The Book of Dave: A Revelation of the Recent Past and the Distant Future - Will Self

At least he provides his own dictionary this time....

I think I must have read most of Will Self's books by now - and this is, by some distance, his best. I've always felt, when reading previous efforts such as "My Idea Of Fun" or "Great Apes", that I needed a dictionary to hand to understand some of what he was trying to get across - there has always been a tendency to throw in long and clever words. Smug? Probably.

Thankfully, for "The Book Of Dave", Mr Self has provided his own dictionary at the back. "Thankfully", because half of the book is set in the future, when English has become corrupted as a language, and people talk in "Mokni", a bastardised version of txtspk and Cockney. Some of the fun is in spotting where the Mokni has its origins in our current language, some of it is just plain irritating. Yes, it takes a while to get used to, but you do eventually adjust.

The constant jumping between the past and the future works quite well - what does become difficult is the fact that the timeline in each is not chronological in itself, so there was a constant sense of needing to keep on your toes.

What I really enjoyed about this book is the way in which the truth is slowly revealed: at first sight, the future seems almost idyllic, with everyone living in harmony. Over the course of several chapters, the horrifying reality becomes apparent, but you never feel like you're being bludgeoned over the head, more that the author is treating you with some intelligence.

The story itself is one of the more involving creations Will Self has put his name to, and is an improvement on, say "Dorian: An Imitation". I won't go into detail here, since other reviewers have captured the essence, but you're left wondering what was trying to be achieved with this work - is it satire? If so, it's one of the bleakest satires I've read. Black comedy? Well, there's an element of this, but it's hardly laugh-out-loud material. I was left with the impression that this was a sharply observed critique of both modern society and organised religion (of whatever variety).

This could well be Will Self's masterpiece - but I think I may need to read it again...

what's your moto

Big, difficult, silly, sad, funny, awesome, bonkergull, tedious, jiggy, thought provoking, technically sound, technically inaccurate, perverse, anachronistic, long, brilliant.

Clever idea, pretentiously written

Not to be deterred by previous reviewers' comments about this book being difficult to read due to the phonetic vernacular sections, it was with high hopes that I began The Book of Dave. After several chapters I was still not convinced, yet I persevered. The 'mokni' vernacular is indeed irritating, but not quite so much as the pretentious written style of the present-day sections about Dave the cabbie. Self scatters around inappropriately high register vocabulary like he has just discovered the thesaurus. In the end I felt resentful toward the author, thinking, yes I do know what quadriga/menhir/sentience/doughty means, now why on earth have you used it in this sentence?

The interlinking between the two narratives is well done in some parts, overdone in others - I found myself almost groaning at some of the cross-references.

The thing which annoyed me most about this book was its lack of ending. Both stories follow a reasonable narrative arc, yet it is only the one about Dave the cabbie which actually has anything which can be described as an ending. As for Carl's story, I found myself turning over the last page and asking, "What, that's it?".

Overall, disappointing. I was looking forward to a challenging yet satisfying book, yet what I got was simply the former.

Fun and entertaining

This is the first ever Will Self book i ever read and I bought it on a whim!

The story takes place in modern-day London and the distant future where London and England have been desecrated by a large flood. In modern day London a cab driver named Dave meets Michelle in a chance meeting and they end up parenting a child together - Carl.

In the future a "Geezer" (religious man) living in his home island community of Ham seeks to change the established religious and social status quo when he finds the truth behind The Book and the knowledge contained within.

The following story unravels well and draws the reader into a completely new world, Dave and Michelle's relationship ends, badly, and forces Dave into a full on emotional break down when he writes a book and prints it on metal plates - Giving his lost son some "fatherly advice" it is this "consul" that is found on Ham and spawns a whole religion!

The two sides of the story play off each other excellently, although there is a large contrast that takes some getting used to, the book largely reads well, the slang used by the future people of London is playful but not too difficult to understand (although some people find it annoying, i thought it was worth getting my head round and there is a glossary to help).

If you like books that have abstract plots and if you want something that can make you think without being preachy this book will tickle your fancy - READ IT!

Too much effort

This book is just far too much effort. I would definitely recommend having a look at some of the phonetic sections (of which there are lots - and lots) before buying it. They are just simply too difficult to read. And in so being destroy any enjoyment that might be had out of the book.

I also didn't like the way the the author was trying to be too clever, using terms like Arpee to refer to RP (or Received Pronunciation), which a fraction of the readers will understand seemed a bit of a smug thing to do to me.

Definitely have a preview before committing to buy it.