Crocodile Shoes: From the North East to the Wild West v. 1 [Paperback]

This book is the novelization of the British mini-series Crocodile Shoes from the 1980s. The project was created by actor/singer Jimmy Nail. The book exactly follows the mini-series. I bought it hoping to get some back story and details about some of the characters, but there was not one bit of any of that in the book. If you saw the mini series, you won't learn anything more by reading the book. The one thing it did help with was understanding a few places where I couldn't make out what actors said, mostly due to Geordie accents.

Of course, you can read the book even if you never saw or even heard of the mini-series. In fact, this is the only way to access it, since the TV series is not available on DVD.

This is the story of two men's quest to turn the directions of their lives. Jed is a factory worker in Newcastle who spends his off time in his room making music. Adrian is a record company exec who used to have the best ears in the business, but he hasn't found any new talent lately, perhaps because he has too much taste to buy into the current sounds. His cocaine habit and heavy drinking are adding to the downward spiral of his life. Ade is also very unfortunate in the people who surrond him--a ruthless, unfaithful girlfriend and a backstabbing boss/friend. When a tape of Jed's music lands on Adrian's desk, they join forces to turn around both of their lives by making Jed the next big thing. However, the road to success has a lot of bumps and twists.

Jed's story is really rather lackluster--working man dreams of stardom. There are some scenes of Jed and his work buddies worrying about the factory closing, but that is not particularly interesting. It's Adrian and his problems that make the story intriguing. (And, if you are lucky enough to get your hands on a copy of the TV program, it will be James Wilby as Adrian who will have you watching the show repeatedly.)

Since the book is by Nail, who plays Jed, it is interesting to see how he perceives himself. I see Jed as oafish, homely, and really rough around the edges. Watching scenes where he is eating or drinking is not pretty. Apparently, he sees himself as "kinda cute." In another scene he thinks Jed looks better than Adrian. A person must have an extremely vivid imagination to think Jimmy Nail is better looking than James Wilby under any circumstances. Some of the book takes place in America. It's interesting to see a Brit's view of America. I suspect Nail has not spent much time here, as he labels Nashville the "wild west." There is also a bit of stereotyping of Americans--the frantic NYC businessman, the Italian mafia type, the Southerner rednecks. I tried not to be offended and overlook it.

I suspect that this book won't be satisfying reading to the person who has not seen the mini-series because there's not a lot of descriptions of characters or settings. While the person who has seen the program can fill in the blanks by remembering the scenes, the person who had not seen it might find the book less than riveting.