Barrington (Barry) is a man leading two lives. Husband to Carmel, father of Donna and Maxine, and grandfather of Daniel, he is also in a secret relationship with Morris, his childhood friend.
“Hilarious, poignant, clever, controversial and courageous in equal measure. Loved, loved, loved, loved it.” Well that was what Dawn French thought of Mr Loverman, but did the SWFT Wellbeing Reading Group agree?
When the group met to discuss Mr Loverman, there were several cries of ‘loved it!’ although a handful of people commented that the lack of punctuation and spelling made it difficult to read.
Mainly written in Barry’s own voice, it was interesting seeing how his use of grammar and language changed depending on who he was talking to. As he said to his grandson;
“Speaking one tongue doesn’t preclude excellence in another. But you got to treat patois as a separate language that you slip into when it’s socially acceptable to do so. I can speak the Queen’s when I feel like it. But most of the time I just do me own thing.” One of the group listened to this as an audiobook which they definitely recommended.
We liked the use of the the different chapter titles to show the period and point of view of the speaker, so it was easy to identify the characters and visualise the situations. We didn’t think that Barry came across as a particularly likeable character, and most of us felt sorry for his lover Morris, who seemed to be getting quite a raw deal. This led to a short discussion on whether you needed likeable characters in order to want to finish a reading book, or if just wanting to find out what happened was enough.
As a group, we mostly enjoyed the build up of tension over when (or if) Barry was going to come out to his wife. When Carmel left to see her dying father and Barry was home alone, the casual mentions of him leaving dirty washing, and not washing up (because it was something his wife did) reminded a few of the group of their teenage years. The description of Carmel’s post natal depression was very vivid and recognisable. Reading about Carmel’s affair was a surprise, but made us realise that we were taking Barry’s word for everything and he was an unreliable narrator.
Barry’s shock when he realised his daughter Maxine knew and accepted that he was gay (which she demonstrated by taking him and Morris out with her friends) reinforced the realisation that Barry’s secret double life was down to the period and culture he grew up in. This, followed by Carmel’s return meant that that there was less of a dramatic denouement than we had perhaps been led to expect.
Bernadine Evaristo excels at depicting flawed and interesting people. A couple of years ago we read her Booker Prize winning novel Girl, Woman, Other which focused on the interconnected lives of 12 characters.
Next month’s book Murder at Gulls Nest by Jess Kidd has been donated by a publisher. We have a couple of free copies available (or there’s one in the library stock if you just want to borrow it).
After thirty years in a convent, Nora Breen has thrown off her habit and set her sights on the seaside town of Gore-on-Sea. Why there? Why now? Instinct tells her it’s better not to reveal her reasons straight away. She takes a room at Gulls Nest guest house and settles in to watch and listen.
Over disappointing – and sometimes downright inedible – dinners, Nora realises that she was right to keep quiet: her fellow lodgers are hiding something. At long last, she has found an outlet for her powers of observation and, well, nosiness: there is a mystery to solve, and she is the only person for the job.
Pick up your copy at the Education Centre Library, Warwick, and join us on Tuesday 15th April at 1pm.
Click here to find out more about our Wellbeing Reading Groups. or take a look at our previous reads here.