Prime Minister Portillo - Duncan Black & Iain Dale (eds.)

Duncan Black & Iain Dale (eds.) – Prime Minister Portillo: and other things that never happened (2003)
Politics – 370 pages – my copy (hardback; 2003) bought for £1 from Plymouth library in July 2010
- 2 nods out of 5 -

Counterfactual histories came in vogue during the early noughties; we had Nazi banners upon Big Ben, a New World colonised by Soviet Russians and a nuclear holocaust wasteland of the 1980s. Most are military based, while the better ones usually involve Niall Ferguson, but where at the “what ifs” of political history?

Editors Duncan Black and Iain Dale responded in 2003 with this edition: Prime Minister Portillo (and other things that never happened). The book’s front cover image, of Portillo smiling at Number 10 Downing Street, proves as an entrance that whatever may be upon the pages will not be as fantastic and surreal as Hitler planting the Nazi flag upon the Moon. This, being British, was going to be all the more subtle and unassuming.

Unfortunately for the reader, the lack of excitement pours cold water upon the book’s promise of taking us upon alternate realities. Take some of the essay titles themselves as proof: ‘What if Benn had beaten Healey in 1981?’ and ‘What if Labour had won in 1970?’ were hardly ever going to set heartbeats racing. Sure, the editors attempt at bringing in larger events, such as Lenin’s arrival in Petrograd in 1917, of John F. Kennedy escaping bullets, but ultimately, too many of these chapters fail to galvanise interest.

The highlights include John Charmley’s essay – ‘What if Halifax had become Prime Minister in 1940?’ – written in the role as historian in an alternative reality; in which Churchill is a joke, rather than a legend. Rather than the “do or die” attitude of historians upon the subject of waging war with Nazi Germany, Charmley instead suggests that staying out of a continental war, between Nazis and Communists, was the best strategy in the long-term.

Sadly, Charmley’s style is not copied throughout the majority of chapters. The general rule appears to be suggesting a momentous change, only to negate it completely. What if the Conservatives had won in 1964? Not much change is the unsatisfying conclusion. What if Ted Heath had gone to the country three weeks earlier in February 1974? Again, not such a big difference. All of which is baffling as to why these questions were picked in the first place. Is it either British political history is simply not that interesting, or that the writers have not made the right choices and developed the right material?

As it stands, these political counterfactuals were always predestined to fall off the library shelves and upon the discount pile – exactly where the Worm found and rescued it. But due to the lack of excitement, the test now is if can weather the future storms and stay upon the Worm’s own shelves. Like Portillo and his Tory leadership candidacy, the prospects are ominous.

Imperial Bedrooms - Bret Easton Ellis

Bret Easton Ellis - Imperial Bedrooms (2010)
Novel – 180 pages - my copy (hardback; 2010) bought for £8 from Waterstone’s, Drake’s Circus, in July 2010
- 3 nods out of 5 -

Brett Easton Ellis has made a career about on an ability to shock his audience: from the drug fuelled parties of a teenager wasteland to the mad and psychotic killings from the hands of Patrick Bateman. Blood has seeped from axes, from children toys and even a cash machine. But what becomes of a middle aged Ellis? Is the reader to expect this is the end of those terrors?

Of course not. Ellis responds to the forties by resurrecting his earliest characters from Less Than Zero, bringing them with him into a mid-life crisis of bloody proportions. Imperial Bedrooms follows Clay as he comes to terms with life on the wrong side of forty in the L.A. of the twenty first century.

The most striking aspect of Ellis’ latest novel is the appearance of an actual plot line, reflecting a continuing trend in his writing style, following on from the publication of Lunar Park in 2005. Ellis’ previous novels had characters meandering about, bumping into one another (amongst the drug taking, slashing and general feelings of apathy); whereas in Imperial Bedrooms we get the structure of a genre, that of thriller. The reader follows Clay during an unravelling, we watch as he picks up clues, the plot – if the Worm may indulge – indeed thickening. Unfortunately, most of this ‘plot’ is Clay talking to people on his iPhone, reading texts on his iPhone, sending off emails on, yes, you guessed, his iPhone.

There are the usual themes of Ellis’ fiction: alienation, loneliness, and the blurring of dream and reality. It follows the tone of Lunar Park, but Imperial Bedrooms is a poor successor. Less Than Zero had its youth to define and justify it; whereas the forty-something Clay has no redeeming qualities. The evil and twisted ending sex scenes – fitting for the pages of American Psycho itself – leave the reader confused, more than enlightened. But is this the novelist’s overall purpose? In the book’s opening pages, Clay himself disputes all that came before, the novel and the resulting movie of Less Than Zero, reacting to the previous ‘moral compass.’ Is Imperial Bedrooms, then, Ellis’ attempt to set the record straight? Who is to know amongst the confusion; all that is clear is the lack of guilt, the absence of remorse. Here, King Hedonism resigns supreme.

Imperial Bedrooms is a book of obvious limitations. But its thriller aspect, its overall short length – especially when so many books these days are bloated (Glamorama included) – make this a page turner and worthy 3 nodder.

Live Ethically - Peter McBride

Peter MacBride – Live Ethically (2008)
Lifestyle – 200 pages – my copy (paperback; 2010) bought for £9.99 from Waterstone’s, Drake’s Circus, in August 2010
- 2 nods out of 5 -

Yes, we all know we should reduce, reuse and recycle – but the initial struggle is picking up these useful patterns to aid us throughout our lives. Live Ethically is a beginner’s guide to do just that. In two hundred pages the author – Peter MacBride- takes us on a journey of energy usage, of ethical shopping, to our impact on travel and much more in-between.

