BOOK: The Lesser Bohemians (2016) by Eimear McBride
MUSIC: A Certain Ratio 'I’d Like To See You Again' (1982)
FILM: Princess Cyd (2017) directed by Stephen Cone (Netflix)
BOOK: The Lesser Bohemians (2016) by Eimear McBride
Roland wondered if he might still be back on the Magic Bus, scene of his life’s greatest triumph. Here was a diffident 18-year-old Irish girl talking, writing or thinking in Eimear McBride’s characteristic broken sentences, gliding between the demotic and the lyrical. “Daub my soul with a good few pints til my mouth swings wide with unutterable shite. Laughing lots too, like it’s true. Worldening maybe, I think. I hope.”
Roland wondered if he might still be back on the Magic Bus, scene of his life’s greatest triumph. Here was a diffident 18-year-old Irish girl talking, writing or thinking in Eimear McBride’s characteristic broken sentences, gliding between the demotic and the lyrical. “Daub my soul with a good few pints til my mouth swings wide with unutterable shite. Laughing lots too, like it’s true. Worldening maybe, I think. I hope.”
"Surely I’ve heard this voice before” exclaimed Roland
He then relaxed, no, it was not a Magic Bus flashback, the voice here is different, though it took a couple of chapters for Roland to calm down. The girl whose head we are in now is more eagerly poetic, more gently amused, more responsive to the sights around her. This is Eily, a young drama student new to the London of the 1990s and determined to lose her virginity as quickly and decorously as possible. "Hmmm, so there’s still a few parallels", Roland chuckled.
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| Roland - was he back on the Magic Bus |
Eily meets Stephen, a 38-year-old actor, wiry, handsome, damaged. Like Roland, he is promiscuous on principle, dedicated to sensual pleasure but determined to control the feelings it unleashes. The two embark on a course of friendly but casual sex that turns, without either of them quite understanding what is happening, into a love affair that frightens them both in its intensity. Most of the book chronicles in microscopic detail their encounters in bed and out of it, offering a lens on to the touch and talk of lovers unlike any Roland had come across before.
The Lesser Bohemians confirms McBride’s status as a major novelist. She writes with beauty, wisdom and humour and she is uniquely sensitive to what is being communicated with every look or jerk of the body. If, Roland continued, in DH Lawrence’s formulation, the novel is “the one bright book of life”, then the life here radiates through the pages and illuminates ours.
How could the rest of the HBG fail to be impressed?
In a moment reminiscent of Don Moore hisself, Keith said he needed to refer to his notes, he unfolded a piece of A4 paper to reveal just one huge word - SHIT - and then he opened up another piece of A4 paper upon which was written 0/10
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| Roland on the Magic Bus |
Ouch.
Nick and Robin were also dismissive.
Nigel was more positive. Despite struggling at the outset Nigel grew into it and, by the end, was impressed and very glad to have read it.
Tristan, through the medium of email stated….
Sitting at back of conference hall, I. Soft susurrus of pages turning near. Tap of hands on keyboard. Presenter talking glasses flash middle distance stare words slipping out just so. So on. On with the review. And what to say but fffff?
Fffff because this is not what I like. Ffffff because I’ve told you before it’s simple words expressing complex thoughts that move me that connect with me that drive the spear of comprehension right up into my brainpan until Oh! I am one with the author’s thoughts and Oh! That is how it should be now and forevermore. Why am I doing this? Paul Auster. Kurt Vonnegut. Hemmingway. You know the score. Not some fucked-up adolescent thought-dribble meandering.
And yet. And yet. And yet. I want to hate it. And I want to double-down on my views and tell you all again and again about the way to write and how. I mean Nigel’s going to have to read this out .This. Is. Not. It.
But I can’t. I am wrong. I have been beguiled and bewitched. And yes the snickersnack of ill-expressed half-expressed hinted-at jumble and the Oh what now? It’s some dialogue! Oh no it isn’t. Oh yes it is. Right in the middle of things just makes it harder to grasp. How is he going to say these comments in a smaller font? I cannot imagine. But be that as it may, I want to know. I really fucking care. I’m engrossed now and cannot get out. Great and prolonged and convincing descriptions of sex and drugs. The characters acutely observed and the plot riveting and all those things that it shouldn’t be,it is.
So bravo. Bravfuckingo. The book remains unfinished because it’s slow going ,so. But I will finish it. And I do enjoy it. And it gets from my mealy-mouthed mouth and fingers high a rapturous blinding eight. And a half.
Fffff because this is not what I like. Ffffff because I’ve told you before it’s simple words expressing complex thoughts that move me that connect with me that drive the spear of comprehension right up into my brainpan until Oh! I am one with the author’s thoughts and Oh! That is how it should be now and forevermore. Why am I doing this? Paul Auster. Kurt Vonnegut. Hemmingway. You know the score. Not some fucked-up adolescent thought-dribble meandering.
