Punchbag Book

There is much more to Llewellyn than the angular-faced android he plays in Red Dwarf and there is no question of this being another indifferent book produced on the back of a comic actor's success. Llewellyn is a stylist with a black and lucid command of narrative, as well as an astringent grasp of characterisation. His hero, Nick, is looking at his mid thirties with little but a gym-honed body to be proud of. He hates his job as a nightclub bouncer almost as much as his own girlfriend seems to hate him. But when Tara, a speaker at a women's conference, invites him to become a padded assailant in a women's self-defence class in San Francisco, Nick starts to think about this new career opportunity. To some degree, we're into David Lodge territory here: sharply observed comic characters and bizarre situations (often involving profound culture shock). There's also more than a hint of Ben Elton in the capricious narrative and cold eye for contemporary inanities. There are moments when Llewellyn feels obliged to twist his plot into ever more unlikely contortions, but most readers will be prepared to forgive him in light of the exuberant comic invention on display here. --Barry ForshawRead More