Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush An Anthology Of Poems & Conversations

by Tim Key

Key’s last book saw him stuffed up the a in Lockdown One. This new book takes place in Lockdown Three. This time Key can make Government-sanctioned expeditions out onto the streets of London (remember?). And it is there that the inaction takes place. Phone calls to his mother, promenades with his loyal friend, bubble-negotiations, sitting his fat arse down on benches, drinking mocha. Another three months of mind-freezing inertia. This time on the move. Conversations interspersed with poetry.

Genres: Poetry, Nonfiction, Humor, Comedy

305 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2021

About the author

Key has written four books. His most recent focuses on the lockdown of 2020. His others are collections of poems and other bits and bobs. He also does other things: stand-up comedy, acting, Alan Partridge's sidekick.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Key

Reviews

[Vera · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want Tim Key and Emily Juniper to get some sort of award for this book. And then a couple more awards for the first book. Seems only fair.

[Kas Molenaar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bijzonder grappig, ontroerend, geweldig taalgebruik en een geweldige beschrijving van een ontzettend onprettige periode. Hopelijk brengt Tim Key snel nog een boek uit.

[Oscar Dent · Rating 4 out of 5]

If I had a criticism, it would be that the first is marginally better. However this is inevitable, and Mulberry Bush is a joy to read.

While we're all praying for a rapid end to the pando; if we're not so lucky then we can at least console ourselves with the possibility of another Key emission. Big love.

[Ste · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's almost unfair to review this, because my issues with it have little to do with Key's writing or Juniper's design. Fundamentally, Lockdown 3 was just a much more boring lockdown than Lockdown 1. Gone are the weekly updates from a newly discovered world, replaced with the grinding bore of a lonely winter where nothing ever changed. Key catches that atmosphere through a first half that is mostly just repetitive chat about bubbles and closed pubs, that only really opens out towards the end as the vaccine arrives. The poems also cluster around the same couple of topics - Boris press conferences, variants, vaccines, closed pubs - and it's a shame that there aren't more of the surrealist oddball vignettes about everyday folk (not) coping that made the first book so charming. I do however have to say that I loved the development of the relationship between Key and Juniper - it felt like a rare realistic depiction of an intimately creative relationship between two people who are each other's muses, and their conversations in phone calls and footnotes were the highlight of the book for me.

[Ewan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will be a lifelong Key supporter. The man can do no wrong. Cracked open the first page on a rainy train to Leeds, closed the last page sat side saddle on an armchair in front of the log burner. A joy from start to finish. A perfect summation of the delirium of lockdown.

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Possibly even better than the first - a thing of odd and curious beauty.

[Cat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not going to lie- I was nervous to read this book because of how sad “He Used Thought as a Wife” made me. I am a self-admitted “super feeler” and 100% allow the emotions of others to impact my own. I was especially worried about this book when Key’s parents alluded to how he was “at-risk” and why he needed the vaccine early.

HOWEVER, where the first book gave me an incredibly insightful and accurate look at the first lockdown in the UK and how people responded to the pandemic, this one was full of hope and humor and friendships and bubbles. I really enjoyed this book so much. it does still give an accurate depiction of the third lockdown (rip england for having to lockdown so many time for so long) but I was just so glad that Key wasn’t alone.

The poems in here crack me up and continue to be relevant in November 2022- i’m looking at you Rishi Perfect.

Also, it need not be said but it still should be said- Emily Juniper is an absolute gift. These books are gorgeous. I love reading them and the design and appearance is just as much a part of the reason as content.

I am so glad Key decided to write another book. I also loved getting an insight into his “See How They Run” process because his performance in that movie was STELLAR. Also, I don’t think i’ll ever be able to drink a mocha the same way ever again.

[Ben Cotton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Only one of the funniest blokes ever to stomp across the terra firma writing a sequel to one of the funniest books ever to be beautifully designed on terra firma. Try telling me I'm not avariciously scoffing this one up!

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yessss a second Tim Key anthology of poems and conversations. His first was set entirely in his London flat in lockdown 1 and this is set entirely outdoors as he walks his way through lockdown 3.

So many laugh out loud moments, but also moments where Key gets a bit emotional about the thought of seeing his mum (or going to a pub again) which I really like as he doesn't come across that way usually!

Definitely recommend this even if you're not a fan of Tim Key or haven't heard of him before haha. You'll soon get to know his strange quirks and grow accustomed to him sipping IPA from his Penelope Pitstop flask on the heath or smashing his fitbit to pieces and yet still using it.

Despite all this, the books really relatable. I almost felt nostalgic for the times of the roadmap and those first days sat in pub gardens or friend's gardens when you could finally socialise outside of your bubble ahhhhh. Please never take me back... but if you do at least we might get another Tim Key memoir on it.

If someone read this and said to me "I really enjoyed that" my response would be "what, and I didn't?!"

