Book review - Luke and Jon by Robert Williams
Reading the work of a classy new author is always exhilarating...but when he’s from Lancashire, there is an added sense of pride.
Clitheroe-born Robert Williams’ unique and emotionally intelligent debut novel for young adults has made him the man of the moment in the literary world.
A coming-of-age story set amongst the county’s remote Bowland fells, Luke and Jon explores the workings of the teenage psyche with a rare and impressive insight.
Affectionate, funny and moving, Williams’ powerful book tackles head-on the sensitive issue of death, that ‘sudden full stop and big empty nothing ... the ultimate vanishing trick.’
The story revolves around the unlikely friendship between two teenage boys.
Luke Redridge and his dad have moved to a ramshackle house near a rundown Lancashire town in the terrible aftermath of his manic depressive mother’s death in a car accident.
His dad copes with the tragedy by drinking whisky and Luke, a gifted artist, paints...
The only person they see is neighbour Jon Mansfield ... like Luke, he is 13 years old and his mother is dead but his life is different in so many other ways.
In fact, Jon is very strange ... he dresses as if it’s 1945, lives in a filthy house with his ancient grandparents and is like a small, wild animal, all ‘twitches and tics, jerks and shudders.’
Jon is an outsider – he is bullied at school and lives in fear of being carted off by social services – but, against the odds, he and Luke become pals.
As their friendship grows, the two boys become a source of healing for each other and together they fight back against the forces which threaten their happiness...
Wiliams’ perfectly balanced and understated prose keeps the story firmly on track but also surprises us with moments of unexpected truth and intensity ... ‘Life doesn’t stop for everybody just because yours does’ learns Luke as he comes to terms with his mother’s death.
Grief, love, anger, helplessness and family life all come under scrutiny in this affecting and affectionate story in which passages of sublime wisdom are juxtaposed with disturbing reality and the positively bizarre.
A brilliant debut...
(Faber & Faber, paperback, £6.99)
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Tuesday 07 February 2012
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