The Mookse and the Gripes discussion
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Never Was
The Goldsmiths Prize
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2023 Goldsmiths shortlist - Never Was
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Hugh, Active moderator
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Oct 04, 2023 12:33PM
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Never Was by H. Gareth Gavin
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90 pages or so into thisSo far have had a “I DECDIED TO BECOME BLIND”, “cellotape”, “she could have poured bleached into her eyes” and “no cars had past us on our way” (and I suspect others I have not spotted)
Has anyone else read this (perhaps I should say red this) - I am assuming this all has to be deliberate but not sure I understand why?
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Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer
(last edited Oct 07, 2023 11:41AM)
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rated it 4 stars
I would say though that I am enjoying it so far.
Is it a commentary on the inability of small presses to afford proof readers if people buy their books from Amazon or Waterstones? Although it is a bit disappointing if it is proof reading as small presses to tend to pride themselves on production quality - some of them have rather raised the bar on the high quality paperback form. My copy of Cipher’s latest book Brainwryms arrived today with a link to a very nice Spotify playlist (Deftones, Nine Inch Nails and Slipknot amongst others).
That has to be intentional. Even a cursory twice over would have caught those.
Having completed the book I dint see any indication they are deliberate but to be honest I think a lot of the book past (sic) me by
Inrested to see ur reveiw.
Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer wrote: "Not sure I understood this very much at all"Same here. This was quite different than I was expecting. A lot more fun to read. A lot more Pepsi too.
More Pepsi?
There are several references to characters drinking Pepsi. One example of the unexpected.
I had not really noticed that but brand names in books are an affectation that passes me byThis really was not my type of novel to be honest
The pop culture references in this one are great and lead me down a worm hole of research. I don't think it was brand names here so much as working class 1990s Cheshire culture - McDonalds, Neighbours, George Michael, The Sun etc. I'll add some to the thread.
More generally I though this was really strong - could see it taking the prize.
Actually I can't add the links - we seem to back to Goodreads not allowing links in comments (why do they keep turning that blocker on and off!). So see my review instead: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...Contains links to Fin's music, photographs of the Cheshire Salt Mines and stories behind those mention in the novel (George Michael falling out of a car, the lady with the bleached eyes etc)
"Birdsfoot trefoil, the flower of revenge" from an Instragram page set up for an earlier version of the novel:
A collapse in 1907 of the ground around the Cheshire salt mines, taken from a series of photos of the Lion Salt Works (same series as featured on page 78)
A house in Castle Chambers, Castle Street, Northwhich suffering from subsidence (image dated 1890-99) and included in the novel (p204), from Cheshire Archives and Local Studies:
Craig-McLachlan, who played Henry in Neighbours, appearing both as himself and in character in a self-made video when he was excluded from the Neighbours reunion:
Elvis appears in the bottom of a McDonalds ketchup pot - wonderfully the person who took the photo didn't keep the evidence as she used the remnants of Elvis to season her last Chicken Nugget:
The National Archives relocated to a Cheshire salt mine:
The Centralia mine fire in Philidelphia:
A plaque marking the 1966 Compton's Cafeteria Riot, which closes the novel:
That's what impresses me with this - in many respects it is historical fiction but told in a completely surreal and beautiful way.
I found the prose often quite clunky
Amazing links though Paul - you should offer your services to authors, I know Isabel felt your reviews improved their books. What is the significance of Trefoil - doesn’t Man Eating Typewriter have a character called that?
It did symbolise revenge in Victorian times perhaps because of the small doses of cyanide it contains.
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The author just referenced Paul’s review in his New Statesman interview.
In fact there is even an embedded link to a Paul’s review in the article. https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/...
That’s next level Paul.
That’s nice. I did rather like my link to the video about Henry so I’m pleased the author did.
