Digging Deep, by Boyd Lemon, Reviewed.

Subtitled, ‘A Writer Uncovers His Marriages’, this piece of autobiography is a fascinating and compelling insight into the mind and spirit of an American writer.

A reader from outside the sometimes insular and self-congratulatory arena of the USA, I found this memoir accessible, moving, entertaining and surprisingly informative about more than just the author and his wives. The reader is taken deep into the lives of the subjects. All are flawed and most reflect the human condition that prevents us from learning by our own mistakes, let alone those of others. The repeated patterns of ill-advised behaviour echo the lives of so many.

That the author was the instrument of his own downfall is the superficial judgment that first surfaces. But, as he digs deeper and reveals more of his early life, it becomes apparent that he, and almost certainly his wives, suffered from the consequences of inadequate parenting. The account recalled to mind an excellent book on that topic: everyone should read ‘They F**k You Up’, but that’s a different review.

Boyd Lemon is frank, courageous and surprisingly honest about his relationships with women, treating his wives and girlfriends with the unconscious disdain engendered by the values and traditions of the far right. He loathes his job, but is too much in love with the money and what it can buy to break out of the cycle that traps him in unhappiness. Living the American Dream, he is initially blind to the true consequences of an existence led in pursuit of material benefits intended to impress his peers. Does he finally discover the reality? You’ll need to read the book to find out.

There is intimate detail here; the emotional, physical, spiritual and philosophical threads that are woven into his life are untwined and laid before the reader to inspect and examine. I suspect the act of writing this autobiography has been deeply cathartic for him. As a reader, I felt involved, intrigued, irritated, exasperated, excited, hopeful and joyful by turns. This is a ride that takes you high and low and hides none of the ugly details, whilst showing you the delights and wonders life can bring.

I’ve had the book on my Kindle for a while and finally got around to reading it as it popped up next on the list. Although unable to read it all in one go, I was driven to return to it whenever an opportunity presented itself. Anyone interested in the lives of others, curious about writers, involved in a difficult relationship, unsure of their place in the world of work, or simply intrigued by what drives individuals to make the choices they make, will enjoy this book. I recommend it without reservation.

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Charley, by Shelby C. Jacobs, Reviewed.

Novels are works of fiction, by and large. But we can often learn from them, especially if some of the

subject matter is unfamiliar to us as readers. In this romance, I learned about aspects of American Basketball, the position and influence of the church on certain moral issues and the ways in which business might be conducted in the USA.

This is essentially a love story, employing an important theme with which I have sympathy: it discusses, through the interactions of its protagonists, the difference between lust and love. The eponymous Charley is a very strong female character and, in PJ, she is thrust, literally in certain passages, into the arms of a very strong male character. Their introduction, mutual exploration of sex and love, and their attempts to resolve the problems they face in getting together form the plot of the story.

I have to confess that much of the Basketball description went over my head. As a Brit, I have little knowledge of the sport and, with its own jargon, which is clearly understood by aficionados, I was often in the dark. But it wasn’t important, as the sports sequences are few and their content is more emblematic and symbolic than essential. I was able to grasp enough to understand the significance.

Similarly, although I’ve been involved in the business world, both as practitioner and in the role of tax collector, many of the practices exposed in the book were new to me. Of course, this is set in the southern states of the USA, so a degree of fraud and double-dealing was not unexpected. The author makes no moral judgement on the issues raised, but allows readers to come to their own conclusions, which is a stance I heartily applaud.

Also, as an agnostic, albeit raised on the rather loose moral standards of the Church of England, I’m not particularly sympathetic to the church movement as a whole. I felt the author managed very well to convey the inherent hypocrisy and self-imposed blindness of the protagonists as they allowed their actions to declare their true feelings whilst their words frequently hinted at more scriptural concerns. Again, it was left to readers to make their own judgements. In spite of the inclusion of scriptural references, I never felt I was being preached at.

The characters are drawn so well that it’s easy to get to know them and to feel with them. Since such empathy is an essential component of fiction for me, I was able to enjoy the read so much more. Written in the first person, and with occasional ‘mental asides’ that hint at the true state of mind of Charley, this complex and multi-layered piece of fiction reads easily, whilst challenging the reader to make certain judgements, sometimes only to discover that new facts must overturn those conclusions.

