Customer Reviews

Acts of Revision

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Why hasn't this book found its audience in the US? It was much lauded and very successful in the UK, but did not attain the success it should have here. It was my favorite book of 1996, a chilling, funny, devilishly clever, suspenseful revenge fantasy. Filled with terrific wordplay with a leading character who is repulsively lovable and horrifying at the same time. A one-sitting read, couldn't put it down, couldn't stop, had to finish it. Masterful, unique and top notch. Find a copy, you'll be happy you did. Bravo, Mr. Bedford

We've all fantasized about it. Sure, we might not admit it, but the thought has definitely crossed our mind. We remember that history teacher who scolded us when we couldn't remember the capital of Uruguay. We remember the English teacher who insisted we'd never learn to punctuate properly;. The list goes on. Martyn Bedford, in his brilliant first novel, allows us to realize our hidden fantasies. In what ultimately becomes one very very dark comic novel, Bedford sends his main character back to school - but this time HE is the teacher. His life has amounted to nothing and who else is there to blame but those who were supposed to prepare him for it? _Acts of Revision_ is the ultimate revenge novel. So put your homework aside, stash those flashcards, and zip up that knapsack; tonight Martyn Bedford is taking you back to school for a reunion you'll never forget

Easily one of the best books I have read in the last few years. I am still amazed that so few have heard of this beautifully written novel. So much so that I have forced it upon those you would not beleive its genius. I understood after reading the first 20 pages that this would be a book to pass along

Reading "Acts of Revision" is a little like riding in a car with someone who hasn't quite mastered a stick shift--it moves along rather haphazardly, jumping from past to present. The story is about a 35-year-old Londoner named Gregory Lynn who plots revenge against seven of his childhood teachers. Almost everyone can relate to this aspect of the book, especially if you had a teacher or two (or more) who gave you a lot of trouble in school. However, Gregory doesn't really have any reason to seek revenge. Sure, a few of his teachers had humiliated him, but these events weren't as horrible as you'd expect (he was caught masturbating in class, had a piece of chalk thrown at him, made fun of because of his last name, etc.). He certainly went overboard when he nearly raped one of his teachers, as well as hounding the others and their families with threatening letters and visits.

In addition to Gregory's uncalled-for abuse, one of the things that bugged me about this book was that Bedford almost never used quotation marks when he should, making it difficult to tell if a conversation was occurring or not, especially since the book was told in the first person. It also read like a textbook at times, going into great detail about geometry, poets--lots of stuff that isn't really relevant to the story, but something that obviously remained in Gregory's head for a very long time.

A couple of quotes from this book aptly describe "Acts of Revision," like a report from one of his teachers: "His work will become less disjointed and more interesting when he learns to organise his thoughts more carefully," as well as another one, in a letter he received from a teacher: "somewhat disorganised and with a tendency to stray from the point, but remarkably alive and original." I did like how each chapter was devoted to a certain subject, like Chapter 1 is history (Mr. Patrick), Chapter 2 is geography (Mrs. Davies-White), and so forth. So, in that regard, it was somewhat tidy. However, within each chapter, he flashes back quite often to his family and their separate deaths, a second storyline that I didn't quite understand the purpose of, other than being page-filler. Possibly to show his fragile side? Who knows.

This is more of a low-key psychological novel than a terrifying, bloody thriller (though there are a few violent scenes), which is what I had been expecting. So, yeah, I was a little disappointed; thus my "3" stars. Yet it does move along rather quickly for being 242 pages, and readers who are into more character-oriented English fiction should like this one.

...namely, from the inside the mind of a very disturbed individual. Gregory Lynn, the 34-year-old narrator of Martyn Bedford's chilling first novel, is so angry over what he perceives as wrongs commited against him years before, when he was a teenager, by his teachers, that his view of his world has become completely skewed and twisted. Combined with his home situation -- his father was an alcoholic and his mother totally hapless as a single parent -- and the death of his beloved sister Janice, who died at the age of seven of meningitis, these so-called 'crimes' against him require severe 'revision' to be enacted on the perpetrators.

