I have read the odd Jonathan Coe book over the years – well, I know I read “The House of Sleep” in 1999 because my Reading Journal Index for the pre-blog years tells me so – but I’ve not engaged with his books really, even though he’s a Birmingham author who writes about the city. But when I saw his new book was set in a suburb very close to here, one I visit regularly, and whose running club members I know and like, I had to pick it up.
I actually read this in November, starting it on the plane on the way home from our holiday (I didn’t read it while in Spain for fear of getting homesick) but November’s reviews were so stuffed full of Australia, non-fiction and novellas that I couldn’t find room for it.
Jonathan Coe – “Bournville”
(25 October 2022, NetGalley)
There are certain books that tie you into the characters, get you invested in them, then twist the knife until you could sob. I remember A.S. Byatt doing that with “The Children’s Book” and Larry McMurtry doing it recently with “Some Can Whistle“. Coe certainly does it here, too.
The conceit is a simple one – take an ordinary family in a Birmingham suburb and visit and revisit them at pivotal post-war moments in England – and is here in the hands of a master, who ramps up the relationships and characters, starting with a woman musician and her playing partner experiencing the beginning of the Covid lockdowns in Europe as they try to do a concert tour and returning to them post-pandemic in a heart-wrenching epilogue. In between, we’re moved expertly through VE Day, the Coronation and the World Cup Final to Princess Diana’s funeral, and the 75th anniversary of VE Day, following Mary from a child to an old woman with a looming health condition and the spreading family she engenders. There’s also an email mentioned near the start that we only read near the end, little Iris Murdochian doublings (one character reads the children’s cartoons in his paper; decades later another watches them on TV; two women stand in the doorway of one house, decades apart, hearing the noise of schoolchildren), a sub-plot that surprises and mentions of a favourite character from another set of novels, and sections of the novel are in different formats, reports or lockdown instructions: all very clever but not too clever-clever.
Of course there’s lots for me in terms of local colour – I was particularly pleased to see the little boating lake I love to run to and around mentioned, and there’s an excellent discussion in a restaurant I’ve been to about the origin of the Balti dish.
This is a state of the nation novel, as Coe loves to write – in this one we have the interplay of pro-Europeans and pushy money-makers giving a fraternal contrast – and a Europe novel – the scenes in the European Parliament hilarious and battles over chocolate naming baffling – and it’s also Coe’s Covid novel and it clearly comes from a huge anger – in the Author’s Note at the end he clarifies that it’s a tribute to – not a portrait of – his mother and that she died alone with no personal contact from her family as they followed the rules – unlike the residents of 10 Downing Street. Being a consummate storyteller and craftsperson, he – just – doesn’t allow his angry agenda to unbalance the book.
An excellent book, readable and with depth, technically adept but not offputtingly literary, and highly recommended.
Thank you to Viking for selecting me to read a copy via NetGalley in return for an honest review. “Bournville” was published on 3 November 2022.
I have some Bookish Beck serendipities, too, remembering that I read this just after finishing Kamila Shamsie’s “Best of Friends“: there is a great description of the coming of lockdown and the atmosphere of it in both, and Boris Johnson features as a character in both!
Lisa Hill
Dec 06, 2022 @ 08:11:04
Yes, straight onto the wishlist. I like State of the Nation novels!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Liz Dexter
Dec 06, 2022 @ 09:36:42
Excellent, I hope you are able to get a copy and enjoy it!
LikeLiked by 1 person
A Life in Books
Dec 06, 2022 @ 08:30:13
This one’s on my books of this year list. I’m a long term Coe fan and stuck with him through a series of disappointments so I’m delighted that he’s back on form.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Liz Dexter
Dec 06, 2022 @ 09:43:21
I’m glad I picked a good one to come back to, and thank you for reminding me that I had saved your review to read when I’d done this one! It was good, wasn’t it, the personal set against the march of history and technically adept so you didn’t have to worry.
LikeLiked by 1 person
JacquiWine
Dec 06, 2022 @ 13:41:52
I’ve dipped in and out of this author’s career in the past, choosing individual novels depending on their setting and premise etc. His state-of-the-nation novels haven’t always been for me, I must admit, but your comments about getting invested in certain characters definitely strike a chord. (I loved his last novel about Billy Wilder’s quest to make Fedora – Mr Wilder and Me – a story full of warmth and affection for a much-loved director!)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Liz Dexter
Dec 07, 2022 @ 10:10:35
I am sure I’ve read The Rotters’ Club too but can’t find a record of a review anywhere! I didn’t realise he’d done a novel about real people, too, and glad you engaged with that one. I think even though Birmingham obviously features heavily in most of his books, the name caught me and sucked me in, and reading about so many places I know really did it for me!
