Review - Let’s Explore Diabetes With Owls - London the Novel

Review London the Novel by Edward Rutherfurd Let’s Explore Diabetes Arrow Book 1998 With Owls This is one of the books I have most enjoyed reading. It could by David Sedaris be described as a fictional saga

Abacus, 2013 spanning the life of London

As a fan of P G Wodehouse from 54 BC to 1997. (1881–1975) I was astonished There is a short preamble at this year’s decision of describing how geologically the judges of the Bollinger the estuary of the Thames was

Everyman Wodehouse prize formed. But the story begins in for comic literature. The annual 54 BC as two hundred people prize, running since 2000, goes gather on an island in the to the novel best deemed to middle of the river, troubled capture the “comic spirit” of P G because their settlement is

Wodehouse. The judges decided, rather crassly, to “withhold under threat from impending Roman invaders. They stare the prize this year to maintain the extremely high standard of towards the northern shore to a deserted settlement named comic fiction that the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse prize Londinos. The foundation of this name is obscure, but the represents”. Their megaphone message is that comic-writing area is described as two low gravel hills rising some 80 feet authors are all losers. Thankfully not all. above the waterline with a little brook running between.

If you like subtle and finely executed comic-writing, One of those standing watching the druids performing

David Sedaris is the writer for you. An American writer rituals to fend off the impending doom is a young boy living in England, he delivers readings that are very funny named Segovax. He is described as having 2 very distinctive monologues, often on evening BBC Radio 4. His dead- features -a patch of white in his otherwise dark hair and pan recounting – before a deeply appreciative live studio webbing between his fingers. These same characteristics audience – of experiences which have happened to or appear throughout the book but not necessarily in each around him are side-splittingly funny. generation. So the stories of the descendants of this boy,

Like P G Wodehouse, the experiences detailed by David together with other families who move in and out of the

Sedaris and the ranges of characters which inhabit them are narrative, is told as London grows through the invasion of unreal and hugely complex, yet simultaneously very simple and believable. This is clear when on radio he cites or picks up a single event as a thread and then extends his creative reach to yield a fabulous rich and colourful tapestry of life itself. This book, published in 2013, is of that ilk. In essence, the book is a collection of twenty-six short chapters rolling out in vivid detail family and work life events which have befallen the author and those people whose paths he crosses. With the exception of 2–3 chapters, the narrator’s voice throughout is that of David Sedaris. Almost the Romans and Saxons, into Medieval and Tudor times, to the Georgian and Victorian era and on into the late 20th Century. We read how the fortunes of these families rise and fall, sometimes quite dramatically over a short period of time. The lives of the families are intertwined with the historical events although the author does acknowledge adding to or enhancing his work where factual material is sparse. Such events include the building of the Tower of London, the every page of every chapter contains a gem of wit, humour, Great Fire, the Suffragettes and the Blitz. There are helpful observation or insight. And all of it done so effortlessly that maps of the different eras of London’s history, together with one cannot help be drawn into the web he weaves. His family trees of the characters, showing how their paths cross. account of getting and losing his British passport – and the The reason I found this book so enthralling was that astonishing outcome – is alone worth the book’s cover price. the characters really came to life. It was interesting to see

A friend went to meet him and have her book signed at how decisions taken by one generation, either good or bad, the end of a talk he delivered in Cambridge. Reaching the impacted on succeeding generations. I am also a great lover book-signing table she suddenly realised that the woman of the city of London and love to walk through its back behind her was wearing exactly the same John Lewis top. streets and see so many levels of history all in one place.

The great man, pretending to collapse murmured sotto voce However, it is not a book for the faint-hearted having 1300

“Help – I’m seeing double!” Much as he has provided here, she pages, but it is well worth the effort. Not least because of the is waiting to see the incident – highly polished or suitably skill and experience of the author Edward Rutherfurd who embroidered - appear in the midst of a future surreal stream has created similar works focussed on other world locations. of such experiences as can only be recounted by one such as I have read Paris; New York and Sarum, but there is also the incredibly gifted comic writer David Sedaris. Ireland: Awakening; The Forest; Dublin and Russka.

Hugh Pollock Tess Maddin