Wednesday, February 21, 2024
Book review: Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata
Tuesday, February 13, 2024
Book review: American Affair the Americanisation of Britain by Susan Marling and Gerd Kittel
To find this book involved wading through a fair few listings
for romantic or political books that wanted to cover their own types of special
relationship. The attraction for me is the rest of the title, The
Americanisation of Britain.
Most focus on the special relationship centres on the Second
World War and the close ties as allies between the UK and US. That's true but
Susan Marling argues that the crucial year when things really changed was 1956.
By then Americans were driving round in their flash finned topped cars, chugging
on a Coke from their large refrigerators
and enjoying their televisions. Britain, still suffering the effects of
post-war austerity could only look on with envy. Add to that the flowing over
the Atlantic of rock and roll, Elvis and the stars of the silver screen that
flickered in British cinemas and the captivation with all things American was complete.
This books bounces along looking at areas where
Americanisation can be easily spotted - movies, cars, fashion, architecture
(malls and Milton Keynes) and food.
The tone is inquisitive, asking a truck driver from North
London why he enjoys dressing as a cowboy complete with chaps and an imitation
revolver, rather than judgemental. However, there is an acknowledgement that
Americanisation splits people, with comments about the 51st State being among
those arguing for less influence.
Written in the early 1990s, with Thatcher having left
office, this is a book that sits at a time when the heightened Americanisation
of the Thatcher-Reagan years could still be felt. A dreary Britain that often
willingly adopted the neon-lighted delights from the US.
It is a companion piece to a Tv series, American Affair,
that I have to admit I haven’t seen. So in some senses the chapters must have
followed the progress of those episodes. What lifts the book out as something
you might want to read now, without the programme, isn’t just the text but the
photographs by Gerd Kittel.
Each chapter follows a pattern where the text goes so far
and then the photographs take over and illustrate the points. Given they are
thirty years old they now operate on a historical as well as cultural commentary
level.
To be honest this is not a book anyone wanting to read more
about the special relationship would start with. For me it’s part of my ongoing
look into American suburbanisation and its impact on the UK. It scratches that
itch but it’s quite a specific one and so I would not expect this to be sought
out by too many fellow readers.
But if you want to understand more about the love affair
with America and what that like looked in the early 1990s then it’s a great
resource and an interesting read.
Monday, February 05, 2024
Book review: How Do you Live? By Genzaburo Yoshino
After enjoying the Boy and the Heron there was an appetite to dive deeper and How Do You Live? was described as the inspiration for the film. It was one of the film's director Hayao Miyazaki's favourite books and was percolating his thoughts as he pulled the story together for the Boy and the Heron.
That word 'inspiration' is an important one because unlike
some of the other Studio Ghibli films, Howl's Moving Castle springs to
mind, this is not based directly on an existing story. There is no Heron in How
Do You Live? and the relationship with the Copper and his uncle is a healthier
one than Mahito and his Grand Uncle.
Rather its taking the themes of coming of age, dealing with
the loss of a parent and navigating what type of person you want to be in life.
Will you be empathetic? show compassion? be arrogant or cowardly? These are all
things the main character Copper has to wrestle with.
As he goes through experiences he shares them with his uncle
and afterwards the uncle shares his advice in a notebook. It creates for the
majority of the book a pattern of Copper's story then directly followed by the
Uncle's observations.
Copper is not perfect, makes mistakes and learns from them.
But he is likeable and his experiences drive the story. He is coping with the
loss of his father and navigating starting senior school, with the threats of
bullying and coping with friendships that are evolving with maturity. The
reader is encouraged to look at Copper and ask themselves what they would have
done and what type of life they want to lead.
This book was written for children but there is more going
on here. Understanding the context around the books is important because it was
penned at a time when totalitarianism had gripped Japan and to question
authority out you in prison and under deep censorship.
Yoshino was imprisoned, fell foul of the thought police but
still wanted to counter the aggressive state. That makes this a brave book and
a moving one. When Copper's uncle is urging him to think for himself and
question authority, he is risking more than just losing the reader's interest.
This is a book that has a power to provoke and move and on
that basis alone is worth recommending. But when you add the context and
understand the risks that Yoshino and his publisher were running by producing
this and it is much more heroic.