A really good read, this. The romance and erotic element will undoubtedly appeal more to women readers, whilst the other components will probably have a stronger appeal for those men who don’t generally read this genre. That sounds sexist, but I’m trying to point out that there’s something here for both genders. I have no qualms in recommending this novel.

In Search of Identity, by Anwer el-Sadat, Reviewed.

I rarely read autobiographies; they tend to be showcases for the subject, with little concern for the truth. However, this one is different. Partly because it’s a mix of personal and political memoir, but mostly because the author was fundamentally honest. That is, he was as honest as any man placed in a position of power and probably more so than most in that situation. For those who are unaware of the man, he was the President of Egypt (for those Americans who believe the world ceases to exist beyond their borders, this is a large country in North Africa, on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea and site of the Suez Canal: sorry to all those other Americans who do know), from 15 October 1970 to 6 October 1981, when he was assassinated during a victory parade.

He was active in the military and in politics during a period of extreme upheaval in his country and took action that impacted on the whole of the Middle East and, possibly, the world.

The book is full of the detail that matters to the politician but it is written with a clear care for his country and a deep love of those he admired and respected. His relationship with Nasser in particular is told with such frankness but such affection that the reader feels present at many of the exchanges.

There is very little of his personal life in these pages. His wives each get a brief mention and his children are not even alluded to. This is a book about the public rather than the private individual. But he does detail his emotions and concerns during his period of imprisonment. And his matter of fact style does nothing to conceal his frustrations with fellow officers and politicians engaged in coups or revolution.

As a Brit, I was intrigued to learn of the hatred and sheer disrespect he and his fellow countrymen felt for Great Britain as we reached the latter days of imperial power. I had, of course, always known of the mistake that was the Suez War. And I was fascinated to learn of Sadat’s hero worship of Zahran, one of the victims of the appalling incident at Denshway. I knew of this shameful event that had typified the arrogant and despotic nature of British overseas rule at the time, as I worked on a piece for radio with a fellow author, Dave Wallis. It was never broadcast because the authorities felt it was too political.

The book also gives an insight into the gentler side of Islam, whilst unconsciously validating the opinion that faith schools that brain-wash young students do great damage to the ability of those pupils to make fully informed decisions or to question the reality behind the dogma they are fed.

As with many political memoirs, this is a book peppered with names. Some are world famous individuals carrying their own reputations; Jimmy Carter, Henry Kissinger, Aleksei Kosygin, Yasir Arafat, James Callaghan and Menahem Begin come to mind. But many are, of course, figures only really known within Egypt, with little exposure on the world stage. He brings these people to life, however, and places them into the context of a country struggling first with the ideal of independence and then with establishing the rule of law amongst a population dangerously divided by sectarianism.

It is a fascinating read. I recommend it to those who have an interest in world politics and, especially, to those concerned with past and present events in the Middle East. A good, if sometimes difficult, read.

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The Call of the Wild, by Jack London, Reviewed.

I come late to this classic, which I gather is intended as a children’s story. Mind you, I suspect a few of the modern generation might have difficulty with some of the language and sentence structure. Be that as it may, the story is rightly a classic: the language is beautiful, the ideas, which are wide-ranging, are wonderfully expressed with little sign of authorial intrusion.

The central theme, of the reversion of the civilised into the primitive, is cleverly illustrated as Buck slowly learns from experience that, when it comes to simple survival, many of the trappings of civilisation are just that. There is no room for sentimentality in the extremes of the wild.

I don’t generally enjoy books that rely on anthropomorphism (the obvious exception is Orwell’s Animal Farm) but this is a story that works in spite of the humanisation of the central canine character. It says something about the writing skills of the author that the presentation of the dog as a creature capable of human reasoning is barely noticeable for most of the story. The tale itself dashes along at a pace that matches that of the husky teams it follows. There is nothing wasted, everything we are told is germane to the story.

One of my quibbles relates to the characters.  This is a male-centred story and several archetypal males are represented, giving a sense of balance to the way men are depicted. Unfortunately, only one woman finds a place in the tale and she is stereotypical, insubstantial and without any real personality. A story intended for children needs to express the positive and negative aspects of both genders in equal measure. Any child reading this book will glean an impression of women as feeble, insecure, troublesome and hysterical. No examples of strong women, no honour or nobility here for the female of the species. It is, of course, of its time. But I do wonder to what extent it has been responsible for imposing a general prejudice against women in the psyche of some American males.

