: intense, imaginative and heavy with meaning without feeling overwritten. She balances the tightrope of not flinching away from violence, but also not lovingly describing it. War is never glamourised: when Lauren’s friend asks her whether she saved anyone’s life in Iraq, Lauren replies, 'I saved millions from the inconvenience of taking public transportation… And I saved a bunch of fucking money in my own bank account'.
In Brighton, 1870, Christiana Edmunds distributes poisoned chocolates to cover up her desperate attempt to kill the wife of a doctor she was obsessed with. In Paris, ten years later, heartbroken Marie Biere shoots the lover who abandoned her, whom she blames for her baby’s death. Then in New York in 1906, a strange, indulged millionaire kills the man that he believes once ‘corrupted’ his young wife. What do these three interesting historical cases have in common?
Well, er, they were all quite sensational in their day and, um, they all involved love, whether unrequited, betrayed or distorted. Each produced much debate over whether the culprits were mad or bad, with psychological experts weighing in.
As in her first novel, So Much But, despite her efforts to draw
Pretty, Hoffman explores themes of government-condoned violence and vulnerability, a woman’s place in a male-dominated environment, and the collusion of a small town’s wilful ignorance in creating monsters. Don’t expect a traditional suspense plot, and you’ll find it brave, intelligent and unflinching. (Kirsty Logan) general conclusions from these cases, Appignanesi’s disappointing book never convinces that they tell a coherent narrative of how society progressed in dealing with claims of temporary insanity. Amid woolly digressions, the three long accounts have only a sort of gossipy, ‘true crime’ appeal. (Andrea Mullaney)
FICTION TOM VOWLER That Dark Remembered Day (Headline) ●●●●●
Vowler’s third book is a thoughtful and engrossing examination of war, masculinity, marriage, and the scars that violent acts leave on a family and a community. The narrative switches between two timelines: in 2012, after a sudden violent outburst at work, Stephen returns to his hometown to visit his ageing mother. Tensions grow as both characters circle around a mysterious tragedy from Stephen’s childhood. In 1982, Stephen’s soldier father returns from the Falklands War a changed man: distant, cold and troubled. Never officially diagnosed or treated, his PTSD leads to a terrible act that damages the whole community. Much of the fiction peddled as ‘psychological suspense’ weighs heavy on the suspense, leaving psychology aspects flimsy at best. Here, Vowler takes care to explore the mental processes of the war-damaged father, ambivalent mother and haunted son. Though understated, the end is ultimately redemptive, as Stephen learns to deal with his emotions and family without repeating his father’s mistakes. (Kirsty Logan)