Ultimately at a time when populism is on the rise we all
need to ask ourselves the question of how we want to live.
Monday, January 29, 2024
Book review: Tokyo Express by Seicho Matsumoto
My eldest son has consumed a large amount of Japanese literature in the last year and recommended I followed his example. After enjoying The Boy and The Heron that led me to How Do You Live? by Genzaburo Yoshino, which was apparently some of the inspiration for the mood of the film.
But things got going with Tokyo Express which caught
the eye due to the beautiful cover illustration and the positive blurb. Having
enjoyed plenty of detective stories in the past the chance to get to grips with
a Japanese story was too much temptation.
If you consider reading detective stories is a chance to
escape from your own life, either by being taken into an unknown world of crime
or to a distant location, then this manages to do both. Simenon does it
brilliantly with Paris and Matsumoto takes you on a trip here to various
locations in Japan. One of the first pages there is a map of Japan with a
couple of key locations marked and it is that sense of traversing the country
that forms a large part of the story.
Trains form a central part of the plot and that adds to the
sense of taking the reader on a journey. It's clever, an insight into the
character of both the provincial and Tokyo police and operates around a central
story that underlines concepts of honour and integrity.
The idea that appearances can be deceptive is not just
limited to the victims of the crime but extends across all aspects of the case.
Hidden behind established roles – the restaurant waitress, the rich
businessman, his ill wife and the government figure – there are other things
going on if someone is prepared to look for them.
No spoilers here but I can say the story is clever, the
determination of the detectives central to its conclusion and the descriptions
of people and place delivered with depth in just a few lines.
Matsumoto takes you over the shoulder of the detectives,
sharing the contents of their notebooks and revealing their innermost thoughts.
There are moments when letters are used as a device to jump through time and
summarise developments but that never disrupts the flow and the book remains
gripping until its conclusion.
If you read at the most basic level to escape and travel to
other worlds then this book skilfully takes you to a post-war Japan, with stops
at a Southern coastal town, one of the Northern islands and Tokyo. This is a
time when corruption is circulating the government, technology is changing but
it’s still detective hunches that stop a crime from going undiscovered.
There are a couple more books by Matsumoto in English
translation and I'm starting Inspector Imanishi Investigates at some
point so more of his works will appear on the blog.
Wednesday, January 24, 2024
Book review: Searching for John Hughes by Jason Diamond
Continuing the theme of the suburbs in many ways the
chronicler of teenage life in the Northern area of Chicago was John Hughes.
Famous for The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller, Pretty in Pink and Sixteen
Candles, to name just a few. Large parts of his stories were set against the
backdrop of a suburban existence. His Shermer High Schools and million pound
home-lined streets in Home Alone were real places that meant audiences could
easily identify with them.
Among those was Jason Diamond who grew up in Chicago and
walked and drove around the streets Hughes filmed and used as backdrops.
Diamond's Search for John Hughes is a personal account of
his life and his search for a purpose. Things were going well until his parents
divorced and the subsequent troubles that led him to follow an ambition of
becoming a writer. His experiences through high school mix the comic at the
same time as the tragic and there is no doubt his life was a tough one.
Settling on the idea of writing a John Hughes biography
becomes his mission and shapes direction of his life taking him back into
Chicago and Hughes's world. In between stints working at coffee shops or on the
front desk at a kindergarten he managed
to start telling Hughes’ story. They seem to share so much in common but as he searches
the more he realises that apart from Chicago and the suburbs they don't share
that much. Hughes becomes more of an enigma the closer he gets to him and there
are moments that they appear to share the same air but never collide.
As the Hughes biography runs into problems what does emerge
is a tale of survival. Diamond becomes a Hughes character in many ways. In the
same way that Annie in Pretty in Pink is inspiring so is Diamond as he emerges
through years of difficulty with the writing career he deserved and the
happiness he was due.
Given my recent reading this is a welcome chance to read a
voice from the suburbs and hear what life was really like behind those front
doors and in those high schools across Chicago.
