(winner of the Whitbread
novel award)
'perhaps something fatal has worked its way into the
relationship between men and women, something that has been caused by the
promotion of the self. The self is entitled to satisfaction in all
spheres. Women - certainly the sort of women I have knocked about
with - can see no theoretical limits to their fulfilment, so they
conclude that the limits they actually bump into - sexual, financial, romantic
et cetera, are the result of male hegemony. And, in theory, I would find
it hard to disagree.'
Dan Silas spent his formative years in Hollybush,
Michigan. Now resident in a committee run London executive estate, he
finds his past calling back to him. Dan is to be a speaker at his high
school reunion, thirty years after he's left. Called to speak because
he's become something of a success in his home country, and because he's
practically the only one of his high school chums to have really left. In
the middle of a separation which hurts him less than it should, Dan's return to
Hollybush makes him realise a few certain truths. Features of this
introspection are the encroaching insanity of his friend, who has gone native
under the name of Gary Pale Eagle, a sexual encounter in Jefferson's bed, and
the revelation that he had a daughter, brutally murdered by a serial killer.
This is a very American novel. All aspects
of American and western life come under a subtle but penetrating gaze.
There is a discourse on Emerson's notion of self running throughout this
novel. Cartwright, born a South African, presents an extremely vivid
portrait of a contemporary English man. What better device than to set
such a character out into America? Accent is very relevant to this novel,
and accent is strong and flowing, mutable, a metaphor for self.
Devastating declarations arise, and you feel horror on behalf of the narrator,
who declines to comment, since such things are deigned to be
self-evident. Deprecating humour abounds too. Sometimes, 'Leading
the Cheers' feels like the Coen Brothers' Fargo.
A homely portrait of American life with engaging characters, mixed with pure
horror. It all rings so true, despite the fact that it's mere
composition. I've earflapped the pages which speak to me, so that I can
find my way back to them in the future. Quite appropriately, it also
involves the narrative tracking of a journey, with Gary Pale Eagle willing to
steal for clues.
Authortrek Award:
8/10.
Kevin Mahoney
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