October 2017 media review part 1

BOOKS

FRANK SINATRA HAS A COLD, AND OTHER STORIES, by Gay Talese
Want to spend some quality time with one of the world’s most iconic entertainers? Accompany Mohammed Ali on his trip to Cuba to meet Fidel Castro? Or even get inside the head of “Mr Bad News”, the man who compiles obituaries for The New York Times? Then read on...
          From humble beginnings in New York’s Little Italy, Gay Talese went on to be a revered journalist, and then to become one of the most acclaimed “creative nonfiction” writers in the world. His methods are simple. He obtains permisssion (just how is hard to understand sometimes, in view of his legendary candour) to hang around his subject for a few days, weeks or even months, before distilling their lives into a straightforward, no-nonsense analysis which is many things, but above all human. 
          Concentrating as much on tiny detail as the bigger picture, Talese creates sublime little pieces of literature that make you marvel, and wonder: how did he do that? And how did they let him?
Marvellous.

THE REMAINS OF THE DAY, by Kazuo Ishiguro
A butler to a grand house, approaching retirement, reflects on his lengthy career as he takes a road trip to the West Country to re-connect with a former colleague. His former employer, Lord Darlington, has died, and the great house has been purchased by a nouveau riche American. On the surface not much has changed: the new owner has kept him on as butler, so his future is secured. But as he makes his leisurely way through the English countryside, it is not the future that is preoccupying him, but the past...
          Ishiguro, who has just won the Nobel Prize for literature, is Japanese by birth but has spent nearly all his life in Britain, which is what qualifies him to speak of his subject; the workings of the nobility and their homes as well as what goes on inside them with such authority.
          Some years ago I saw the very fine film of this book, starring Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson and Edward Fox and felt I didn’t need to read the book. Big mistake. Although the film is a faithful adaptation, neglecting the book would be a crime against fine literature. Don’t commit the same felony. Immaculately constructed, with a deeply moving core, this book is wonderful.

THE BLUE TOUCH PAPER, by David Hare
Being the life and times of one of Britain’s most eminent playwrights, by the man himself.
          Raised in lower middle class gentility in 1950s Bexhill, he quickly showed himself to be something out of the norm. He won a scholarship to read English at Jesus, secured a first and then met a series of very clever people who encouraged him to involve himself in the theatre, first directing and then writing. The rest, as they say, is history. His first big success was Slag, which caused a storm when it was produced in the West End. Ever since he been writing plays which critique British society in a savage, insightful but always humorous style. And what especially marked him out was his creating strong roles for women, a famously neglected area for British playwrights at the time.
          This book ends around 1979, with the rise of Thatcherism, so we do not hear how he was awarded a knighthood in 1998 for his services to theatre, or how he squared accepting the honour with his long history of subverting the establishment.
          “He bit the hand that fed him” you could say, “But he never bit it off”. Is that cruel? I’ve been taking pops at the status quo all my life. Would I accept an honour in the highly unlikely event I were to be offered one? It is perhaps for the best I will never be faced with such a decision...

Please see next blogs for film reviews.