Small Island (Andrea Levy)

Andrea Levy
Small Island

Started reading on holiday in Cornwall and Devon - very white population so strangely linked to the whiteness of the London population experienced by the novel's protagonists. Oddly split stories which touch in parts but randomly. Two stories of white English couple split by WWII the other of Jamaican dreams of living and working in England. Joint reference points are shared experiences of the war. Seems a little artificial to be honest although each of our narrators find themselves either frustrated in their ambitions or relationships. The racial aspect underlying the stories comes to the fore briefly in a violent affair in a cinema but this suggest that the American racism is far worse than the British. However later in the book when Jamaicans are living in London this aspect is flushed out until it reaches a violent outcome. The end of the book is a little romantic in many senses of the word with a twist in the tail leading to an outcome I hadn't anticipated but one that didn't seem too odd whilst reading.

Although I enjoyed reading this novel I didn't think it brilliant and felt a little short changed. The characters and situations seemed to be building up to a tumultuous climax and whilst I guess there is for the characters the wider context of post war post Windrush Britain is dealt with more delicately than needs be. A fairy tale ending, as in fantastic, where something a bit more gothic is needed. What I mean is that it seems that the author has striven to square up all the main characters weaknesses so that they all cancel out in relation to each other. Not the usual outcome of wars either for victors or victims.

Shots From The Hip (Charles Shaar Murray)

Charles Shaar Murray
Shots From The Hip

A series of reviews from CSM mainly music related from back in the day to when the book was published in the early 90s. Charles had a particular style which I enjoyed reading in the late 70s when I was an avid NME reader. He's very enthusiastic about the bands that he likes and ones that are authentic (although I guess that's very subjective) and very scathing about the bands he doesn't like or such as flabby white rock groups. I guess that my musical and political tastes coincided with CSM, and the NME in general, meant that I appreciated his reviews and writing. In re-reading some of CSM's articles they haven't lost any of their wit or relevance. In fact rather than seem dated Charles' thoughts are prescient both in musical predictions and his musings on society in general and the music industry's place within it. I was personally impressed by his references to punk in early articles and his understanding in the mid 70s that the New York protopunks and subsequent London punks would blow away the dinosaurs of rock, albeit temporarily and albeit for some of us, and bring rock to ground zero. I also loved his love of blues. Now I'm sure that any compendium of journalistic articles will pick out the ones that are the best written and predict the future but having read so much of CSM in the 70s and early 80s I know that he authored an awful lot of current and entertaining copy. And that's the beauty of this book, it is entertaining whether Charles being enthralled by a first Ramones gig or taking the piss out of the rock establishment. Hey ho let's go.