A review by the_coycaterpillar_reads
Meantime by Frankie Boyle
5.0
Meantime is beautiful in its harsh and brutal narrative. The writing is crystal clear, each word soaks into your skin like the bleak Scottish rain. No happy endings but it is intricate, it settled under my skin and had me craving more. Every mistake carves a deep and unsettling wound. If one sentence could sum it up it would be that.
Meantime captures the banal and lively existence of being Glaswegian like a seesaw that drops you into oblivion. There are many downs, but it’s occasionally peppered with some good. It holds a different kind of magic, one where the disappointment from the referendum eats at the shoes of people walking to work, hailing taxis, and people on serious comedowns in dingy wee flats that contain all the hope of a mouldy pizza sitting on the countertop. Felix McAveety’s life has always been the sad rendition of unrealised potential. The death of his friend, Marina, is the fuse to allow himself to care about something again.
Felix is stuck in a rut. He’s willing to have a “pop” at any mind-altering pharmaceutical. Alcohol, Diazepam, Cannabis, if it gets him buzzing then he’s in. Valium being his ruination of choice. An ex-employee of BBC Scotland he became disenfranchised with… everything really. He’s a non-football supporter and in Glasgow that is close to committing a murder yourself. His life has been hard but ultimately, he is a good guy, and one thing that Frankie Boyle has in common with George R.R. Martin’s “A Game of Thrones” is that likable characters rarely have a happy ending.
Meantime is heavily embellished with Boyle’s sense of humour. Those that get him get him fully and those that don’t, well don’t. There are pages upon pages of one-liners that had me cackling. Some that particularly floated my boat were – “A body like a dropped Lasagne.” “She was dripping talking about him like a knackered fridge.” Boyle is well known for his controversial brand of comedy and Meantime is no exception. He’s an equal opportunity comedian – he can take a pop at anyone.
Felix’s friend, Marina, an American in Scotland is found dead in a Glasgow Park. He finds out this devastating news when the police wake him out of his drug-fuelled slumber. He’s taken to the station where he later finds out that sperm was found on her scarf. He is later released and with the help of his Watson, Donnie, his downstairs neighbour undertake an investigation of their own. Donnie who is also partial to mind-numbing substances provides some light-hearted relief. An overweight middle-aged guy who is struggling with his divorce but who also appears to have no internal filter – “We were the two people least suited to investigating anything, but with the right drug combinations we could be whoever we had to be.”
Meantime captures the banal and lively existence of being Glaswegian like a seesaw that drops you into oblivion. There are many downs, but it’s occasionally peppered with some good. It holds a different kind of magic, one where the disappointment from the referendum eats at the shoes of people walking to work, hailing taxis, and people on serious comedowns in dingy wee flats that contain all the hope of a mouldy pizza sitting on the countertop. Felix McAveety’s life has always been the sad rendition of unrealised potential. The death of his friend, Marina, is the fuse to allow himself to care about something again.
Felix is stuck in a rut. He’s willing to have a “pop” at any mind-altering pharmaceutical. Alcohol, Diazepam, Cannabis, if it gets him buzzing then he’s in. Valium being his ruination of choice. An ex-employee of BBC Scotland he became disenfranchised with… everything really. He’s a non-football supporter and in Glasgow that is close to committing a murder yourself. His life has been hard but ultimately, he is a good guy, and one thing that Frankie Boyle has in common with George R.R. Martin’s “A Game of Thrones” is that likable characters rarely have a happy ending.
Meantime is heavily embellished with Boyle’s sense of humour. Those that get him get him fully and those that don’t, well don’t. There are pages upon pages of one-liners that had me cackling. Some that particularly floated my boat were – “A body like a dropped Lasagne.” “She was dripping talking about him like a knackered fridge.” Boyle is well known for his controversial brand of comedy and Meantime is no exception. He’s an equal opportunity comedian – he can take a pop at anyone.
Felix’s friend, Marina, an American in Scotland is found dead in a Glasgow Park. He finds out this devastating news when the police wake him out of his drug-fuelled slumber. He’s taken to the station where he later finds out that sperm was found on her scarf. He is later released and with the help of his Watson, Donnie, his downstairs neighbour undertake an investigation of their own. Donnie who is also partial to mind-numbing substances provides some light-hearted relief. An overweight middle-aged guy who is struggling with his divorce but who also appears to have no internal filter – “We were the two people least suited to investigating anything, but with the right drug combinations we could be whoever we had to be.”