Hughes is a different subject and like many others I enjoy
his films and seek to escape into his portrayal of spaces where the losers come
through and win. I'd give anything to be able to go and spend some time in the
record shop in Pretty in Pink. It would take another post to go into depth on
his works. But in the context of this book Diamond is Hughesian. His life story
could be a gritty Hughes script, because the loser does come through. It's
touch and go most of the time but you root for him throughout. Just like John
Bender punching the air to Simple Mind's Don't you Forget about me at the end
of Breakfast Club the kid who has gone through hell has managed to come through
as one of the victors.
Tuesday, January 16, 2024
Book review: The End of the Suburbs by Leigh Gallagher
A great companion read to Meet Me By The Fountain is the End of The Suburbs by Leigh Gallagher. It runs over a similar history talking of the rise and fall of a way of living that dominated the US post war up until relatively recently.
The suburbs have always been waiting to be born, with the
grid system so beloved by early settlers just waiting to be mimicked in fields
on the fringes of cities. The technology to mass produce houses, Levitt style,
and the need for homes spurred growth that seemed like it would never end. The
dream of owning a home burned brightly in many Americans minds and as they were
prepared to drive further away from the cities to where the prices would
eventually come down to a price when they could afford their own home.
Once in the suburbs the dream then changed to moving up the
scaler and the McMansions that littered the landscape became the ambition for
many.
Thanks to the car people could drive to and from home and
work on freeways, take kids to schools and clubs and pop along to the mall to
do their shopping.
But a few things changed. Firstly, commuting became a drag.
Not only did it take longer because congestion increased, but traditionally low
gas prices ebbed away and it became more expensive. Those homes at the edge of
the suburbs, the furthest from the city now became unaffordable because there
was no saleable market for them and the economics of living there no longer
stacked up.
The other major trend that worked against the suburbs was
the re-emergence of the cities. The rough slums in some of the areas of New
York that had kept people away for so long spruced themselves up and the joys
of living within 15 minutes of stories, kindergartens and transport became obvious.
A final theme tha Gallagher exposes is the split within the building
community, with many turning against the suburbs to concentrate on developing
walkable communities that did not rely on the car.
All of those factors were exacerbated by the 2008 housing
crash. In some ways this book uses that event as a platform to discuss the end
of the suburbs. That is both its strength and weakness. At the time it seemed
as if the collapse in the housing market, record foreclosures and the end of
the housing dream would spell the end for the suburbs.
But reading this book just a year after the pandemic, when everyone
was forced to stay in their homes and work and live in those same suburbs for
their own safety, you have to wonder if a revision is needed. Homes became
fundamental during Covid and the isolation and criticisms made in the book of
expansive suburbs proved to be a benefit. Many fled their small city apartments
to stay in larger family bubbles to escape isolation and loneliness.
As a result this book captures a moment in time that has
passed and leaves you with more questions than answers. There is no doubt the
suburbs have suffered and there are numerous YouTube channels out there touring
the US to show off collapsed and burnt-out neighbourhoods to illustrate that
point. Crime rates that once kept people away from cities are now doing the
same in the suburbs and there are problems with unemployment, opioid abuse and
violence, But many suburbs remain and there are estate agent channels that list
the top 10 suburbs for couples, families and for nature lovers etc. It doesn't
feel quite as apocalyptic as it did back in the few years that followed the
2008 recession.
There is no doubt the suburbs have changed and will continue
to do so and this book marks a moment in that discussion about that future.
Gallagher was writing about a period of mass foreclosures sparked by the
recession, the first signs that the car was no longer the answer to commuting
and the rise of a city alternative.
The story that Gallagher tells is one of ebbing tides of
migration, of an exodus from the urban centre to the suburbs to a move by many
back in, or closer to, the same cities their parents and grandparents left. The
changing role of the car is also pivotal as are the generational changes that
result in many younger people rejecting the attractions of the suburbs their
parents embraced.
The book ends with a sense that the suburbs will never quite
be the same. Her ability to chart the arguments in the planning and building
communities is one of the legacies that will live on after this period because
it illustrated more than anything that the money was moving from the suburbs
back to the cities. The new urbanism movement has provided alternatives, the
big developers that built the suburbs have moved into the cities and the love
affair with the car is coming under strain. But you also sense that the love
affair with the idea of personal space is not quite over and as a result the
burbs might change but to a large extent stay the same.
For the history, the sense of differing viewpoints and
capturing the essence of the suburbs this book hits the mark. All it needs is a
post pandemic sequel to see where things stand now and where Americans now want
to live.
