- Paperback: 256 pages
- Publisher: Granta Books; New edition edition (12 Jan 1998)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1862070458
- ISBN-13: 978-1862070455
- Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 12.8 x 1.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
151,230 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #24 in Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Social Sciences > Sociology > Family & Social Groups > Age Groups > Adolescents
- #37 in Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Social Sciences > Sociology > Family & Social Groups > Age Groups > Children
- #38 in Books > Health, Family & Lifestyle > Psychology & Psychiatry > Applied Psychology > Counselling > Adolescents
As If
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Product Description
Product Description
This volume seeks to expose the hollowness of condemnation divorced from understanding in relation to the Bulger murder trial. People have almost become desensitized to random murder. It is often explained away by madness, sexual fantasy or rejection. One murder in recent times reduced every person to silence: the abduction and beating to death of a helpless infant by two ten-year-old boys. How and why did two innocent boys kill another? Is childhood innocence a myth? And what punishment could fit such a crime, assuming that children are fit to stand trial for murder? Blake Morrison went to the trial in Preston, and discovered a sad ritual of condemnation with two bewildered children at the centre. He looked for possible explanations in the boys' families, their dreary environment, their fantasies, their exposure to violent films. He evokes the worst feats of parents through candid and raw memories of his relations with his own children, and delves into his own childhood to reveal the worst thing he has ever done, to show how easy it is to go along with cruelty. Blake Morrison is the author of two collections of poetry, "Dark Glasses" and "The Ballad of the Yorkshire Ripper", and is co-editor of "The Penguin Book of Contemporary British Poetry". His memoir, "And When Did You Last See Your Father?" won the Waterstone's/Esquire Award for non-fiction and the J.R. Ackerley Prize for Autobiography in 1993.
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First Sentence
"As if this were the start of a dangerous adventure, the small boy puts his hand in the bigger boy's, and they follow a third boy through the square . . ." Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
"As if this were the start of a dangerous adventure, the small boy puts his hand in the bigger boy's, and they follow a third boy through the square . . ." Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This was a book I wanted to read for some time. Coincidentally, as I finished it (Jan 2001), news broke that the two convicted boys will be granted anonymity on their release. Shortly afterwards, a telephone poll in the media reported 94% of the public disagreed with this judgement. Those 94% would rather the boys' location be public knowledge, inviting retribution. Those 94% should read this book. Blake Morrison doesn't have all the answers to the questions thrown up by this tragedy, nor does he claim to. All he does is implores them to be asked, implores us to ask them of ourselves. For example, do we not all have a memory, however vague, of some incident in our childhood which we are now at a loss to explain? It doesn't have to be murder, nor even violent. The point being there exists in all our formative years some act which we now, as adults, find morally questionable and so prefer to forget. The author recalls such events, and made me do the same. Sadly, it seems the majority of the public are too happy merely to demonize these boys, the more comfortable option. Now, I'm a father of a little boy, also called James. I found reading the detailed description of the route to murder (abduction finally culminating in the act itself), hard going; difficult to avoid thinking about my own son. However, this book is not about morbid fascination. It raises topics about upbringing, parenthood, nature/nurture, all in the quest to answer THE ONE QUESTION: WHY?
20 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
"As If" is the author's attempt to understand the "why" of the murder of James Bulger. In an attempt to do this, comparisons are made with his own home life, history and feelings, and while there is no question that his writing is exquisite, too much of the book is given over to describing the author's circumstances. I agree with the reviewer who thought this rather self-indulgent, and I felt a little frustrated since I bought the book to read about the Bulger murder, and not Blake Morrison. I also would have liked more transcripts, drawings, etc.
And yet this seems a small price to pay, since it would then not be the extraordinary book it actually is. One particular account of the author visiting the murder scene left me overwhelmed by some of the most moving and powerful writing I think I have ever read! Morrison's honest treatment of the Bulger murderers is truly commendable, and anyone with so much as a passing interest in the case should read it, so long as they are prepared to forego sensationalism for something altogether more intelligent.
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I have long believed that 'To understand all is to forgive all' (Voltaire). Many people don't agree but I often wonder how those adults braying for two ten year old boys to be locked up as 'evil animals' would feel if they could see a video of the boys lives. What must they have been subjected to - we must ask ourselves as adults - to have been able to commit such a murder?
