The Book of Dave by Will Self is a wonderfully rich and inventive novel describing two very different but parallel worlds - one set in the present day London, and one in the outskirts of the city about five hundred years hence. But beneath the distraction and dazzle of these worlds there are two characters with a strong force driving them to complete a simple human act.
Dave Rudman is a London cabbie who is struggling with life. He is struggling with the routine banality of his existence, struggling with the people who try to rip him off, struggling with the mother of the son who he longs to engage with. As she starts to deny him access to the child, his madness increases.
He decides to give the boy a legacy. And so, in his failing sanity, he writes down his random thoughts and the Knowledge that he wants to pass on and buries it near the son’s new home in Hampstead. Five hundred years later, when most of London is underwater and Hampstead is an island, the Book of Dave is discovered and forms the basis of a new religion. Self juxtaposes these two crazy worlds and holds up to us a strange mirror of our times.
In addition to the pathos of the profoundly human quest of the father seeking his son, there is wonderful humour. In the post-deluvian world the people routinely greet each other with, “Where to guv?” The priests in the new religion have the men (of course, not the women) reciting the Knowledge that the London cabbie left behind. The priests always stand with their backs to the society and observe them through a mirror attached to their foreheads. The people in this world talk about Dave in the sky who switches on the big headlight everyday and occasionally sends them screenwash.
A central image in the book is the wheel, and on many levels, the Book of Dave is about people being broken on the wheel. Dave is broken by his cab driving and by the relentless changeovers where mummy and daddy exchange care of the child. The people in the post-deluvian world are also broken by the circular, mundane routine of their work and by the strictures of their new religion - the enforced changeovers of the children, the lack of freedom to think and speak their minds, the lack of freedom to explore and discover and deviate from the predetermined routes. One of the heroes of the new world discovers a second book of Dave, the one he wrote when he regained his sanity and realised the first was a mistake. However, this man is regarded as a heretic and is literally broken on the wheel.
Despite the madness there is much beauty, strength, and compassion. Dave is coaxed back to health and enabled to write the second book because of the care and tenderness and patience of ‘a good woman’. The people in the new world long for the simplicity and trust and empathy that their new religion regularly destroys. Because of these longings, there is hope. If it is bizarre to regulate your life on an ancient text in such a way that many things that you want to do and which are naturally human are forbidden, the message of this novel is that humanity will ultimately triumph over the absurdity of ‘little’ people and their peculiar texts.
One small point. The ‘Mockney’ - the vernacular speech of the people in the new world (only half of the book) - is written phonetically. This can be a bit strange when it first hits you, and several viewers have complained about it. However, I would encourage any reader not to be put off by this. The speech is easy to understand if you read it out loud to yourself, and as you get into the book, your mind soon becomes attuned to it.
Blogging is great. I would never have thought of reading this book but I will now after reading your review. It sounds exactly my sort of thing.
Thank you.
I will come back here and let you know what I thought of it after I have read it.
This looks like an interesting read. I’ll have to get it.
Reluctant Blogger
I look forward to hearing what you make of it.
Not sure if this is for me or not. It does not sound quite my cup of tea but in some ways it does look interesting.
Great idea of yours to have a title here of what you are reading.
I certainly clicked on the book title last night.
How fast do you read by the way? Probably mighty fast.
I can do both fast and slow.
The Bookseller of Kabul was fast at first and then slowed down. Depends on the time you get doesn’t it?
I’ve been reading it for over a week, but have only just worked out how to get the books in the sidebar. It took me a long time as it is over 500 pages and very ‘rich’ in parts.
500 pages in a week seems mighty fast to me. Glad you have managed to do this, (sidebar thing that is). it will be interesting to follow what you read.
Thanks for the recommendation. Sounds like a great story.