sadie_reads_again's review
4.0
Despite it being a huge political awakening and movement of recent times, I struggled to come across a book about the Scottish independence referendum. So this little known book was one of very few options, and I didn't have high hopes. Thankfully, I found this a very entertaining and grounded read, both as an account of the times and as a novel in its own right.
Told through the experiences of those who live in two closes in Glasgow, one in a more affluent area than the other. A close, for those who don't know (and it appears Google doesn't either) is basically the shared access - the entranceway, stairs and landings - in a building of flats/apartments, but typically in a tenement building. And so the cast of characters is pretty large (and can be confusing, though there is a handy map to refer to), and includes those on both sides of the debate. We spend more time with certain characters than others, as the calendar rolls towards the referendum vote. Most notable is the couple (I forget the men's names) where one is an full-time Yes activist and his boyfriend decides to get involved in the No vote, and two teenagers with difficult home lives.
It was the characters that really made this book for me. They really felt like a cross-section of typical Glaswegians, both those deep-rooted and those newly arrived. For me, one of the best portrayals of modern Glasgow/Scotland I've seen in terms of the people and their lives.
It's a fun and fairly light read, considering the topics covered, and much better written than I'll admit I had feared. This book is political without smacking you round the face with it, or at the cost of a readable story. Though, I do have the same political bias as I think the author does, so it would be interesting to see what someone who is against independence would say.
Told through the experiences of those who live in two closes in Glasgow, one in a more affluent area than the other. A close, for those who don't know (and it appears Google doesn't either) is basically the shared access - the entranceway, stairs and landings - in a building of flats/apartments, but typically in a tenement building. And so the cast of characters is pretty large (and can be confusing, though there is a handy map to refer to), and includes those on both sides of the debate. We spend more time with certain characters than others, as the calendar rolls towards the referendum vote. Most notable is the couple (I forget the men's names) where one is an full-time Yes activist and his boyfriend decides to get involved in the No vote, and two teenagers with difficult home lives.
It was the characters that really made this book for me. They really felt like a cross-section of typical Glaswegians, both those deep-rooted and those newly arrived. For me, one of the best portrayals of modern Glasgow/Scotland I've seen in terms of the people and their lives.
It's a fun and fairly light read, considering the topics covered, and much better written than I'll admit I had feared. This book is political without smacking you round the face with it, or at the cost of a readable story. Though, I do have the same political bias as I think the author does, so it would be interesting to see what someone who is against independence would say.
More...