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4.0 out of 5 stars
No happy ending, middle or even beginning to this story, October 7, 2008
This review is from: Once Upon a Time in England: A Novel (Paperback)
From the title, you may think that this is a book with a "happily ever after" ending. Nothing could be further from the truth and there is no happiness in the middle either. Robbie Fitzgerald is a young man from the English working class who cannot even read but is gifted with enormous musical talent. So much so that he could have been mentioned alongside the stars that composed the British invasion of the early sixties in America. However, he gives up that opportunity to marry Sheila, a woman he loves with an intense passion.
Sheila is an Asian woman who left her home forever in order to go to nurse's training school in England. She is an intelligent woman who manages to assimilate fairly well into British life. Vincent is their son and the oldest child, a boy that fails to meet with Robbie's ideals of what a young lad should be. When pushed around, Vinnie refuses to fight back and he prefers to read and think rather than engage with his classmates. In the tough neighborhood that they are in, this leads to constant abuse by his male and female classmates. Ellie is their daughter, a girl full of energy and grit, she is often the leader in her school groups, and even the tough boys take orders from her.
Robbie works hard and long in a chemical factory and provides for his family. When Sheila is raped by a "Paki bashing" group of British males, she turns cold to Robbie. The combination of this lack of passion coupled with Robbie's growing nostalgia for what he could have been leads him back to singing and away from his family.
Vinnie and Ellie grow up and enter the darker side of the lives of British youth, engaging in drugs and crime. Sheila remains nearly oblivious to their decline, she seems unable to truly see what is going on around her. In this combination, there is no joy in any of their lives, Robbie's career declines until he is a niche parody performer, what joy there is in the lives of the children is artificial and unsustainable. The joy in Sheila's life is based on ignoring the reality of their dreary existence.
Given this scenario, the story ends as it should, not happily, but with the consequences of their reality hammering them all in the face. There is brutal racism, even more brutal homophobia, drug use among the youth, alcohol abuse among the old, hopelessness, joyless, animalistic sexuality, economic decline and denial that it is all happening. This book will not uplift your spirits, but it is an accurate reflection of many aspects of British society in the time period these events cover.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Well Exectuted Kitchen Sink Drama, October 4, 2008
This review is from: Once Upon a Time in England: A Novel (Paperback)
I didn't read Helen Walsh's controversial debut (Brass), but this sophmore novel was interesting-looking enough to spark my interest. It grabbed me from the start, and despite its deficiencies, carried me through to the bitter end. As such, I find my self grappling with the question of whether I "liked" it or not. Basically, this is a classic British kitchen sink drama that is extremely well executed. That is to say, very early on bad things happen, and one gets the impression that bad things will keep on happening -- and that's pretty much how it plays out. The good news is that Walsh knows her setting and characters so well, that it feels quite real.
This may, in large part, be down to the semi-autobiographical nature of the story. Its protagonists are Robbie (an Irish factory worker who moonlights as a knockout Van Morrison-style pub soul signer), Suheela (Robbie's pretty Malaysian wife), and then as the book progresses, Vincent (their shy, bully-magnet son), and Ellie (their tomboy younger daughter). Walsh has said in interviews that Suheela's character was greatly inspired by her own Malaysian mother, who married an Irish truck driver, and Ellie is clearly the stand-in for Walsh. The setting is the same mid-1970s to late-'80s Warrington and Manchester Walsh herself grew up.
The book follows the struggles of this mixed-race family over the course of 15 years or so, as they move from the rough estates of Orford to the new developments in Thelwall. In the first section, Robbie holds center stage (literally), as his signing career appears destined for glory. Unfortunately, the night of his triumph is coincidentally the night a gang of skinheads break into his house and attack Suheela. It's this kind of timing that gives the story both an air of epic tragedy and a whiff of contrivance. Race figures prominently in the book, as much of the family's woes can be traced back to discrimination and the struggle of raising mixed race children in a hostile environment.
The middle section of the book gives more or less equal voice to all the family members, as we see Robbie struggling not to choke on the bitterness of shattered dreams, Suheela struggling vainly to integrate herself in the circle of white suburban housewives (all the while mourning the loss of her own culture), Vincent struggling to survive at school, and Ellie blithely running around enjoying life. Although Walsh weaves in enough bright spots to tempt the reader into hoping for a positive outcome, she wisely doesn't give in to sentiment and allows the repercussions of her character's bad choices to play out.
However, it's these same characters that keep the book from being completely engaging. Their flaws continually veer into cliched territory, such as Robbie's inability to connect with his shy, artistic son. Or Ellie's Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde act of sweet little girl by day and club face at the height of the Madchester era, or Vincent's sexually confused depressive poet persona. They are all well-rendered, but also familiar enough types that they fail to fully engage. Ultimately, worth reading if you're interested in the era and issues, or in well-executed domestic dramas.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
"What hurt most was the gradual grinding down of any magic in their lives.", September 1, 2008
This review is from: Once Upon a Time in England: A Novel (Paperback)
A tale that begins with hope and promise is shattered by a heinous event, a talented young father's future overwhelmed by circumstances: "Robbie Fitzgerald was a poet ruffian, a soul man who looked hard." With his bright shock of red hair and alabaster skin, Robbie Fitzgerald is filled with energy, on the cusp of stardom, discovery by a famous agent in the down-trodden, crime-riddled neighborhood in which he is performing. His voice soaring above an appreciative audience, Robbie is ecstatic, ready to embrace the future. But he returns home to find the police questioning his distraught wife, victim of a hate crime, her advanced pregnancy and concern for their little son sending Susheela, a Malaysian, into paroxysms of fear. Robbie cannot leave this terrified woman to her own resources, already intimidated by the stares of her neighbors and the shabbiness of the area, Susheela can barely take care of her growing family.
Thus is the drama set to unfold over the next few years (1975-1989), Robbie's singing career no longer an option, Susheela, now Sheila, a victim of recurring nightmares and a terror that nearly cripples her. There is some relief when the family moves to a better neighborhood, but the core issues remain ignored, Robbie trudging through hard-working days in a funk of disappointment and despair; Sheila hoping material goods will fill the emptiness that often overwhelms her, doting on her children, a fearful victim of that painful incident; young Vincent suffers the daily torments of fellow student who mock him for his skin color and social ineptitude; only the exuberant Ellie remains oblivious to the unhappiness of her family, bouncing joyfully into every new day, basking in the affection her father lavishes on his sprightly daughter. Meanwhile, Vincent watches, unsure why Robbie displays so little interest his son, always doubting himself save for the secret delight of his writing.
Perhaps the flame-haired Robbie is never meant to savor the heady success of his thrilling voice, his choice of spouse delivering the family into the maelstrom of race and class that plagues their part of the country in the 1980s. Perhaps Sheila is unable to compensate for the loss of her culture, the sights, smells and comforts of her exotic childhood. Driven apart by that one fateful night, the Fitzgerald's might have found redemption in the triumphs of their children, had they been able to break free from their own disappointments. Instead, Vincent and Ellie are left to create lives from the fragments of a broken family, both turning to the streets and the excitement of the unknown. Walsh has written a poignant drama of hope trampled by reality, of communication lost to fear and of children without the skills to navigate a treacherous world, all exploring the geography of heartbreak. Luan Gaines/ 2008.
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