Boxy an Star Book

"Born through a sieve" is the phrase Daren King uses to describe his two main protagonists, Bole and Star, teenage veterans of the drug culture. Irredeemably hooked on Ecstasy, spangles and each other, Bole and Star grope through life in permanent bewilderment. So dim is their grasp on reality that they believe their duvet is a giant bag of pills, and have to write notes to remind themselves to eat. In the thrall of the mercurial Boxy, transvestite dealer and aspiring actor, they conduct doomed drug transactions, sharing the stash with customers instead of taking the cash. Their world is peopled with menaces--paranoia, police and vigilant parents--and their only certainty is each other. King's story is both tender and funny--Bole and Star's pratfalls leading to some hilarious scenes. It also provides a deeply unsettling vision of the future--but these concerns are pushed forward at the expense of character and plot. Bole's semi-inebriate patois--in which the bulk of the novel is couched--can be funny and refreshingly direct, but also proves tiring. Just as the world befogs and patronises Bole and Star, it seems publishers might be underestimating the needs of their post-Ecstasy readership. --Matthew BaylisRead More