Children of the Resolution [Paperback]

Gary William Murning has said on several blog interviews that Children of the Resolution is his most autobiographical piece so far. The main character is Carl Grantham, he is in hospital recovering from a serious bout of pneumonia. We hear about his past though interviews he gives to a student writing their dissertation on educational reform. Carl has a very particular view on this subject, being born with Spinal Muscular Atrophy has meant that he was often a guinea pig as a child as the establishment tried out different methods of education.
Carl begins his story by describing his time at Sunnyvale and his subsequent move to The Resolution which was classed at the time as an integrated establishment. These recollections are so interesting as they focus on so many different aspects of growing up. Carl was a child and an awkward teenager just like those without his condition, he had to deal with girls and the school bully. Alongside that, Carl had problems such as finding a desk that was comfortable for him to work on, something that should have had a simple solution but instead caused him no end of problems.
I think that Gary William Murning has written a very interesting and important book. Carl does not behave like a victim; he is simply describing how it was. Children of the Resolution is not out to get anyone but is simply showing what they tried to do within the education system and what worked as well as what went wrong. Having had experience of working in primary schools, I greatly identified with the fact that there are often brilliant ideas within educational reform but that they often get marred by some of the people carrying them out, so that by the time that the child is on the receiving end, sometimes some of the intention has been lost and the child is the one that loses out.
I would recommend Children of the Resolution as the characters are extremely believable and I really liked how the author jumped from the present to the past which highlighted that this is still an important and relevant issue.

I've had the pleasure over the last week to devour a new novel from British writer, Gary William Murning. Murning is the author of If I Never, a fine book, a thriller, I read last year. The new offering is essentially a fictionalized memoir titled Children of the Resolution. To say the least, Murning has upped his already fine game in his second major work of fiction. He did it by reaching into his past -- and his heart. The only thing I don't like about this book is the cover art.

Children of the Resolution is a dark and moving coming-of-age story, the journey of a clever disabled boy, Carl Grantham. The setting is the late 1970's and early 1980's, a time when there was apparently a "resolution" to be more inclusive of the handicap in Great Britain. Part of what makes this story so relevant, right now, is the current effort of the coalition government to sell UK citizens the "Big Society". It's not hard to imagine after reading Children how the impact of that policy will go awry. This book is about how the disabled were (and are) treated, from an insiders perspective. It's not encouraging how good intentions go wrong.

But back to the story, Carl, is disabled, wheel chair bound, but that's really only the beginning of the character. Carl's an avid and thoughtful reader, he listens to Elvis, he can cuss a blue streak, he's willful, sometimes cutting and judgmental, and, he has heart. One of the values of this book is that it humanizes the disabled in an unsentimental way, removing the barrier of their difference, and letting us see them as simply people. People like Carl's mate, Johnny, another disabled boy. Here the portrait painted is Goya-esque; twisted, beautiful, dark, sad, heart-rending, courageous, funny, and unforgettable. Murning has totally upped his game in creating this deeply chiseled character.

There is pain in this book -- the every day suffering and hardships of the disabled, and the unique and unnecessary indignities they sometimes withstand. The disabled lead challenging lives, as this book makes clear, and Murning's characters face the music with courage, and razor-sharp, ironic, ribald humor. Thank God for the authentic humor in this book, without which I would have had to break every so often for a stiff shot of scotch.

Buy this book and read it for inspiration and insight. Enjoy a truly singular story by an emerging master of fiction, Gary William Murning.

Because of its semi-autobiographical nature this must have been an incredibly difficult novel to write. That it is such an upbeat and inspiring read, with so much for the reader to indentify with, really is some achievement for the author. This is particularly true when you consider the nature of some of the issues it raises.

I found the main character Carl and his supporting cast of friends to be very believable and engaging; you do have to turn just that one extra page to see what happens next. I'm certainly looking forward to more from Gary Murning, whose writing is diverse, entertaining and thought provoking.