Caret

John Cromer #3

by Adam Mars-Jones

'We make lazy assumptions about the centre of things and its location. Who's to say that the centre of things isn't in a corner, way over there?''People in authority are always saying you should know your rights, though I've noticed they don't much enjoy it when you do.''Nobody can be a person twenty-fours hours a day - it just can't be done. At night the sets dissolve and the performance falls away. We're off the books.'That's John Cromer talking, in this fresh instalment of his lifelong saga. For John, embarking on a new stage of life in 1970s Cambridge, charm and wit aren't just assets, they are survival skills. It may be a case of John against the world. If so, don't be in too much of a hurry to bet on the world.Conjuring a remarkable voice and mind, Caret is a feast of a novel, served on a succession of small plates, each portion providing an adult's daily intake of literary nourishment. Reading it - like any encounter with John Cromer -- is guaranteed to help you work, rest and play.'Thank god for John Cromer and his creator Adam Mars-Jones, one of the funniest, most self-aware characters in English fiction, whose minute observations on everything from constipation to lust are a source of unexpected delight.' Linda Grant

752 pages, Hardcover

Published August 17, 2023

About the author

Adam Mars-Jones is a British writer and critic.

Reviews

[Phillip Edwards · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Why do people persist in producing such absurdly bulky publications?" John Cromer asks us on page 191 of 745 of this, the third volume of a 'semi-infinite' novel (following Pilcrow and Cedilla). He might also ask why people read them. In this case the answer is that the writing is continuously interesting, amusing, and always a pleasure.

Gay, Hindu, vegetarian, and disabled by Still's disease as a child, our ¿hero? John Cromer undertook a pilgrimage to India, graduated from Cambridge University and had broken free of the family home by the end of Cedilla, here we follow his further adventures as he makes a pootering transition to independent living over the following year or two in the early 1970's.

The section where John is called to serve jury duty (page 421 onwards) is a marvellous piece of comic writing, worthy of a pig. Adding faint echoes of Rumpole to those of Ignatius J. Reilly and Owen Meany. And page 537 must be the GOAT when it comes to literary hand jobs.

Probably best read in short sections on a lightweight device though.

[Nick Georgiou · Rating 4 out of 5]

Breathtaking writing, the subject matter not so
I guess that's the point writing mesmerisingly about life stuff.
A disabled young gay man goes about his days in a series of beautifully written ways

[Sean Auraist · Rating 5 out of 5]

We chose this as one of the best-written literary fiction recent releases. https://auraist.substack.com/p/litera...

If you're picky about your prose, come and browse our other selections (subscription is free)! Criteria for our choices: https://auraist.substack.com/about

[remarkably · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am reading these out of order because the man cannot tell me what to do!!! extremely funny big book about little things, written with marvellous, exemplary attention to minutiae(æ) and with maybe the best last line in the history of literature. in a truly impenetrable kind of Oxbridge-ese which both, realistically, rocks and is insufferable though

[Karl Debbaut]

DNF. Too high brow for my little mind.