BOXY AN STAR

by Daren King

"Born through a sieve" is the phrase Daren King uses to describe his two main protagonists, Bole and Star, teenage veterans of the drug culture. Irredeemably hooked on Ecstasy, spangles and each other, Bole and Star grope through life in permanent bewilderment. So dim is their grasp on reality that they believe their duvet is a giant bag of pills, and have to write notes to remind themselves to eat. In the thrall of the mercurial Boxy, transvestite dealer and aspiring actor, they conduct doomed drug transactions, sharing the stash with customers instead of taking the cash. Their world is peopled with menaces--paranoia, police and vigilant parents--and their only certainty is each other.

King's story is both tender and funny--Bole and Star's pratfalls leading to some hilarious scenes. It also provides a deeply unsettling vision of the future--but these concerns are pushed forward at the expense of character and plot. Bole's semi-inebriate patois--in which the bulk of the novel is couched--can be funny and refreshingly direct, but also proves tiring. Just as the world befogs and patronises Bole and Star, it seems publishers might be underestimating the needs of their post-Ecstasy readership. --Matthew Baylis

Genres: Fiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Friedrich Der · Rating 5 out of 5]

A novel set in some kind of near-future England and written in the vernacular-specatular style. It therefore calls both on Trainspotting and A Clockwork Orange but in terms of individuality leaves both these other books behind. Boxy an Star is like a small alternative universe floating somewhere alongside ours. There is a strong case for it being the best lyrical vision of the UK ecstasy culture and associated fall out – perhaps because it concentrates to the warped personalities arising as side effects of drug use and it doesn't hammer on about the drugs themselves.
The tale is told by Bole, a teenage boy, about Star, his girlfriend, and Boxy, his drug dealer. It starts at a party under a duvet they mistake for a giant bag of pills, and they pay a visit to a lady called Prim who has a strange lover who scares the daylights out of them. They travel to Wolfer Humpton as drug couriers, but fail at this task. Nothing much matters except that they are trying to get pills most of the time, and unfortunately the groan ups of the world keep standing in their way.
Bole narrates with a voice inspired by text messages and teletubbies. A teenager without any schooling, he sounds like a toddler encased in an adult body. Sentences are broken down to fragments. Like. Words have. Fullstops after them. And the spelling is. Halfway finetic. Or progressing into slang euphemisms. Like. Cuntstable Pineapplehead. Stinkies an jeanies. Smellovision. An ballbag. Words are often chosen because they rhyme or are inappropriate.
There is less description and a lot of superb dialogue. Most of the jokes revolve around Bole and Star being too stoopid or too naive to understand what's really going on. The dominant theme is about innocence in a corrupt world, and the secondary theme is probably the love between Bole and Star. Essentially this is a vignette with no sense of resolution, but despite the sad elements the humour and warmth shines through.
A few curious elements remain, lodged in the mind: Like, what's with the recurring complimentary colours, blue and orange? Is the dead boy here for anything other than abstract reasons?
This is a great novel but it could have been better. The references to prozac and facial piercings seem to suggest current day Britain, but other elements such as the “spangles” that flood the streets imply a distant future. A few small alterations would have rendered the setting in a plausible, near future instead of a what feels like a slightly different dimension. And another layer could have been added by defining the plot a little further. There is no real character development from chapter to chapter and significant things seem to happen without due reflection.
King has yet to produce another book which is quite so interesting and seems to be moving towards children's fiction. Rumours persist of a Boxy an Star movie.

- originally appeared in "anarchist book review" melbourne -

[Anita Kowalczyk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like if that happy druggy person you know wrote a book

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

i like my adventures through a sieve

[Tom Sackey-Ambler · Rating 5 out of 5]

What it's like to live in the brain of a drugged-up, dropped-out 90's rave culture ragamuffin. Awesome.

[Dani · Rating 4 out of 5]

While reading this book, I already thought about, what I would write in this review. Something about the story, or about how weird the protagonists perveice the world or the absolutely unusual writing style...but I decided, the best description of the book would be the sentence, that popped up in my head constantly, while I was reading it:

"Dafuck did I just read??"

[Nick Davies · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up for 50p in a book clearance sale, and was very pleased with the punt - a bit Irvine Welsh, a bit Richard Milward. An entertaining and appealing read with an interesting childish style, happy resonances with modern life and pop culture.