Morrison goes further than this... in order to understand he looks inside himself... as any good actor, Buddhist, Christian, believer or humanist must do. Every good actor that seeks to play a murderer must find the seeds of a murderer inside himself. It's only then when we truly see how, had the dice fallen differently, any one of those three boys could have been our sons - that we can have the compassion and empathy that such a case cries out for.
It is 2007 now and yet STILL emails circulate asking us to add our names to complaints that the judge had compassion and offered them new lives and new identities. So if you get such an email, and feel inclined to add your name - read this book first.
And if, like me, you are saddened by the lack of understanding and compassion displayed by humanity, read Blake Morrison's book. As he says so wonderfully - even if you don't agree that 'To understand all is to forgive all' you may agree that to understand nothing is to forgive nothing. This is all around us. The alternative, the way of peace and of forgiveness has to be worked hard for.
So thank you Blake Morrison - for this exceptionally brave piece of writing. And for teaching us about wisdom and compassion.
Morrison goes further than this... in order to understand he looks inside himself... as any good actor, Buddhist, Christian, believer or humanist must do. Every good actor that seeks to play a murderer must find the seeds of a murderer inside himself. It's only then when we truly see how, had the dice fallen differently, any one of those three boys could have been our sons - that we can have the compassion and empathy that such a case cries out for.
It is 2007 now and yet STILL emails circulate asking us to add our names to complaints that the judge had compassion and offered them new lives and new identities. So if you get such an email, and feel inclined to add your name - read this book first.
And if, like me, you are saddened by the lack of understanding and compassion displayed by humanity, read Blake Morrison's book. As he says so wonderfully - even if you don't agree that 'To understand all is to forgive all' you may agree that to understand nothing is to forgive nothing. This is all around us. The alternative, the way of peace and of forgiveness has to be worked hard for.
So thank you Blake Morrison - for this exceptionally brave piece of writing. And for teaching us about wisdom and compassion.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Compassion for all involved
I discovered this book on reading a quote in The Child Who which is a novel with a similar, although not the same, basis as the murder of James Bulger. Read more
Published 5 months ago by C. Bannister
Second hand book, everything as it should be.
Needed the book for my Uni course, so better than expected. Item arrived quickly & what else can you say.
Published 6 months ago by KShaw
AS IF INDEED!
AS RECENT EVENTS (VENABLES EXPOSURE AS THE PERSON HE REALLY IS,GROWN UP NOW AND STILL ATROCIOUS)PROVE. Read more
Published 22 months ago by babygrace
not what i expected
i looked forward to reading this book, but i was disappointed,i understand what the writer was trying to say about the death of james bulger and the life of his two young... Read more
Published on 3 Feb 2010 by D. Wilson
Distressing, yet important
This is a superb book. The author manages to cover the facts of the case, and highlight the unfortunate causes. It not only clarifies the story, but makes the reader feel "dirty". Read more
Published on 14 Feb 2008 by A. D. Cox
Thought-provoking and fair
I was interested in this as the Bulger case was one of the cases I covered in my dissertation on the link between violent media and violent acts. I wasn't disappointed. Read more
Published on 10 Jan 2008 by NB
Truly, an inconvenient truth
Can a book about the brutal murder of a child and the trial of the killers be considered a favourite?
This is one of mine. Read more
This is one of mine. Read more
Published on 23 July 2007 by The Kinniburgh Kid
The Courage to ask why - of oneself
To question the 'Why' of the murder of James Bulger is to revisit, an inch at a time with complete honesty. Read more
Published on 29 Jun 2005 by "eulipion_books-uk"
a thoughtful and considered book
This book is not worth reading if you are just looking for a wart-and-all account of the James Bulger murder case. But it is fantastic. Read more
Published on 6 Jun 2005 by "sparky53"
Childhood Innocence - Is there any such thing?
This book rightly agonises over society's response to an apparently motiveless crime.
I should say at the outset that I find the sight of crowds outside courts and/or police... Read more
Published on 24 Oct 2003 by T. MacFarlane
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