Wednesday, January 03, 2024
Book review: Meet me By The Fountain by Alexandra Lange
Against that ambition to read more to flesh out my knowledge
in this area I picked up Meet Me By the Fountain by Alexandra Lange.
On one level this is a history of the mall development from
the Victor Gruen days of the 1950s, through to the various incarnations of T, L
and strip malls that were designed by various architects un the 1960s and 70s
that were built across the US in the suburbs of numerous cities.
Going through the history reveals the strength of the car
and the role of government to support the growth of a world dependent on
personal mobility, with Freeway Acts and zoning policies to drive the
development of suburbia after the Second World War. Once out in their suburbs
people needed places to shop, meet and have fun. The Mall was created to
provide a place for retail, rest and entertainment. An air conditioned, weather
free world that was safe and secure enticed generations of shoppers.
Over the years the
Mall came under attack architecturally, with it being seen as a low form of
building, as well as from social critics who argued it operated as a private
space masquerading as a public one. Protests, certain groups of people and
increasingly youths were all prevented from enjoying the mall or found their
activities heavily controlled by security.
Ultimately the end for many malls came as a result of poor
management, the decline of the anchors - with most having relied heavily on the
likes of Sears and J C Penny - as well as changes happening in the suburbs that
took people increasingly back into the cities and away from the malls. Many
point the finger at Amazon and other etailers but in many respects that is
overblown with those web-based outlets only controlling a relatively low
percentage of sales. Other more structural problems have done the real damage.
The future for many Malls seems to be as mixed housing,
retail and public spaces, offering the mall as a community hub. Others continue
to survive because of smart management and an ability to keep retailers on
site. Local retailers, pop-up stores and boutiques selling handmade goods have
proved to be a popular lifeline. Even with internet shopping there should be
enough sales for the bricks and mortar operations to still enjoy.
The history ends with a look elsewhere, with malls thriving
in places like Brazil and Nigeria, showing that the model can still work.
But this book also operates on a personal level. Lange has
her own mall memories that add to the sadness around the fate of some of her
childhood haunts. Then there are the movies, Fast Times at Ridgemont High and
the TV shows, including Stranger Things, that have depicted the
importance of the mall to 1980s youth culture, providing jobs, a place to hang
out and fall in love plus for those keen to show a commitment to a 'tribe' as
an arena to be seen.
The curiosity about abandoned malls has spawned numerous YouTube
channels, with Lange recommending Dan Bell's Abandoned
Malls series and Retail
Archaeology as two good ones to check out. Plus it has also attracted a
number of photographers who chart
the decline in eerie images. Then there is the music, mallware and vaporware, that pine for
those days you would walk round a busy mall with tinny music playing out of
speakers, both inside and outside the stores.
On a personal level the rise and fall of the malls is one
that provokes the most emotional response. You remember trips to malls and
wonder as you walk around your local examples like BlueWater and see the empty
units and talk by the owners of becoming more of a 'lifestyle centre', just
what the future holds for those operations in the UK.
This is a serious history and as a result sometimes it can
bog you down in detail but overall, it explains why the malls were built, how
they tried to adapt and why so many failed. Behind it all there is a sense that
the car and the re-emergence of the city are much more powerful factors than
Amazon and etailing. People no longer want to drive so far and walking a few
blocks in a bustling city is now seen as much more attractive.
Still, if I was given the chance to revisit Sam Goody to
flick through the records and hang out by the fountain I'd be there like a
shot.
Thursday, August 16, 2018
Book review: This is London by Ben Judah
“It’s like this: Russian and Ukrainian people hate Polish and Lithuanian people. Eastern Europe peoples hate Indian people. Everybody hates the black people. Whites hate everyone . . . That’s just the way it is.”
Wednesday, August 15, 2018
Book review: The Fall of the House of FIFA by David Conn
Wednesday, June 13, 2018
Book review: Estuary Out from London to the Sea by Rachel Lichtenstein
This book called out to me from the London section shelves at Camden Lock Books and appealed because the Estuary is a part of London I have driven over and seen but not learnt too much about.
Everytime I get to experience the joy of Ikea over at Lakeside I travel back on the M25 and the bridhe over the river with views of commercial ships, It always stirs up thoughts about the river and my lack of experience wandering along its banks further East than Woolwich.