LikeLike
kaggsysbookishramblings
Dec 06, 2022 @ 15:03:15
I don’t think I’ve ever read a Coe but I must say this sounds brilliant!! I love the concept (and I also loved the chocolate until it stopped being vegan!) I’ll keep an eye out for this one!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Liz Dexter
Dec 07, 2022 @ 10:11:05
He handles the concept very well. He’s not someone I’ve read a lot of but I did enjoy this one.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Annabel (AnnaBookBel)
Dec 06, 2022 @ 16:43:30
Another long-term Coe fan here. I’ve only read the first section of this one so far, but I know I’m going to love it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Liz Dexter
Dec 07, 2022 @ 10:11:36
Excellent, I look forward to your review. I was instantly drawn in by the first section, too!
LikeLiked by 1 person
heavenali
Dec 06, 2022 @ 17:25:05
Ooh I so want to read this. It’s years since I read anything by Jonathan Coe, not having read his most recent novels. This is one I have put on my Christmas list for family, but if I don’t get it, there will be book vouchers too. So I hope to read it in the New Year
LikeLiked by 1 person
Liz Dexter
Dec 07, 2022 @ 10:12:07
You’re going to love this one and I look forward to you getting hold of a copy and discussing it with you!
LikeLike
imogenglad
Dec 07, 2022 @ 10:22:10
I always have mixed feelings about Jonathan Coe, though I really really loved What a Carve Up. This one sounds like he might be back on form – I didn’t love Middle England.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Liz Dexter
Dec 07, 2022 @ 16:26:28
I’ve not read Middle England so I can’t really comment: having said that, I didn’t fancy that one and I did fancy this one. Maybe pick a copy up in a charity shop or library so less commitment?
LikeLike
elkiedee
Dec 07, 2022 @ 18:46:51
I’ve read quite a few of his books and have this one on reserve, though it’s just occurred to me that I also have the previous two books to catch up on. (Mr Wilder & Me and Middle England). I liked The Rotters’ Club and the sequel, and I quite enjoyed the one spoofing the superrich wanting to develop their basements not just by one or two rooms but by several levels.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Liz Dexter
Dec 08, 2022 @ 11:17:24
I feel like I’ve read The Rotters’ Club but not the sequel and I haven’t read the basements one, it was a bit odd to suddenly leap upon this one and love it, but I suppose the title was too much to resist!
LikeLike
MarketGardenReader/IntegratedExpat
Dec 08, 2022 @ 10:11:30
A couple of months ago I read my first Coe, The Terrible Privacy of Maxwell Sim, and I adored it. In fact, I said he was a new favourite author. I requested this from NetGalley, but as my rating at that time was 0% (because I hadn’t read anything yet), they didn’t deign to give me a reply, let alone not approve me. Boo! So I might very well have to buy it and any others I can get my hands on.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Liz Dexter
Dec 08, 2022 @ 11:19:05
I still don’t hear back from loads, or I look on the section in NG, Not Active, Declined Requests and find them in there. Only occasionally get a note about a decline. I haven’t read that one but I’m glad you enjoyed it!
LikeLike
MarketGardenReader/IntegratedExpat
Dec 08, 2022 @ 11:32:57
I haven’t found that section yet. NetGalley’s not the easiest to navigate and their FAQs don’t necessarily tell you how to do what they tell you, e.g. if you ask about your rating, they tell you how they calculate it, not where to find it. I knew I’d seen it somewhere, but rediscovered it by blundering about. I’ll work it out in the end, I’m sure.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Liz Dexter
Dec 09, 2022 @ 13:07:22
I only use it on my PC, can’t work it on my phone at all. I know my percentage comes up when I click my own picture!
LikeLike
MarketGardenReader/IntegratedExpat
Dec 09, 2022 @ 18:00:19
I haven’t tried the site on my laptop yet, but I do use it via the Safari browser on my phone, which I assume is the same. Then I read on the app on my phone. I must have a look on my laptop sometime. Perhaps there’s all sorts of functionality I don’t know about. Same thing with Goodreads: I use the desktop version on my phone because the mobile version works differently.
LikeLike
wadholloway
Dec 09, 2022 @ 08:03:24
I don’t know Coe, so I can’t comment really. I’m glad though it wasn’t too clever-clever as it sounded as though it might be. And always lovely to follow a novel through the streets of your home town (I feel I know that lake quite well, from your photographs. Did he venture along the canals as well?)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Liz Dexter
Dec 09, 2022 @ 13:09:02
Yes, it could easily have been clever-clever and I’m glad it wasn’t. It’s not THAT lake that you’ve seen a million times, that’s in Hall Green / Billesley, but it is one I’ve run past and round a few times and I have photographed it in the past (it’s the boating lake in Bournville). I’ve also photographed the Carillon, which features, and the chocolate factory. No massive canal features but the hills a bit further out where I’ve also gone running!
LikeLike
Book stats 2022 books of the year 2022
Dec 31, 2022 @ 19:03:11
Bournville | Jonathan Coe #UKfiction
Jan 03, 2023 @ 23:04:48