Kevin Cole

سم پسر باهوش و با شخصیت غیر متعارفی است که برای تحصیلات از انگلستان به آمریکا می آید و در یک خانواده میزبان ساکن می شود. این داستان بلند، شامل چالشها، تلاشها و اشتباهات سم هفده ساله در تگزاس دهه هشتاد است. سم سعی میکنه در محیط جدید وفق پیدا کنه، دوستان جدید پیدا کنه و از همه مهم تر به دانشگاه راه پیدا کند.
کتاب شخصیت پردازی خیلی خوبی داره و شخصیت ها کاملا واقعی هستند. وقایع بخوبی شرح داده شده اند. مشکلات سم در خانواده میزبان، محیط جدید و همچنین زندگی در دهه هشتاد. با وجود اینکه پر از اصطلاحات عامیانه و فرهنگ امریکا و انگلستان است، اما دنبال کردن خط داستان برای خوانندگان غیر انگلیسی زبان سخت نیست. همچنین پایان داستان کاملا غیر منتظره است!
این اولین ریویو فارسی ام است برای کوین نویسنده کتاب به زبان فارسی علاقه داره! از کوین سپاسگزارم برای پیشنهاد کتابش و همچنین سخاوتش که یه نسخه از آن را در اختیارم گذاشت.… (altro)

I’ve been meaning to get to this for a while and I’m very pleasantly rewarded. A superb and epic trip into adolescent nihilism utilised as selfdefense. The central character of Sam Hay wants out of Sheffield, seeing his only chance for something better as relocating to anywhere that will educate him and is as far away from the city as possible. An opportunity arises, his only opportunity in his eyes, to stay with a Texan family as a live-in student guest and embark an educational life in the States. Leaving all he knows, including a colourful and devoted sister, he packs up and makes the move.

The real story of this novel is the representation of Sam Hay. There is an interesting tension created in making him the protagonist, as for a great deal of the book he demonstrates the callous and unforgivingly blunt extremes of behaviour fed by narcissism. Throughout, a finely tuned balance is played out, as Sam’s youth betrays the depth behind his acidic mask. He is cruel, but somehow not vindictive, the cutting nature of his barbs more a demonstration of a sharp intellect struggling to find a way to express its truths without giving in to numbness. This is fascinating to sit with for a time, if not always comfortable, especially as, like all great characters, he is a mirror on the embarrassing side.

This is a lengthy novel but mostly justifies itself. I found much to enjoy in the supporting cast of characters, and was glad that they were given space for their own development. The world Sam finds himself in quickly reveals itself to be the epitome of dysfunction, a world he had high hopes for filled with cracked people ready to play out their own agendas, ranging from the neurotic to the twisted. Amongst the negative play he manages to find some imperfectly flawed but genuine people, and the moments of connection that he salvages from the world and himself have greater impact as a result of his struggle as a character.

The sense of place is strong right from the start, with small details complementing wider descriptions, with the validity of the world tied directly to the characters and their relationship with it. This is faultless, to the point where it isn’t noticeable at the time of reading but becomes predominant in the mind on finishing the book. Great to be thoroughly transported and trust in that without effort.

To demonstrate internal growth in a character with so much invested in the persona they have engineered to deal with the world, superficially quite limited and alienating, is a real achievement, as is sustaining the goodwill of the reader towards a character that pushes everyone around him. It is the subtlety of the sense that Sam Hay is pushing himself as much as anyone else that saves him, and if you are a human who has pained their way through growth, as we all do, there is much to be gained from this perspective. Recommended.… (altro)

I’m buggered if I know why Kevin Cole’s writing drew me in as much as it did, but that only goes to show what a skilled writer he is. Best to avoid thoughts of technique and just go along for the utterly absorbing ride instead then.

You can’t help but use the term ‘coming of age tale’ for Days of Throbbing Gristle (what a great title!), ‘cos that’s what it is – but it’s also a hell of a lot more.

It’s 1987. Sam Hay, a 17 year old Brit from Sheffield, goes to Texas to study and live with a host family. And Sam, in many ways, and despite being a fish out of water, is your very average Northern teenager: tough exterior, sarky, witty, got an attitude on, thinks he’s better than his peers and elders, thinks he’s cleverer – and often he is, even though he delivers it all with callousness or cruelty. Yep, a regular Sheffield lad – only now he’s in big bad Texas. (And a lot of the time, instead of having 80s music in my head, I couldn’t help but instead hear the whines of the Arctic Monkeys.)

Music. Youth’s all about music, right? And it definitely has its place in this story – but it’s also the most non-relatable part of Sam Hay, ‘cos he doesn’t like music. What!? In fact, he’s not very much into anything, and certainly not the things his new mates are into – whether that be religion, expressing emotions through secret letter writing, or using drugs. So it’s not so much peer pressure that leads him into trying LSD, or the fights and antics, as much as it is his own desire, based on no one else’s recommendation. I mean, he doesn’t even smoke cigs or pot – nah, straight on to the hard stuff. Sam’s his own man. Knows better than anyone and will play people for the fools they are.

Sam doesn’t believe in love either. And he makes some clever observations as to why he doesn’t. Therefore it would seem that his bi-sexuality (not that Sam would call it that) is perhaps more to do with his attitude towards sex being just sex, than it is anything else.

Ultimately, I suppose, Sam is a narcissistic nihilist. Or is he? And, y’know, a lot can happen in the space of a year, where you’re shedding an awkward teenage skin and beginning to become a responsible young adult.

Speaking of Young Adult, I’d say this ain’t a book for teenagers as much as it is a book for the older reader, ‘cos it’s only in hindsight that we can all see teenage years for what they actually were. Strange then – or perhaps not - that the book’s first words are: ‘This is not a book for adults’. So, O.K, maybe teenagers will love it too.

We get to know Sam just as much by what isn’t said as what is, but this book is far from being all about Sam Hay. There is a vast array of characters that are displayed with just as much thought and depth – far too many to mention here, and all with their own stories. You’ll find unhappily married couples, nutters with camcorders, suicidal youths, Jehova’s Witnesses… and all these people and all their tales fit effortlessly together through strands of connections into one very satisfying whole.

There were a couple of things that didn’t work for me. This book has to exist as the long story it is, because it’s all about the detail, but I occasionally felt some parts dragged and it could have been cut down. And (sorry Kevin!) I felt the spiral notebook part of the book didn’t work for a few reasons.

But ultimately, the world that Cole creates is so complete that sometimes I forgot I was reading fiction. This book invites you to spend time with it. And I’m glad I did.… (altro)