This book starts as a tale of artists enjoying the Thames from different perspectives, with the author joined by film makers, musicians and other artists. Those few days on the Thames sparks Lichtenstein's interest in delving further.
She lives in Leigh-On-Sea so already has a connection with the Thames, which also goes back through her family. That sense of families living and often earning a living from the sea is a constant theme. She meets fishermen, sailors and eccentrics that have been drawn to remote islands and sea forts. Throughout the book there are photographs that help share in the experiences she is describing.
But this is not just an account of various exhibitions along the coast and onto the water. There is a real sense of history flowing here with the past wrecks having a story along with the Second World War sea forts and defences. This is a river that continues to evolve and the controversial London Gateway Port is the latest change and threat to the river. The deep dredging needed to help the massive container ships get to the port has caused ripples to be felt in the ecosystems of the river and those that work with them.
From the comfort of an arm chair you get to meet some of the characters of this estuarial world and when Lichtenstein describes the river there is a real sense of danger. her final expedition includes being stranded on a sand bank and the weather, sense of historical precedent for what could happen and the brilliant descriptions of the sea conditions take this book above a mere travel journal.
To many people the estuary is an alien world. It is at the meeting point of river and sea and it is a middle ground that many overlook as they travel one way or the other. But it is populated by people that have stories to tell and although there is a sense that in many cases their ways of life are becoming restoration projects there is still hope.
The river that has supported London for so long continues to do so and although the future is not clear the book does end with a sense that the estuary will adapt and more chapters in its story are going to come.
Sunday, May 06, 2018
Book review: All the Devils Are Here by David Seabrook
Every time I have an appointment at Moorfields for my eyes I like to pop into Camden Lock Books at Old Street tube station if I get the chance. I have to go before the appointment because afterwards, once the drops have been put in, vision is not that clear and it's slightly pointless trying to squint at book spines.
One of the many things that is good about Camden Lock Bookshop is the section of books it has on London. I tend to hover there looking for something that will provide me with more knowledge or stir greater interest in the City I work and live in.
My eyes were drawn to one book on the London shelf, Estuary: Out from London to the Sea by Rachel Lichtenstein. I headed over to the till to pay and one of the promoted books was All the Devils Are Here by David Seabrook. The cover blurb and thumbs up from Iain Sinclair were enough to make me buy it on impulse.
In many ways there are two stories being told here. The first is the one contained in the book and the other is about the author. Seabrook appears to have died just a few years after publication. Further research indicates it was a heart attack that took him but he is a shadow over the book leaving unanswered questions.
He starts a trip through some of the seaside town of Kent with reference to some of the literary, political and film stars of the past that were associated with the different towns. So you get Dickens on Rochester and Moseley on Broadstairs. You end with Charles Hawtrey the Carry On star in Deal.
But this is not just a normal trip down memory lane. There is a sense that place influenced person and the same factors are still at work today.
As he retraces the 39 Steps and John Buchan the same sense of secrets, dangers and plots oozes through modern day Broadstairs where buildings are off limits and neighbours spy on strangers.
As he goes through Kent there are moments that made me laugh having been to some of these towns and his descriptions of Rochester and Chatham were sharp.
"8 June 1870, the date of Dicken's own death, is where Rochester's history officially ends..."
"Chatham is a long time dead, killed off on 31 March 1984 when the Royal Navy, a presence for more than four hundred years, pulled out of the dockyard."
By the end there is a feeling that Seabrook himself has become immersed in the story. The devils that he has described, from mad painters and fascists, have caught up with him and he is being pursued by them. I felt there was a suggestion by the end he had even become one of them. Would people be talking of him in the future in the way he had described some writers of he past.
Of all the aspects of this book the way he described a lost world around the time of the 1950s was the one I found most interesting. The Empire was dwindling and those that lived literally on the edges of British society were forced to return to a place that they could not really call 'home'.
Glad I did pick this up and it will probably lead me into Seabrook's other book about the 60s murderer in West London, Jack the Stripper. He tees it up towards the end of this book with some overlap that acts as a warm up for that other work.
Now though it's time to turn to Estuary before I get the call to head back to Moorfields and my next check up.