One other negative aspect that troubles me relates to the depiction of killing (albeit as a method of obtaining food) as something both desirable and admirable, rather than as a necessary evil. I suspect this may have had some effect on the hunting fraternity in the States, giving them permission to enter the wild and shoot animals for trophies. For Buck, the act of killing is an essential for survival. For the modern hunter, it is reduced to the element of ‘sport’; though how any rational being can associate the use of a gun against a wild animal  with sport I cannot comprehend.

All that said, I enjoyed this book. I’d certainly recommend it to any adult reader who has not had the pleasure. But I’d caution against the exposure of children to the story.

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Thatcher: A Political Career Undeserving of State Approval.

Margaret Thatcher Gallery (Photo credit: Loco Steve)

Today, as the UK government spends £millions of taxpayers’ hard earned cash on a funeral for Margaret Thatcher, I feel I must somehow register my disapproval. The political leaders have no interest in public opinion on this issue, and, indeed, they usually ignore real public opinion.

I’m indebted to Ms Julie Ann Pickles, who placed the following list on Facebook, where I found it. We don’t know the originator, and I wouldn’t normally reproduce a written work without permission from the author, but this list has now been published on so many websites and forums that it’s become ‘in the public domain’. However, I’d like to thank the original source, whoever you are.

Margaret Thatcher was the most divisive political leader the UK has ever known, amongst the tears, overblown sentiment, selective memories and sycophancy, it might be worth remembering the following:

1. She supported the retention of capital punishment
2. She destroyed the country's manufacturing industry
3. She voted against the relaxation of divorce laws
4. She abolished free milk for schoolchildren
5. She supported more freedom for business (and look how that turned out)
6. She gained support from the National Front in the 1979 election by pandering to the fears of immigration
7. She gerrymandered local authorities by forcing through council house sales, at the same time preventing councils from spending the money they got for selling houses on building new houses (spending on social housing dropped by 67% in her premiership)
8. She was responsible for 3.6 million unemployed - the highest figure and the highest proportion of the workforce in history and three times the previous government. Massaging of the figures means that the figure was closer to 5 million
9. She ignored intelligence about Argentinian preparations for the invasion of the Falkland Islands and scrapped the only Royal Navy presence in the islands
10. She introduced the poll tax
11. She presided over the closure of 150 coal mines; we are now crippled by the cost of energy, having to import expensive coal from abroad
12. She compared her "fight" against the miners to the Falklands War
13. She privatised state monopolies and created the corporate greed culture that we've been railing against for the last 5 years
14. She introduced the gradual privatisation of the NHS
15. She introduced financial deregulation in a way that turned city institutions into avaricious money pits
16. She pioneered the unfailing adoration and unquestioning support of the USA
17. She allowed the US to place nuclear missiles on UK soil, under US control
18. Section 28
19. She opposed anti-apartheid sanctions against South Africa and described Nelson Mandela as "that grubby little terrorist"
20. She support the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia and sent the SAS to train their soldiers
21. She allowed the US to bomb Libya in 1986, against the wishes of more than 2/3 of the population
22. She opposed the reunification of Germany
23. She invented Quangos
24. She increased VAT from 8% to 17.5%
25. She had the lowest approval rating of any post-war Prime Minister
26. Her post-PM job? Consultant to Philip Morris tobacco at $250,000 a year, plus $50,000 per speech
27. The Al Yamamah contract
28. She opposed the indictment of Chile's General Pinochet
29. Social unrest under her leadership was higher than at any time since the General Strike
30. She presided over interest rates increasing to 15%
31. BSE
32. She presided over 2 million manufacturing job losses in the 79-81 recession
33. She opposed the inclusion of Eire in the Northern Ireland peace process
34. She supported sanctions-busting arms deals with South Africa
35. Cecil Parkinson, Alan Clark, David Mellor, Jeffrey Archer, Jonathan Aitkin
36. Crime rates doubled under Thatcher
37. Black Wednesday – Britain withdraws from the ERM and the pound is devalued. Cost to Britain - £3.5 billion; profit for George Soros - £1 billion
38. Poverty doubled while she opposed a minimum wage
39. She privatised public services, claiming at the time it would increase public ownership. Most are now owned either by foreign governments (EDF) or major investment houses. The profits don’t now accrue to the taxpayer, but to foreign or institutional shareholders.
40. She cut 75% of funding to museums, galleries and other sources of education
41. In the Thatcher years the top 10% of earners received almost 50% of the tax remissions
42. 21.9% inflation

And my own contribution:

43. She encouraged the philosophy of greed, promoting this quality as a good thing and driving the excesses that produced the current financial mess.

