If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things by Jon McGregor

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A book picked up in charity shop for a beach read, which has been on holiday with me a couple of times before I got around to reading it.

A worthwhile wait – such a well crafted novel.

The power comes from the focus – an afternoon on a single street – and yet so much is happening – so many lives going on being ordinary.

I think that is the real skill – it often feels that it is easier to write a James Bond thriller – you have the whole tool box – explosions and helicopter cashes – if people aren’t on the edge of their seats what are you doing. However to create a thriller out of a rainy suburban afternoon that is success.

Soul Tourists by Bernardine Evaristo

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This is a crazy love story – but what genuine love stories aren’t crazy?

Stanley and Jessie are an odd couple but there is an energy that gives them authenticity, as characters and as a couple.

There are a range of formats used, some first person narrative, some couplets, some “letters” - they play off each other helping you see the different twists and turns of the narrative from different viewpoints.

At the heart of it all is Stanley’s sense of dislocation – his integration into society, he is a banker, makes him feel cut off from his roots as a “Black” man, he feels that there is a part of him that should be an outsider. Some of the attraction to Jessie’s chaotic spirit is the desire to be outside society’s norms.

However we have these dream sequences where during the road trip across Europe historical figures of “Black” origin appear and this challenges the assumptions. The history of Europe has not been as monochrome as we thought.

One of the interesting things about the BBC’s What Do You Think You Are programmes has been the stories of those of Afro-Caribbean origin - they generally had a fairly clear idea in their head that their parents, or grand-parents, arrived in the UK as part of the Windrush generation, in a one off fundamental crossing of the divide and the ocean, however the programme has often found earlier crossings – for military service, for university education as doctors or lawyers – and suddenly the story becomes more complex.

A great book for exploring issues without being “issues-based” - across Evaristo’s work you get big themes treated in a really accessible way.

Hello Mum by Bernardine Evaristo

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Published by Penguin working with Quick Reads at 80 pages of large-ish print it packs an incredible punch.

There is no way to talk about this without giving a massive spoiler away…

It beings “Hello Mum” and ends “So now you know, I can say goodbye. Jerome Cole-Wallace 1995-2009” - it is a letter of explanation from a dead Boy to his Mother.

As you should expect from Evaristo it has raw honestly, authenticity, insight, and power.

There is currently attention given to the issue of teenagers, mainly black, dying on our streets – but this book, which speaks to that exact issue, was published in 2010 – we might not of been paying attention but lets not pretend that this situation is new, and therefore lets not pretend that the solutions are quick or easy.

It is clear that the social context placed Jerome in the situations where he made choices that led to his death – that combination of context and choice is important. Most 14 year-olds in this country are growing up in contexts, thankfully, where they are protected from crime, drugs, and violence. They don’t have to make choices. But too many grow up in contexts where they are face with the choice between a hard slog with little reward – if you work hard at school etc the best you can hope for is “a job” - and the alternative - the status and the money that come from involvement with drugs.

Jerome was faced with a choice, he made a bad choice but at the moment of decision a pretty reasonable one – he was street-wise but probably essentially naive to the consequences. He was a victim – but there can be a risk in our legitimate desire to avoid victim shaming to strip people of all agency – and one of the powerful things Evaristo does is give him his voice back, give him his story back.

On A Bender (A Esmorga) By Eduardo Blanco Amor Translated by Craig Patterson

Out of print but can be found on Amazon 

Written in Galician at a time when the language, like so many aspects of life in Spain, was under the repression of the Franco regime.

The story is told through one side of a conversation, or more specifically an interview/interrogation.

This style is not always easy to follow, and I had in mind Waiting for Godot for the overall feel.

Cipriano Canedo, or the Boar, has been on the “Bender” with two others, and there would seem to have been a trail of destruction left in their wake. He maintains his repeated intention to go home and blames everything on his fellow drinker.

It ends with Canedo’s death, beaten to death by the Police. A clear message that Authority is brutal and oppressive. But your thoughts about Canedo and his fellow drinkers are less clear – nothing they do warrants a violent death but are we to read their drunkenness as another function of oppression – excluded from society life is hard, miserable, drink is some relief? Characterising the poor/the masses as lawless in an animalistic way finds its way into various literary sources, both from positive and negative perspectives – but I feel it needs to be treated with extreme care.

The People Speak Ed Colin Firth & Anthony Arnove

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500 ish pages which I have read over 5 years ish.

The content is interesting in and of itself – speaking in various historical contexts and on various issue.

However the whole is really interesting. “The People” is complex – it feels a little dated and New Labour – making us think of Diana “The People’s” Princess.

Equally at this moment in time “The People’s Vote” is a hot topic – somehow differentiating it from when the people voted in recent General Elections or in earlier Referendums.

The Sub-title is “Voices that changed Britain” but it is I think only voices that changed Britain for “good” as defined by the Editors. A future edition is unlikely to include a speech from Nigel Farage, despite his impact on Britain. The copy I have has a Red Flag on the cover which probably indicates the starting point of the Editors.