The Book of Dave / Will Self

The Book of Dave

category: science fiction, author:

Will Self

published by Penguin Group,
original copyright 2006, read in August 2010

Agamedes' opinion: 6 out of 10

This is traditional what if science fiction: What if a post-apocalyptic society struggles out of barbarism with a state religion based on the rantings of a mad with grief, misogynistic, London taxi driver? All of Dave's hatred and despair is poured into his book of rules for "family" living. All of this is taken as gospel...

And yes, the Dave-based society is as bad as -- or worse than -- you expect.

The Book of Dave combines "what if" with jibes at social control through religion, deeply negative views of human-kind and disgust at the London of today. Is this a miserable book?

Dave himself is, if not likable, at least a sympathetic character. Even in his darkest moments, his basic humanity survives. Okay, he's a wife- and child-beater; you can blame that on the pressure forced on him by an uncaring world. No, that's no excuse.

Nevertheless, Dave -- with the help of Phyllis, drawn to Dave by his efforts to help others, despite his own despair -- gains redemption. Dave is dragged, and drags himself, back from the abyss. Only to be killed.

The story is written in multiple strands. The post-apocalyptic future jumps back and forwards in time before settling into a "now in the future" main story. These story strands are interspersed with present-day Dave, whose story also jumps backwards and forwards. For help following this confusion, chapter and page headings include the date... Take careful note!

The story is written -- in the future strands -- in future-speak. Mostly, this is fine. But when characters speak in "Mockni" -- phonetic Cockney -- it can be slow going for the non-London reader. Still, that's part of the enjoyment of the book.

The present and future stories run in inverted parallel: As the present Dave drags himself through despair to almost-happiness to death, Carl of the future travels from an island paradise to depraved New London then back to a now destroyed paradise.

And that's where the author loses me.

If this were a "proper" novel, the author would present a ray of hope at the end. Some form of conclusion. Some means by which at least some of the characters could live, perhaps happily, ever after. But no...

Having painted a picture of gloom and despair, the author sees no way to alter the gloom and despair. "Here's a picture of misery," he writes. "And look, it ends in the same misery."

I call that lazy writing.

It's very easy to point out that the world -- or some aspect of it -- is awful. Will Self has done that. And done it very well, too. The book is heavy going but I read to the end, wanting to see what would happen.

And, in essence, nothing happened.

Dave was doomed at the start and he was killed at the end. The state and religion based on Dave's book were cruel at the start and cruel at the end. Carl's mini-paradise was doomed at the start and destroyed at the end. So what?

It's like writing about a train wreck: "The train crashed. Everyone was killed. Here is how each person died..." So what?! People want to read about the survivors. Writing a detailed description of each death is gruesome, morbidly fascinating and lazy. Could anyone have survived? That is what makes a good novel! But it takes a lot more effort by the author.

I read The Book of Dave with interest and hope. I sympathised with several of the characters and wondered how they would escape from their various predicaments.

But they did not escape.

So the book is well written. So what.

---

PS: There is, I admit, a vague possibility that all is not doomed. After all, Carl stands up and makes a very short speech. Having gone with the flow for several hundred pages, perhaps he is about to do something. And one of the residents of paradise has stated his willingness to fight for survival.

So what?

Carl has, so far, just drifted. Beaten, jailed, raped, hopeless, saved by one of the very few people who remember the messages of peace and harmony. So there he is -- with perhaps two supporters -- facing a team of violent opponents. Will Carl's people -- who rejected him when told to do so -- now stand strong and free and fighting for their lives and freedom? Or am I just thinking of Blazing Saddles...

After hundreds of pages of growing despair, I need more. The author is too lazy to tell me what is about to happen. From many pages of lost hopes I can only fear the worst. So I believe the worst, that all is -- still -- lost.

A despairing end to a story of hopes, crushed.

..o0o..

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