As a result of her philosophy, embraced with enthusiasm by following politicians and the leaders of big business, we are now in the current financial mess. Our now privatised railway system is a complex joke with so many different ticket options most members of the public have no chance of getting a fair deal. Our utilities are in the hands of profit making companies that care more about shareholders than about the service they should be offering the public. Many of our schools no longer have playing fields, adding another barrier to reducing the obesity epidemic that’s largely the result of youth inactivity. We import coal from overseas, at great cost to the environment, because most of our own coal mines have been closed. We have a housing crisis, largely caused by her refusal to allow local authorities to use funds raised from the sale of council houses to build more social housing. As a direct result of this shortage of reasonably-priced housing, the cost of property in the country has soared to the point where first time buyers are put into great debt and most families spend a huge proportion of their income on rent or mortgage repayments, robbing other industries of potential purchasing that might otherwise have rescued us from the recession.

Cameron’s government is blind to all this. His sycophantic pandering to the tainted memory of a politician we could have done very well without is a sickening display of the insensitive nature of his political stance. He has no understanding of the realities of life for the vast majority of families struggling in the current financial mire caused by his friends in the banking industry. And he has the brass neck to complain at those of us who disapprove of his spending millions on the funeral of the person who was the root cause of our current problems. A much better way to commemorate this death would have been to spend the millions on the disadvantaged in society. That, at least, would have been some small compensation for the millions of people Margaret Thatcher damaged and destroyed by her policies during her time in office.

 For other anti views, see the following links: http://pitchfork.com/news/50372-morrissey-blasts-media-coverage-of-margaret-thatcher-anti-thatcher-protests/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/blog/2013/apr/13/margaret-thatcher-protests-cuts-live
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/margaret-thatcher-funeral-cost-row-1836360
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/margaret-thatcher-funeral-growing-anger-1821652
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2013/apr/16/margaret-thatcher-funeral-10-million
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/bishop-rt-rev-tim-ellis-warns-that-10m-costof-margaret-thatchers-funeral-is-asking-for-trouble-8572587.html

I could go on, but you get the picture.

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Juliet, Naked, by Nick Hornby, Reviewed.

Nick Hornby is one of those writers I hadn’t previously read, for no other reason than that there are so many to choose from these days. I came across Juliet, Naked on a local charity stall and, knowing I’d be in hospital for minor surgery for a day and would therefore be a captive audience, paid the small fee requested. I’d seen the film version of his About A Boy and thought I’d probably find something in his writing to appeal to me.

I’m glad I picked up the book. The ‘Juliet’ of the title is an album of rock music worshipped by the heroin’s obsessive live-in lover. And the ‘Naked’ refers to a more recently discovered album from the same performer, but in its raw state. It is, cleverly, the couple’s different perceptions of these two music collections that act as the catalyst for the events and revelations that make the story.

As a study of relationships, it’s a brilliant piece of work. That the characters are peculiar is a given, but they are real people for all that. Hornby has lived with these people, in his head if not in fact. He understands them, loves them, loathes them, laughs with them, cries with them. And the reader is sufficiently convinced by the portrayals to empathise with them.

The northern seaside town is so well drawn that I could believe I’ve lived there. As a northerner who spent some of my childhood in such a place, I was instantly at home. The American experiences in the book took me to places I hadn’t been and convinced me equally of their reality.

The interplay of the characters with their sometimes tenuous, sometimes profound connections, came across naturally and with emotional depth. There were passages where I laughed out loud, places I smiled and nodded my agreement, portions that had me grinding my teeth with frustration at the stupidity of man. All in all, a book I thoroughly enjoyed. I shall look out for his other novels now and I readily recommend this author to all readers.

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