The joys of walking into Fopp and finding that it has
changed its stock of books quite considerably! This was a Christmas gift to
myself (one of the very few I have ever felt entitled to) alongside Brighton Rock and Coe’s The Accidental Woman.
According to Jonathan Coe’s website this is his weakest
novel, and according to a number of people on goodreads, the plot twists in the
book are just implausible and the focus on music excessive. I disagree with all
those accounts. Sure, The Dwarves of
Death doesn’t even come remotely close to What a Carve Up! or The
Rotters’ Club, but it was a great read on the plane (not to mention the
fact that I am currently reading The
Accidental Woman and I am finding that to be quite a bit weaker than this
book). Also, sure, the plot twists are implausible, but so are the ones of Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels
(to which the absurdity of the novel made me think more than once) and this is
not a problem for me. Lastly, obviously there is a lot of focus on music, but
this is not overpowering and it feels great to read of the inability of the
protagonist’s drummer to keep a beat, much like me.
But surely I am biased, as the book is set in the same area
of London where I live, although man it has changed over the last 30 years!
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