And yet. And yet. And yet. I want to hate it. And I want to double-down on my views and tell you all again and again about the way to write and how. I mean Nigel’s going to have to read this out .This. Is. Not. It.
But I can’t. I am wrong. I have been beguiled and bewitched. And yes the snickersnack of ill-expressed half-expressed hinted-at jumble and the Oh what now? It’s some dialogue! Oh no it isn’t. Oh yes it is. Right in the middle of things just makes it harder to grasp. How is he going to say these comments in a smaller font? I cannot imagine. But be that as it may, I want to know. I really fucking care. I’m engrossed now and cannot get out. Great and prolonged and convincing descriptions of sex and drugs. The characters acutely observed and the plot riveting and all those things that it shouldn’t be,it is.
So bravo. Bravfuckingo. The book remains unfinished because it’s slow going ,so. But I will finish it. And I do enjoy it. And it gets from my mealy-mouthed mouth and fingers high a rapturous blinding eight. And a half.
So a mixed response for The Lesser Bohemians (2016) by Eimear McBride...
Roland 8.5/10 - Nigel 7/10 - Robin 4/10 - Tristan 8.5/10 - Nick 3/10 - Keith 0/10
We first hear of Cyd through an emergency call, where we learn two people have died in a shooting that leaves only a little girl behind as the survivor. When we see her for the first time, she is a teenager played by Jessie Pinnick. For reasons unknown to us, she is sent to spend the summer with her aunt Miranda (Rebecca Spence) a renowned novelist who lives in the Chicago house where she’s spent her whole life.
Roland 8.5/10 - Nigel 7/10 - Robin 4/10 - Tristan 8.5/10 - Nick 3/10 - Keith 0/10
…but a memorable discussion
MUSIC: A Certain Ratio 'I’d Like To See You Again' (1982)
Universally dissed by all and sundry - not what Roland, the self styled King of Jazz Funk, had expected
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| Back on the Magic Bus, yet again |
FILM: Princess Cyd (2017) directed by Stephen Cone (Netflix)
Princess Cyd contained more Magic Bus flashbacks for Roland
We first hear of Cyd through an emergency call, where we learn two people have died in a shooting that leaves only a little girl behind as the survivor. When we see her for the first time, she is a teenager played by Jessie Pinnick. For reasons unknown to us, she is sent to spend the summer with her aunt Miranda (Rebecca Spence) a renowned novelist who lives in the Chicago house where she’s spent her whole life.
Roland concluded that Princess Cyd recalls languorous films such as To Kill a Mockingbird, and, just like Robert Mulligan’s touching snapshot of childhood, it seems like the kind of film in which viewers will best identify with the leading character closest to their age, though without failing to see the beauty in the other. So while Cyd’s need to belong and discover pleasure are exquisite to behold, Miranda’s introspection left a stronger mark on this viewer. Her serene wisdom and patience, as channeled by Spence, brought to mind Auntie Mame had she had been an ascetic who found fulfillment in sensible banquets.
Roland 7.5/10 - Nigel 810 - Robin 6.5/10 - Tristan "Meh" - Nick 7/10 - Keith 5/10
ENDORSE IT
Roland 7.5/10 - Nigel 810 - Robin 6.5/10 - Tristan "Meh" - Nick 7/10 - Keith 5/10
ENDORSE IT
TV: This Country (Series Two) - BBC iPlayer (NB last month’s endorsement was Series One)
TV: The City and the City - BBC iPlayer
TV: Limmy’s Homemade Show - BBC iPlayer
TV: Limmy’s Homemade Show - BBC iPlayer
PODCAST: Anger Management - Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage episode
BOOK: Dead Men’s Trousers by Irvine Welsh (latest installment of Trainspotting series)
MUSIC: Combat Sport by The Vaccines
MUSIC: The Deconstruction by Eels
BOOK: Dead Men’s Trousers by Irvine Welsh (latest installment of Trainspotting series)
MUSIC: Combat Sport by The Vaccines
MUSIC: The Deconstruction by Eels
FOOTBALL: Forest Green Rovers FC - Nigel loved his visit to the League Two vegan football club
PUB: The Woolpack in Stroud (Laurie Lee’s local)
PUB: The Woolpack in Stroud (Laurie Lee’s local)
NEXT TIME
Dystopian Futures
BOOK: The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) by Margaret Atwood
MUSIC: Dog Man Star (1994) by Suede
FILM: Blade Runner 2049 (2017) dir by Denis Villeneuve
BOOK: The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) by Margaret Atwood
MUSIC: Dog Man Star (1994) by Suede
FILM: Blade Runner 2049 (2017) dir by Denis Villeneuve
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