[Melissa Somerton · Rating 5 out of 5]

The idea of reading a book about lockdown would normally make me run screaming in the opposite direction of that idea, but in the delicate, clever, funny, sly, complexly layered and beautiful hands of Tim Key's words (Just accept that his words have hands. They really do.), it's like being cradled in safe arms and word hands, as he walks us through it.

There are the agonies, the weirdness, the gut wrenching feeling of trying to hold on to hope and also tell hope to shut up... Remember encountering all the absurdity of the pandemic crammed against the unusual bedfellow of monotony, freshly, over and over every day? It's in there... grief and coping and beer and phone calls and walking, walking, walking...but somehow, it's all so beautiful and funny. Tim Key makes it funny and beautiful with words and book designer Emily Juniper makes it physically beautiful in design.

It's all written down for the ages in this book, so you don't have to carry the lockdown around in the back of your mind, processing it, anymore. Buy it and read it! May people continue to make art like this in the world.

[Abi Torry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whereas He Used Thought as a Wife was in lockdown one, Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush is in lockdown three. Another masterpiece from Tim Key and collaboration with the designer Emily Juniper. This book is stunning to look at but wonderful to read. Once I started I had a hard time stopping and was gutted to finish it as I just wanted it to keep going. I'm so happy to have both books in my collection and will cherish them. Tim has a wonderful writing style where even in absurdity you are immersed in his creation. I laughed out loud a lot while reading this while also finding myself emotionally invested in Tim's writing and relationships within the book.

[🌶 peppersocks 🧦 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reflections and lessons learned:
“I nail lockdowns Dan, that’s what I do”

I thought it might be too much, too similar, too far from the event… in short I tried not to like it, but I’m a fan and it still very much fit a need for a humorous immediate reflection… the satire, the fantastical, the storylines and the characters, and then the main elements of the comedy and poetry. For me these books will stand as testaments to so many parts of the pandemic that even if not lived, crossed my mind for the different thoughts and scenarios

[Vanessa · Rating 5 out of 5]

As good and if not better than the first - I closed the book with a sigh of nostalgia mixed with
I love Tim Keys writing - it’s raw and funny and sad and just brilliant- as with his last book - this is a fantastic account of what lockdown has done and how we lived through it - definitely one for future generations to refer to - the Samuel Pepys of his day (without the buried cheese )

[Morgan T. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I dare you to read this and not smile!!

Gorgeous, sweet and sensitive. I adore
the change of scenery and really loved the progressions we see and experience with Tim. I really didn't want it to the end. I never thought I could be nostalgic for lockdowns the way these books do. Especially the hope they provide.

[katie meddins (maresh) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

i really enjoyed this!
this is made up of a collection of lockdown conversations and poems - the conversations i'd give 3 stars (i was still invested but they read a bit slower) and the poems i'd give 4+ stars, bc poetry taking the piss out of the absolute car crash of our government? we. stan.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I laughed (Bohnson's crop top), I cried (The Yogurt-on-the-Hill), I looked on in wonder (Bill Key atop his horse).

Eagerly anticipating the next lockdown, so keen am I for Key & Juniper to complete the trilogy.

[Livinginthecastle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took me awhile to read this book because as I had to continue my own personal lockdown of a sorts it depressed me a bit, but in a better place now so the views from a lockdown spent mostly outside is now a hopeful read.

[Matthew Gale · Rating 4 out of 5]

The famously difficult second pando book. More narratively aimless and seemingly less knowingly self involved, but more funny politics poems, so you get by.

[Hanna Steyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much like the third lockdown, this book was less surreal and yet bleaker than the first. Nevertheless, I once again fell in love with The Poet.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic, walks the line between absurd, hilarious, touching with beautiful touches throughout in both the text and the design.

[hannah ⭐️ · Rating 5 out of 5]

pure and utter comedic brilliance from start to finish

[Simon Burdus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tim Key is up to his usual tricks. The second lockdown anthology not quite as good as the first but still an enjoyable record of 2021.

[Jayne Clements · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just so heartfelt, and poignant, and witty, and charming, and so real! Tim Key has a wonderful way of making you feel as if you're in the moment with him. A lovely book about a stinking pando.

[Edwin Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect

[Toast · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as good as the first book, but only because there's not as much to say about the third lockdown... Design is effing gorgeous as usual tho.

[Matt Garland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably the funniest book I've read but props to the tone and layout of the book, for every chapter/conversation there is an equally brilliant/odd poem.

[Lee Putman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am obsessed with Tim and this book was absolute lolz

[Rebecca Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hilarious, clever, and beautiful paper

[Stuart Briely · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good stuff, but not as funny as a couple of his other books.

[Stuart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely brilliant. I feel like this is something you kind of need to read while the pando is still fresh. So good.