Customer Reviews

He's such a fantastic writer... - By: Paul Wilkinson (pwilkinson@rfh.org.uk), 06 Dec 2001
There are obvious parallels between this & Salinger's "Catcherin the Rye" (it even says so - right there on the cover) but, despite this book's faring less famously than its more celebrated predecessor, it's a worthy book nevertheless.

What makes it so fascinating (at least for us Goldman fans) are the autobiographical elements. Trevitt, the book's adolescent narrator, has a difficult relationship with his father, he fares badly at school, he has a less-than-creditable careerin the army, but - most tellingly - his favourite movie is... yup... "Gunga Din".

There's a strange & distancing amorality about Trevitt that slowly dissipates as the book progresses. This initial "coolness" lends even familiar events & plot-lines with a certain exoticism. Don't get me wrong: it's no "American Psycho" but it does ruffle your feathers a little.

About three-quarters through, there's a rather unconvincing sequence of events that, for me, doesn't quite ring plausible (let alone true) but it all wraps up neatly enough at the end.

If you're a Goldman fan, you'll need no telling to go out & get this (his first novel, no less). If you're not, buy it anyway. What the hell. Better than anything JK bloody Rowling will EVER write.