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A Novel
by Will Self
Book Reviewed by:London cabdriver Dave Rudman’s wife deserts him for another man taking their only son with her. Fearing his son will never know him, Dave writes him a book containing his experience and thoughts - and then buries it, intending it for him when he comes of age. Five hundred years later, the Book of Dave is discovered, where it becomes a sacred text of biblical proportions.
Will Self’s biggest, most ambitious novel yet—a profound meditation upon the nature of religion and a caustic satire of contemporary life.
When London cabdriver Dave Rudman’s wife of five years deserts him for another man, taking their only son with her, he is thrown into a tailspin of doubt and discontent. Fearing Carl will never know him, Dave pens a gripping text—part memoir, part philosophical treatise, and part handbook of London street coordinates—that captures the frustration and anxiety of modern life. Dave buries the book in his ex-wife’s backyard, intending it for Carl when he comes of age.
Five hundred years later, the Book of Dave is discovered by the inhabitants of Ham, the flooded remnants of London, where it becomes a sacred text of biblical proportion, and its author is revered as a mighty prophet. A rant against religion and society, a historical detective story set in the far future, and a tribute to the sometimes fraught relations between father and son, The Book of Dave take on grand themes in a grand manner and clearly positions Will Self in the pantheon of Britain’s contemporary greats.
(Partial Excerpt from Chapter 1)
I
The Hack’s Party
JUN 523 AD*
* Dating is from the purported discovery of the Book of Dave.
Carl De´vu´sh, spindle-shanked, bleach-blond, lampburnt, twelve
years old, kicked up buff puffs of sand with his bare feet as he
scampered along the path from the manor. Although it was still
early in the first tariff, the foglamp had already bored through the
cloud and boiled the dew off the island. As he gained height and
looked back over his shoulder, Carl saw first the homely notch of
Manna Ba¨, then the shrub-choked slopes of the Gayt rising up
beyond it. The sea mist had retreated offshore, where it hovered, a
white-grey bank merging with the blue screen above. Wot if Eye
woz up vair, Carl thought, up vair lyke ve Flyin I? He put himself
in this lofty perspective and saw Ham, floating like a water beetle,
thrusting out angled legs of grey stone deep into the placid waters
of its ultramarine lagoon. The waters ...
Putting these two subjective points aside (explained in the full review), The Book of Dave is a wickedly clever satirical novel that presents a humane and fallible protagonist (Dave) in a funny, albeit sometime depressing, vision of our possible future. As always, don't take BookBrowse's word for it, instead read a substantial excerpt (exclusive to BookBrowse) representing both the present and future storylines, and decide for yourself whether it's a book for you...continued
Full Review
(805 words)
(Reviewed by BookBrowse Review Team).
It takes a central London cab driver an average of 34 months to gainThe Knowledge required to drive a licensed London taxi. Before they can receive their license they must know every street and the route between every street in a 6 mile radius of Charing Cross station (that's about 113 square miles) - and they need to be able to describe the best route to take dependent on the traffic conditions In addition they have to know all the points of interest and important landmarks along the route! Only 1/4 of those who start the course complete their training to become London cab drivers
In 2000 two researchers at University College London published findings showing that London cab drivers have a larger hippocampus than other people (the ...
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