It is 1982 and Jason Taylor is 13, an
ordinary kid living in the quiet backwater that is Black Swan Green tucked away
in the Malvern Hills. His family – executive father, home-maker mother, older
sister who calls him ‘thing’ – is middle class normality, better off than most
but not excessively.
He also knows his place in the schoolboy
pecking order – outside the top dogs who set the trends and call the shots, but
above the perennial no-mark losers who bear the brunt of their juvenile
posturing. There are two flies in the ointment: he’s a secret poet (“how gay”)
and has a stammer that is getting increasingly hard to disguise and that he
worries will sooner or later become a stick for the bullies to beat him with.
Jason takes us through this formative year
as his stock within the adolescent pack fluctuates according to events and the
whims of others. The account is articulate, painfully accurate but without
self-pity – he accepts the way of his world; but when the going gets really
tough, at home as well as at school, will that be enough to survive?
The quality of writing and characterisation
drew me in easily and just as I was thinking this is a pleasant nostalgic read
(It’s a Knockout on TV; space invaders in the pub; Chariots of Fire at the
cinema and the Falklands war in the news), but going nowhere special, something
kicked in and gripped me through to the end.
David Mitchell was born in Worcestershire
and was 13 in 1982 so he writes from personal knowledge of the time and place
that oozes authenticity. He absolutely nails the world of the 13-year-old boy,
at least in 1982 (and 1966 for me); particularly how small incidents magnify in
the lens of adolescence into ludicrous highs and desperate lows.
Having also enjoyed ‘The Thousand Autumns of
Jacob DeZoet’ (see August 2012 review) I am in danger of becoming a bit of a Mitchell
fan and may try one of his more esoteric creations such as ‘Cloud Atlas’.
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