Book You May Have Missed (#10)

The Book of Dave by Will Self  (2006)

Full title: The Book of Dave: A Revelation of the Recent Past and the Distant Future

A great book by the living master of the English language – Will Self. One of the ‘easier’ books (e.g. ‘How the Dead Live’, ‘Dorian’ and ‘My Idea of Fun’) by this some times impenetrable writer (e.g. ’Dr Mukti and Other Tales of Woe’, ‘Umbrella’ and ‘Shark’).

It is set in both the recent past and the far future and tells the story of Dave Rudman, a London cabbie, whose marriage fails so he writes a book, intended to be read by his son, which lays out his philosophy of life and how to survive it. The parts of the story which are set in the future deal with a post-apocalyptic flooded England in which ‘The Book of Dave’ has become the basis for a repressive and misogynous religion that rules the lives of the population of the Island of Ham.

Self has invented a language for the future inhabitants based on the slang and common usage that would have been employed by Dave Rudman when writing his book. It can take a little getting used to, but is great fun once you do.

Film You May Have Missed (#9)

Micmacs (2009)

From the French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet who brought you the wonderful ‘Delicatessen’, ‘Amelie’, ‘City of Lost Children’ and, oddly, ‘Alien: Resurrection’. 

The story concerns video store owner Bazil who is wounded by a stray bullet during a streetfight. The bullet cannot be removed and he is told he may live for years or suddenly die at any time. He decides to take revenge on the manufacturer of the bullet, who happens to also be the maker of the landmine that killed his father. He meets up with a bizarre bunch of junkyard people who help him. 

It’s like the ‘A-Team’ as seen in a dream after far too much cheese. 

Great off-the-wall black comedy and so fast and visually complex that it deserves more than one viewing.

Fun Fact: The director reckons the full French title ‘Mic Macs à Tire-Larigot’ translates into English as ‘Non-stop Shenanigans’

Book You May Have Missed (#9)

Jack’s Return Home (aka Get Carter) by Ted Lewis  (1970)

                                   Original cover          Post film reprint

The book tells the gritty and violent story of London gangster Jack Carter’s return to his hometown of Scunthorpe, in North Lincolnshire, to investigate his brother’s suspicious death. His presence upsets the local baddies who do all they can to convince him to go back down South. If the plot sounds familiar you have probably seen the superb Michael Caine film ‘Get Carter’, even so, the book, from which the film was adapted, is well worth reading.

Jazz pianist and author Ted Lewis was born in Manchester in 1940 and wrote 8 novels between 1965 and his early death in 1982. As the titles suggest, three of them (‘Jack’s Return Home’, ‘Jack Carter’s Law’ and ‘Jack Carter and the Mafia Pigeon’) feature the same ‘hero’. I have only read the first and have been put off reading the other two by poor reviews.

Fun Fact: An awful American film version of the book made in 2000 and starring Silvester Stallone lost $19million dollars at the box-office.

Film You May Have Missed (#8)

44” Chest (2009)

Warning: If you are offended by swearing, give this film a miss. The dialogue is riddled with expletives of the most graphic kind.

Ray Winstone plays an East-End hard nut who finds out that his wife, who he loves, has had a fling with a Spanish waiter. He is devastated so his friends gather round and help kidnap the Loverboy (as he is known in the cast list). They setup a kangaroo court in an empty house to decide what to do with him.

Most of the film takes place in the house but interspersed with flash backs. The friends are John Hurt as an aging psychopath, Ian McShane as a homosexual thug, Tom Wilkinson as the voice of reason and Stephen Dillane. This is one of those films that, when you look at the reviews, seem to split people into either loving it or of complaining that nothing happens (i.e. no car chases or explosions). It is all in the script and the performances, sometimes funny and often shocking.

                                       Ian McShane                                        John Hurt

John Hurt turns in a brilliant performance as Old Man Peanut – the nastiest Grandad you wouldn’t want to meet down a dark alley, but even this character has depth and nuance. Ray Winstone is put through the emotional wringer and Ian McShane does a good turn as the cool, emotionless gambler, while Tom Wilkinson and Stephan Dillane do sterling support work.

Fun Fact: Steven Berkoff, who has a small part in the film, went to the same East-End Grammar School that I did, but some 8 or 9 years earlier.