This is one of my quality paperbacks that I first finished Tu 5/20/97 after an overtime run to Quincy. I read to around page 200, and then skimmed to the end.
This time, I finished on Easter Sunday, 4/16/17 after a bike trip to 19th St. and a gathering of The Brandenburg Clan.
The book is a narration of a balding guy of 28 who realizes that he has no future. He's living in a shed attached to his sister's house in London. He suggested this arrangement a couple of years before, and it was only meant to be a temporary situation. His brother in law and his two nephews are sending signals that it's time for him to move on. Although he is a college graduate, he feels that he is economically unable to make it to the middle class. This is his primary motivation- he just wants to have a middle class life.
The book can be viewed as one long diatribe against the rigidity of British class structure.
He works a series of temp jobs, and learns of a way to rob a very posh private bank in central London. One of the temp situations involves delivering cash and checks to this rather secret bank. He has the details of the robbery mapped out in his head, and he slowly reveals 'the plan' as the novel develops.
He has a hot Scottish girlfriend, Suzy, with dynamite abs who will drive the getaway car, The White Mercury.
A friend, Brady, a fan of Quentin Tarantino (especially The Reservoir Dogs) who has ties to revolutionary groups in Ireland. He's going to invest the proceeds of the hit to buy a bar.
And, Chico, a Spanish, muscular friend who will use his cut to buy into a relative's restaurant.
I enjoyed the author's rants about Class Consciousness, but I'm not exactly sure on how the robbery went down.
The book was kind of a letdown, and I'm not surprised that I skimmed to the end the first time through.
The author's page at wikipedia-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Hawes_(author)
Readers' opinions at amazon-
https://www.amazon.com/White-Merc-Fins-J-Hawes/dp/0099591510
No comments:
Post a Comment