When his mother dies, leaving him 'an orphan' at the age of 34, Gregory finds in the family attic several letters from his teachers, written years before, criticizing his work and attitude in school -- suggestions for 'revision' in his outlook and methods. In an already deteriorated state of mind, reading these over and over until he knows them by heart, he sets out methodically about his self-assigned task. He constructs a map poster in his attic, systematically locates each of his surviving teachers, and designs his actions against each to suit their particular offences and fields of study.

This is not a book about someone who -- for whatever reason -- decides to kill a number of people. Killing is not Gregory's purpose here. He wants these people to know -- to understand on the deepest possible level -- what they have done to him, what they have caused (in his mind, at least) to happen in his life.

Gregory is a talented artist -- his ability manifests itself in cartoons that he draws, incorporating his wild imaginings about what he will do to the people on his list. 'When I draw something, I can make it happen', he says -- and this is frighteningly close to the truth in several cases.

Bedford's writing is taut and skillfully executed -- he reveals details about Gregory's personality, thoughts and life slowly to the reader, adding a very real element of suspense to a story that is filled with tension of different kinds. This is truly one of those novels that is 'hard to put down' -- and one that is a very rewarding, entertaining and enlightening read. This novel compares well to Patrick McGrath's masterful SPIDER, as well as to Iain M. Banks' disturbing THE WASP FACTORY.

On the strength of this novel, I've since picked up his second effort, THE HOUDINI GIRL -- I'm looking forward to experiencing it as well.

Gregory Lynn, the mentally disturbed narrator of Acts of Revision, is the scarred survivor of a wildly dysfunctional childhood. He is an accident waiting to happen, a misfit whose grip on reality is already slipping when his mother commits suicide at the beginning of the novel. After her death, the self described "orphan" descends into outright madness.

Left to fend for himself, the confused young man listlessly roams his mother's house. Ascending to the attic, he finds a box containing evaluations from his school days. Lynn reads through these documents and relives the humiliation and scorn heaped on him by certain teachers. He decides to balance the scales by committing what he calls "acts of revision". One by one, he hunts his former teachers down, punishing them for their real and imagined sins against him.

Lynn's narrative is sad, funny, and disturbing. Bedford takes a classic situation most of us can relate to (who among us has been spared the disparaging remark of a teacher?) and uses it to create sympathy for his deranged protagonist. The reader's sympathy is short lived however, as Lynn's actions become increasingly cruel. Harassment escalates to physical assault, and finally to murder.

If the publicity that accompanied my review copy can be believed, this first novel was picked from a slush pile by a junior agent. That agent should be congratulated for bringing Martyn Bedford's work to the public's attention--in Acts of Revision, he's created a first class work of suspense.

This is an interesting first-person account of a man who looks up his teachers to talk with them (among other things) after he reads his old report cards. Our narrator, Gregory Lynn, is quite bright--but he is so introspective that he is never capable of relating effectively with others. So he's in his own little world.

When his mother dies, his last tie to reality snaps. At the same time, he finds his teachers' evaluations of him and his work at school. One teacher was vicious and a bully; one was kind; one almost understood him--so the teaching profession is not lambasted as there are a few good people whom Gregory truly liked. Now that he's on his own, both in his dreamworld and in the real world, he wants to find these teachers and make them see his perspective (and punish those who were cruel to him).

This novel is enjoyable because it is unique in its subject matter, at least for me, and because almost all of us had teachers who were unkind to us at very vulnerable times in our developement. Who wouldn't like to find a bully who was once in a position of authority and give the bully a piece of his mind?

The book rambles quite a bit, and this really drags it down. The author quite thoroughly convinces us of our narrator's insanity, but that doesn't make the rantings of a lunatic more interesting. Mr. Bedford does a nice job of describing the kind of childhood that fostered and nutured the madness, and that is always a key point in making a serial criminal credible. It's an interesting first effort, but I'm glad I'm through with it and on to my next novel.

I love this kind of books. Terrifying and irresistible. Fantasy and reality are the same.
I will wait EXIT ORANGE AND RED