The Book of Dave: A Revelation of the Recent Past and the Distant Future - Will Self

Fun and entertaining

This is the first ever Will Self book i ever read and I bought it on a whim!

The story takes place in modern-day London and the distant future where London and England have been desecrated by a large flood. In modern day London a cab driver named Dave meets Michelle in a chance meeting and they end up parenting a child together - Carl.

In the future a "Geezer" (religious man) living in his home island community of Ham seeks to change the established religious and social status quo when he finds the truth behind The Book and the knowledge contained within.

The following story unravels well and draws the reader into a completely new world, Dave and Michelle's relationship ends, badly, and forces Dave into a full on emotional break down when he writes a book and prints it on metal plates - Giving his lost son some "fatherly advice" it is this "consul" that is found on Ham and spawns a whole religion!

The two sides of the story play off each other excellently, although there is a large contrast that takes some getting used to, the book largely reads well, the slang used by the future people of London is playful but not too difficult to understand (although some people find it annoying, i thought it was worth getting my head round and there is a glossary to help).

If you like books that have abstract plots and if you want something that can make you think without being preachy this book will tickle your fancy - READ IT!

Too much effort

This book is just far too much effort. I would definitely recommend having a look at some of the phonetic sections (of which there are lots - and lots) before buying it. They are just simply too difficult to read. And in so being destroy any enjoyment that might be had out of the book.

I also didn't like the way the the author was trying to be too clever, using terms like Arpee to refer to RP (or Received Pronunciation), which a fraction of the readers will understand seemed a bit of a smug thing to do to me.

Definitely have a preview before committing to buy it.

needle sharp satire

In Will Self's latest novel he holds Dave's mirror up to contemporary society- and it is hard to like what we see.

The Book of Dave is not an easy read. It is not exactly a tale of happiness, and the "mokni" phonetics is a stylistic device that takes some getting used to. But as ever, Self shows breathtaking imagination to create his dystopian vision. Dave Rudman, in poor mental health following his marriage breakdown, writes a book of rules which he later regrets; but buried in his wife's garden, thousands of years in the future following apocalyptic flooding it is dug up and forms the basis of a new religion.

It is said that the best satire is fueled by anger, not comedy. It is certainly not as funny as previous Self novels. He sets targets in his sights- the breakdown of the family, modern society, organised religion- and lets rip, skewering them on the tip of some sharp writing.

Until the very end, the novel is also successful as an entertaining plot, a desperate struggle in the future interspersing with Dave's present leading to a dual climax. Self cleverly reveals his future and the present that has led to it slowly. He also clearly loves London but hates part of what it has become- and sections of the novel will make you never want to get in a car again. However, the ending is inevitably something of a letdown as both strands of the plot run their course.

So, then, a difficult but in my opinion rewarding read which will make you think very carefully about modern life.

not too bad!

I found this book at first to be very surreal and difficult to get into. It is really a book of halves. The first chapter beginning in the future and the 2nd in the past and the book continues alternating the chapters in this way. Self is as articulate as usual however I found the future chapters hard to make much sense of at all despite the fact they were well written I found no humour in those chapters. However the rest of the book was fine with Self's usual black humour including some funny moments in the psychiatric hospital. The one potential confusing thing about the book is that it's stated AD 500 something (being the time of the supposed discovery of the book) yet AD 500 is well in the past in reality yet in the book it's claimed this is in the future. I think the book would've worked more had this been explained better... due to the length and laborious future chapters I doubt i'll read the book again even though I enjoyed the rest of it.

If you can crack the Mokni, it's worth a read

If you can crack the initially daunting code of "mokni" with fills the 'future' half of this book, this is a very worthwhile read and has a great deal worthwhile to say, obliquely, about the nature of religion and modern culture. However unlike other reviewers I don't think it's Will Self's strongest work. If anything he may even be mellowing with age, as this book in parts is more played for laughs than for shock value. A great premise and worth a read for sure.