Recent decades have brought onwards the promotion of ethical living, creating greater awareness our decisions have on the world around us. Much of this isn’t designated for the “hippy” element of society, nor for those educated or wealthy enough; to paraphrase my dear friend Tom Paine, this is common sense.

MacBride is an amiable host, helping the reader make these possible decisions a reality; from the simplicity of turning off a light to the possibility of switching banks to one that will be responsible with your money (no big bonuses and no funding of weapons of mass destruction). There is a sliding scale on each of these actions, therefore no need to feel daunted or overwhelmed. Throughout the book are adjoining illustrations, and more importantly an extensive list of websites in which to immediately visit to start making a life an ethical one.

What is refreshing about Live Ethically is the absence of preaching on the holiness of these ethical decisions and the brimstone and fire of our current lives. As an unassuming guide, this book isn’t a classic comparable to Shakespeare; but it may help the reader to open the mind.

Common Sense - Thomas Paine

Thomas Paine – Common Sense (1776)
Political – read as an iPhone app, August 2010
- 5 nods out of 5 -

A book that is said to have sparked the American Revolution; no small feat, for sure. But then Thomas Paine was no small man, exerting a large influence across the Western world during the later half of the revolutionary and changing eighteenth century.

Common Sense was published anonymously in 1776; it instantly gripped the readership of the Atlantic seaboard colonies, helping to clarify the American opposition to British dominance whilst also catapulting Paine to fame in the process. Historians have waxed lyrically about the pamphlet’s importance, and the Worm sees fit to continue in this rightful tradition.

Throughout this short and exciting pamphlet, Paine speaks of the ridiculousness of the English constitution, on the chance of hereditary succession, before moving onto the possible greatness of an independent, strong and vibrant America. It is crazy, he claims, for a small island to rule a mighty continent; and he backs this up with many concrete arguments: the gulf in distance between the two – a whole ocean – meant it was harder to communicate and govern; as well as the makeup of the American people coming from all of Europe and not just Britain herself. The biggest point was the selfishness of British involvement, there in America for its own profit and not for the benefit of the continental people.

Many of these points had been raised previously; however, Paine brought these points to the people. Unlike other political and philosophical writing of the time, Paine has done away with the Latin and learned references, instead preferring for an easy to read style upon a common language that makes his writing so easy and enjoyable to read today. Here are references for every man to understand, that of the Bible! Paine’s prose brings us passion, drama, ethics and a powerful, overriding belief in what is right.

As with his later works, Paine paints the ills of the time, as well as proscribing possible cures. Common Sense is awash with ideas for the future, even going into specifics (as he does in Rights of Man) of how a free America should be governed, including that of a revolving presidency between the original thirteen colonies.

Relative to the population of the time, the book is the most popular in American history. Characteristically, Paine donated his proceeds to the upkeep of the Continental Army, who were locking horns with the British, fighting for Paine’s vision of a free America. Common Sense is a must read for those with an interest in politics, in the founding of America and all lovers of liberty.

Wide Sargasso Sea - Jean Rhys

Jean Rhys – Wide Sargasso Sea (1966)
Novel – 125 pages - my copy (Penguin paperback; 2001) bought frantically in December 2006 four days before my Literature exam
- 3 nods out of 5 -

Jane Eyre is noted as one of the finest novels of English fiction; enjoyed and studied by thousands each and every year. Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea, written one hundred years later, is less well known. But both novels share a link; the first shows the manic character of Bertha, while the second brings out Bertha’s beginnings years before Jane’s arrival.

Bringing characters back to life upon the page is popular with readers, hence the continuing – perhaps monotonous – practice of writers sticking with particular detectives and families. Such re-imagining is rarely achieved to any high level; main reasons include the reconstruction of a character at conflict with our own memory of the first reading, as well as the reconstruction occurring not by the hands of the original author, but rather by a later writer seemingly bereft of their own ideas. Wide Sargasso Sea could be targeted for both of these reasons, being written a century after the original and with the character of Bertha transformed into the sensual, emotional and human Antoinette.

Rhys succeeds in taking the reader through an action packed story of 125 pages, taking in themes of love and marriage and wider issues of slavery and race. Set in the West Indies in the post-emancipation of slavery in the 1830s, the novel charts the innocent beginnings of Bertha in her original incarnation as Antoinette. Her family are outcasts, of the old slave owning class that are hated by the people of the island. Never finding a place in society, she believes she finds acceptance with a man who remains unnamed throughout the novel, but who is clearly Mr Rochester from Jane Eyre. The young Rochester is suspicious of the island and its ways, ending the novel as Antoinette’s jailer, removing her from the place of her birth, removing her name and her nature.

The West Indies are brought to full colour, as is to be expected by the native Jean Rhys. The landscape becomes overbearing for both our and Rochester’s eyes: ‘Everything is too much…Too much blue, too much purple, too much green. The flowers too red, the mountains too high, the hills too near’ (p.39). In many ways, it is a more alive and exciting novel than Bronte’s Jane Eyre, though its mysteriousness also acts as a barrier to truly embracing these characters.

The book ends back in more familiar climes in England, where the now branded Bertha takes a flame to Rochester’s home. ‘I was outside holding my candle. Now at last I know why I was brought here and what I have to do,’ come the lines from the concluding paragraph. What comes next is the engulfing fire, of Bertha’s death and Antoinette’s final liberation.

Despite the lack of great inter-textual fiction – and Wide Sargasso Sea, despite its fans, is not “great” – the idea itself will long continue to hold sway. For instance, what became of a middle aged Holden Caulfield at the end of The Catcher in the Rye, of the early years of Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights, and even perhaps of the next instalment of Pooter’s The Diary of a Nobody.