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| Book Review: The Wrong Boy (out this month) |
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posted by davidt
on Friday October 06 2000, @09:00AM
TrblLuvsMe sends:
The Herald (Glasgow), September 30, 2000
It's hard to go wrong with Russell
Barclay Bain
(more)
The wrong boy
Willy Russell
Doubleday, £16.99
IN A canon of work which includes the multi-award-winning plays Shirley Valentine and Educating Rita, The Wrong Boy is, remarkably, Willy Russell's first novel. It is two weeks since I read it but it is still going bang-bang in my head.
The boy is 19-year-old Raymond Marks who tells his story via letters to his idol, the singer Morrissey, as he travels to "gulag gobbing Grimsby" for a job.
It is a journey across England at the turn of the millennium and an unforgettable trip down memory lane, at times poignant, at times downright disturbing as Raymond takes the wrong road and ends up in the cul-de-sac of insanity. But, above all, it is very funny, as Russell takes pot shots at his prejudices while Raymond maps the road to recovery.
Russell left school at 15, worked as a ladies' hairdresser for six years, stacked stockings at Bear Brand, and cleaned girders at Ford. So he knows his country, which allows him to create characters to rival educated Rita and Ms Valentine.
Cameron Simpson
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So if you like Moz or Adrian Mole buy the book - but wait till it comes out in paperback