I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-Introducing Happiness (1995).

This is where the Rheos really hit their stride! The first 4 songs are simply great, including their cover of Jane Siberry’s “One More Colour.” If you check out my comments on the Rheos’ Greatest Hits record, you will see a comment about Jane Siberry; I had totally forgotten they did this cover, and somehow this validates my earlier comparison, so good for me. Anyhow, the song “Claire” is on this disc, and it is simply one of the best songs ever. Ever. Totally catchy, totally pretty, great background vocals…everything about it is great. Later on the record you get a back to back of two more great songs, “Take Me in Your Hand” and “Jesus Was Once A Teenager, Too.” Simply gorgeous melodies with thoughtful lyrics. There are a couple of wacky tracks on here too. The kind where people prick up their ears and make a “did someone fart?” face. But they’re kind of brief, and contextually they work, its just that when you’re casually listening to pretty songs, and then you get one with screams and guitars, it tends to make things go wobbly. But overall, this is a great record. If you’re going to try the Rheos, obviously Double Live is the place to start, but this is a close second.

[READ: June 8, 2007] Spot of Bother.

I just finished Mark Haddon’s Spot of Bother. I hadn’t read his Curious Incident… and hadn’t even realized it was the same author. But I had read a glowing review of this book and thought it sounded really funny. And so it was. I’d like to draw attention to the way the book is written and constructed: Each chapter is from the point of view of one of the four family members. But the nice trick about this is that the characters don’t retell what just happened, they all move the story along, just from their point of view. Of course, there is some overlap, when it is called for, but it sparingly used, and all the better for it.

So, plot. The basic set up is that George and his wife, Jean, have two kids, Katie and Jamie. George is convinced that a spot on his hip is cancer. Jean is having an affair with a former coworker of George’s. Katie is getting married shortly to a man no one likes, and Jamie has isolated himself and his gay lover from the family more out of fear of what they’ll say than anything they have actually said. The book veers very close to farce on many occasions, even comes dangerously near to a “Three’s Company” type of misunderstanding=humor resolution; however, Haddon manages to keep the misunderstandings believable in an “upper-middle class British people don’t reveal their true feelings” sort of way, that is really quite funny. He also veers into dangerous territory by having the book climax at a wedding where all sorts of things go wrong. Having gotten married, and having been to weddings, I know that not everything goes wrong, and that frequently nothing goes wrong. So, it is a somewhat lame trope to suggest that at this stressful time everything will crash and burn; however, most of the types of things that seem to go wrong in movie and TV weddings actually don’t go wrong here, in fact much of the crisis is pre-wedding, so he is absolved of the stressy wedding=funny equation.

The real crises seem to be occurring in George’s head. As the details of his life slowly begin to unravel before him (retirement, acceptance of his son’s homosexuality, realization that although he didn’t really like his daughter’s fiance, he’s not that bad a chap, and the discovery of his wife’s affair) George begins trying to find a way to numb his pain, and conversely, causes himself more pain. The title of the book pops up in a most British way, so it is simply impossible not to mention it here. George is in hospital for a grotesque self-inflicted injury (not a suicide attempt), and is revealing to his son that he knows about his wife’s affair and that he may not be coming to his daughter’s wedding after all. He summarizes that he’s in “a spot of bother.” Classic. Overall a very funny and very satisfying book, with loose ends tied up nicely, and a generally satisfied feeling leftover.