STRAIGHT WHITE MALE by John Niven – A book review.

“THIS IS A SERIOUSLY FUNNY BOOK” , a quote from Melanie McGrath from The Scotsman in 2013. I look at this quote from the Scotsman and essentially this explains why I bought and read this book. I realised that most of the books I had been reading of late were either quite dark or  full of suspense thriller types….or a combination of the two, so thought I should try varying it up a bit by reading a comedy. Afterall, people have often remarked to me in a somewhat surprising manner that, how can I not love watching comedy films when I have such a brilliant, wacky sense of humour(excuse my modesty haha)? My reply is that I love films that move me, inform me and films that are about real life and focus on emotive subject matter….but ‘a change is a good as a rest’ as they say or perhaps ‘variety is the spice of life’ is a better saying in this case? I read a review that said this was a book about the male menopause. As I now enter my late thirties that sounded right up my street, perhaps this could be the male equivalent to all that Bridget Jones type stuff that is knocking about I thought? I can tell you now though, overall I found this book a bit disappointing.  If this is ‘SERIOUSLY FUNNY’ , then I have a chest laden with thick dark hair, a repetitively thrusting pelvis and get regularly mistaken as a double for TOM JONES………..TRUST ME I DON’T. This book is funny in bits and makes you smile at times, but SERIOUSLY FUNNY is stretching it a tad my dear Melanie!

So, what is the book about then?  The main character is forty something Kennedy Marr who is a world famous author but who has now got writer’s block, and earns millions writing and polishing up film screenplays/scripts. This is no ordinary man however, an initial counselling session with a doctor for a drunken brawl in L.A  bar gives us a idea of what raucous stuff is about to follow. Kennedy spends money at will(thus we soon learn he has money problems) and goes around behaving like a sex addict with an severe alcohol problem. He has little or zero morality when it comes to relationships and to being faithful. His life changes when due to largely financial reasons(he owes masses to the US taxman), he is nominated and forced to accept the WF Bingham Prize for Literacy Achievement. This comes with a £500,000 cheque and the duty to go back to England and teach Writing for a year at Deeping University. This marks the end of first part of the book, the one based in America. the second duly taking place in England.

It was this first half of the book that irritated me the most. Yes it is funny in parts, the bit where he wets himself at a book reading in front of a hostile lesbian audience, being the funniest bit. On the whole though I thought it rather corny, verging on the silly and unbelievable. I know Kennedy’s excesses were written to excess to emphasize his immoral behaviour and there achieve maximum laughs, but rather than laugh I found myself wincing in parts. I can recall one Christmas time at my sister’s house, her, my Mum, my bro-in-law and I all sat down to watch a stand-up show on the telly of comic Jason Manford. All was well until he then went on this corny, long winded, immature and puerile joke/tale about wanking. I’m no prude but just found such subject matter v poor and unoriginal. Niven does a wanking joke twice in this book and lets just say I’m not a fan of such a joke….is that the best you can do to get a laugh???????? I didn’t really care about Kennedy largely in this first part……that was until towards end of it when a deeper,more wistful, more rounded character threatens to emerge to us.

The second part now based in England, is where the story becomes less frothy and moves towards becoming rather sentimental and moving in parts. Do not get me wrong, Kennedy still lives on the edge in terms of women, drinking and a lavish lifestyle, but he becomes a deeper, much more likable character. In essence, the second half of the book is about regret. Kennedy’s regret over his younger sister’s suicide(drug addict), regret how he should have been there more for his dying Mother, regret how he’d not been there more for his dearly oved daughter Robin as she grew up…and how he managed to ruin his marriage to Millie, who stood by him tirelessly when they were broke and he was trying to become a writer. There is also the darker turn of him maybe having cancer, although this is told of course with a comic touch and flare. The book ends with a few resolutions of sorts, but to me it lacked being a page turner that I did not want to end. To be honest, although I quite enjoyed it, I’d had enough of it near the end and was trying to read it as quick possible so I could duly read something else very soon. The endless quotes from Joyce and Yeats is an original story telling device, but rather than enhancing my enjoyment of the book they rather just got in the way. Yes, this is a very readable comic book and the first I’ve read of a ‘male mid-life crisis’ perspective  so to speak, so this made for a refreshing change. However, to conclude I did not find it a brilliant read and nor did I find it brilliantly funny either. 3/5