We Move (Gurnaik Johal)

Gurnaik Johal
We Move

This is a pre-release book with a blank acknowledgements page lent to me by a friend who I used to work with with a shared love of literature. So I can't publish this until April 2022. It's a debut novel by a very promising young author. The book is a number of short stories with common themes some of which are tied up at the end. Most characters are Sikh and although you can guess the meaning of a lot of the Punjabi (I assume it's that language) words I did find myself Googling them to get the exact meaning. If I were to be critical it's that this does seem like a collection of very short stories and the characters are not very developed especially little about what they look like and for most not a lot of character depth. It feels a little like the author has put a lot of his ideas for story lines into his first book and to be honest I feel that there is a lot more that could be developed as the stories have a lot of potential. There again I'm not a writer. I wonder if the stories will be more fully developed in the future. A lot of the book is tied together with the Sikh massacre in 1984 and also a thread about whether what we do is predetermined or whether we are subject to fate. Along those lines seems to be a thread about how decisions taken, or forced upon us, or a path followed, lead to major effects in our lives. Funny as I've now started a book about mid life crises which also has that "what if I did that when I was 30" theme common to many who re-evaluate their lives.

I Dreamed I Was a Very Clean Tramp : An Autobiography (Richard Hell)

Richard Hell

I Dreamed I Was a Very Clean Tramp : An Autobiography

A very interesting read of Hell's life in NYC from early 70s onwards and his involvement in the start of the punk scene. He makes out that he virtually created the punk look, attitude and sound. Whilst he does acknowledge others he does seem a bit full of himself. An unsavoury aspect is his dismissive attitude to women who he always sleeps with and indeed I can't remember him mentioning any who he doesn't. It's always in the context of them letting him do whatever he wants to them which he makes out is consensual but doesn't really read that way as he often says that these women are pretty strung out and have a lot of mental health issues. Hell then goes on to say that the British have an unsophisticated and childish attitude to women seemingly because when on tour with punk bands the blokes don't view all the women around as sex objects. It's not unsophisticated Hell, it having respect for women as humans not just someone to bed, The book then goes into Hell being addicted to heroine and to honest the book sort of descends into an excuse for his behaviour whilst addicted. The book does read a bit like therapy for Hell where he's excusing exploitative behaviour, having rants at those he doesn't like and retrospectively framing everything he's done in the context of a predetermined poetic artistry. It's difficult to tell if what he writes is near the truth or just plain bullshit. Not having lived in NYC in the mid 70s it's difficult for me to tell but some of what he says about Britain is obviously bull. Yes we like potatoes but even back in the late 70s you could buy more than fried potatoes in town centres. I think that this is written for the American audience which makes me wonder if the whole lot is bull as the number of people reading who were into the early punk scene in NYC would be very small. Also John Lydon stopped using the moniker Rotten in 1978 so not sure why Hell, who obviously wanted to keep his adopted surname I guess cos otherwise people wouldn't know who he is, refers to him as Rotten. Having said all this it's a good read souring somewhat at the end. And the albums he made with the Voidoids and with music and lyrics that good I can forgive a few irritations in his book. As if Hell will ever know and as if he would even care.

A Significant Other (Matt Rendell)

Matt Rendell
A Significant Other: Riding the Centenary Tour De France with Lance Armstrong

An interesting read if you like cycling. It covers the centenary tour of 2003 from the point of view of one of Lance Armstrong's team (domestiques) the Colombian Victor Hugo Pena. Chapters alternate between Rendell's very interesting explanations of bike racing strategy and techniques, and history of le Tour, and then various stages of the 2003 tour from Victor Hugo's viewpoint (I think through Rendell's interviews with him). Being a domestique is a tough job with little glory although Victor Hugo did wear the yellow jersey for a few days which, as he says, is more than many greater riders who came before him and who will come after him. Victor Hugo's viewpoint covers the pain of riding and also his personal history. It's also very interesting as written before Armstrong's accusations of serial doping and subsequently being stripped of all his Tour titles which also showed how dominant and bullying he was within his team and across the entire peloton. As I say, an interesting read given history since the book was written. 

As an aside. The 6 tours that Armstrong won (1999-2005) were stripped from him and not awarded to the 2nd placed rider (as happened in other years) as there was so much (known) doping going on. Jan Ullrich came 2nd in 4 of those but was also shown to be doping. The 2006 tour was stripped from Floyd Landis for the same reason. So whilst the original official results show no winner for 1999-2005 the official le Tour web site now has the 2nd placed shown, without mention as to why there is no 1st placed, including Ullrich. As if Armstrong and the doping at the time are airbrushed from history. Now, drug taking and chicanery have always been part of cycling and whether or not you believe it's now a "clean" sport may or may not mar your enjoyment of the spectacle. It was definitely exciting at the time and only in retrospect do you feel slightly cheated. But there are times when you think "are they really that good without drugs" such as Chris Froome's 50 mile solo mountain break in the Giro d'Italia whilst he was embroiled in his own drugs accusations. There again part of me thinks that I don't think anything less of a Nik Turner sax solo just cos I know he was probably off his head on drugs. Or am I mixing my entertainments?

Bel Canto (Ann Patchett)

Ann Patchett

Bel Canto

Apparently Bruce likes more than the Dutch House but I didn't. Too many characters with lazy ethnic descriptions and unlikely plot development. Feels a bit contrived even for fiction. I won't spoil the read, although the author tells us what will happen anyway, but the ending is abrupt and corny. Disappointing to be honest although I guess readable enough to get to the end.