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The Tangled Leaves of Anniseed

The Tangled Leaves of Anniseed

Tag Archives: Drugs

A Naked Singularity by Sergio de la Pava

19 Saturday Oct 2013

Posted by Anniseed in Book Review

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Crime, Drugs, Humour, Law

This is a really tricky one to review. Colleagues will have seen some of the expressions my face whilst I was reading it in the staffroom at lunchtime, so will have formed an impression from that, but it’s a complex novel that didn’t make for easy reading. Try this for size:

“After all there I was walking all slow and solemn then in a box being gradually interred and when the box hit bottom there had gathered there that day a slew of people, who if not grieving sure didn’t look thrilled, to hear atonal dirges and accusatory liturgical phrases fill the air creating a quasi-commerce that I walked through to stand on yellow bumps meant to warn of danger where man-made wind screeched into and past my face until I was in another box this one moving horizontally within which I breathed on many and was breathed on in return before the box spit us all out still under Earth’s crust but this time flowing from inside a mass towards stairs that led back to life.”

The more you read this, the more oddly beautiful and satisfying the imagery is. But so many times I found myself having to stop and re-read to get the meaning, that it was language as a barrier – style taking precedence over story. And I think maybe that’s the whole point – the heart of this novel is about language; how it is used, and controlled by the powerful, and how the unarticulate are defeated by it. The story – I call it story loosely – is narrated by Casi, a public defender in New York, and his experience of the clash of culture between the courtroom and the drugs war being waged on the streets. It is frequently funny – the attorney with a bowel problem; and sad – the learning-disabled prisoner on death row and his longing for candy. How Casi explores the twin worlds he inhabits, and how their boundaries become so blurred, is the loose connecting thread between the meandering, stream-of-consciousness vignettes that fill a massive 864 pages. It’s not for the faint-hearted.

I haven’t decided yet if I actually enjoyed this novel. The pre-publicity states “this book is unlike any other you will read this year” and I certainly have to agree. Its emphasis on style is perhaps not to my taste, and I longed for more commas and full stops, and a tighter sense of plot. I couldn’t engage fully with Casi because of it; it seemed self-indulgent, and it seemed pages went by without meaning. But I found myself moved by the fate of Jalen Kingg, and frequently smiling at the absurdity of the court process, and the language occasionally shone; I feel that there is a good writer at work here, one to watch. While this story will not be to everyone’s taste, it does have much to commend it. Ultimately de la Pava depicts the web of words that constitutes the law as a massive machine that oppresses the weak and vulnerable; words can be weapons, as much as guns and knives. It is a brave book, both in its content and its form, and I’m glad I read it.

Maclehose Press, 2013, ISBN 9780857052803

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher for review

Ten Thousand Saints by Eleanor Henderson

02 Thursday May 2013

Posted by Anniseed in Book Review

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Adolescence, Drugs, Eighties

I found this to be a very moving novel of adolescent angst, that really captured the confusion of growing up in an era that is both hedonistic and fraught with the fear of the consequences of having fun. New Year’s Eve 1987, and two teenage boys are hanging out and getting high, looking with enthusiasm to all the future holds, navigating the brutal world of maleness and longing for their first sexual encounter. It will be a night of transition, of coming of age, of initiation, and only one of them will survive to see New Year’s Day.

The aftermath of that fateful night will play out amongst a tangled cast of characters, all of whom deal with tragedy in a different way, and are looking for guidance from grown-ups that is sadly absent. Jude throws himself into the oblivion of drugs; Eliza sleepwalks her way through events she is not yet ready for; and Johnny tries desperately to do the right thing, even if it means sacrificing what he really wants. The backdrop is eighties America, a land of punk bands, drugs, tattoos, HIV and rage against the establishment. It is vividly depicted and the author creates a real sense of time and place, given an added edge through her characters’ clumsy attempts to carve out their own destiny in a world they cannot control. The depiction of the straight edge scene, in the nobleness of Johnny’s efforts and the transformation of Jude, is fascinating, matched as it is by the spontaneous violence of the punk scene to which they also belong; and poor Eliza, caught in the middle, is an echo of the hippy movement of the sixties and how the promise that it held for women got distorted in a new decade. Although set in America it really resonated with me, bringing back memories of an eighties childhood, and I really enjoyed the characters’ journey, as they start to face their adult responsibilities. Rating: ***

Quercus, 2012, ISBN 9781780872193

This title was provided by the publisher for review

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