The Terrible Privacy Of Maxwell Sim [Hardcover]

This was heading for a four star review but..... read on.

The Terrible Privacy of Maxwell Sim explores many contemporary themes, among them our ability to not actually communicate properly, in a world where communication is supposedly easy, the effects of a marriage breakdown and the loneliness this brings and how one town in the UK looks very much like any other. However, form the outset, Max is not an entirely likeable character, and whilst I recognise many of the themes explored, felt it difficult to empathize with him.

The events early in the book lead him to making a journey to the Shetland Islands in order to deliver on his new employers promise of "We go further"; on the way, Max meets characters from his life, and at each stage learns something new about himself, or his family which causes him to reflect on why he is where and what he is.

The book is readable, and by no means poor, but I did not think in the same league as Coe's earlier novels, particularly What a Carve Up!and The Rotters' Club. Pages seemed to turn very quickly, as you wondered what would happen next on his journey, with his new-found friend, the Sat-Nav in his car.

However, there was just "something" missing...and I cannot put my finger on what. Maybe it was my inability to empathize, or just my lack of understanding of Max's view on life in general.

Now, back to my initial line. As I said, the book was not "bad" and was heading for four stars, but the ending..... oh my word the ending. I am not one to spoil it for anyone, but yes Denise (another reviewer here) I too felt cheated, as having read the best part of 350 pages, I thought as a reader, I deserved more than that! Too "clever" for anyone, me thinks!

Maxwell Sim is a classic `everyman', someone who we can all identify with to some degree. He's slightly befuddled by modern life, technology and dating etiquette (he has to ask his teenage daughter what it means when a colleague ends her text message with an `x`) and has managed to become estranged from his family and most of his friends.

Following the departure of his wife and daughter and six months off work with depression, he eventually resigns from his uninspiring job in After-Sales Customer Liaison (aka Returns) for a department store, to take up a seemingly crazy job offer which involves selling eco-friendly toothbrushes in one of the most remote locations in Britain. His time on the road gives Max the opportunity to catch up with old friends and drag a few skeletons out of the closet, but, above all, he gets to spend some time alone (his terrible privacy) to reflect on the hand life has dealt him. I say "alone" ... he does become a bit too emotionally-dependent on his SatNav, even giving `her' a name and seeking her advice on more than just the quickest route to take and how to avoid traffic jams.

Jonathan Coe has a wonderful way of making mundane events seem humorous and slightly bizarre, and he has a brilliant ear for surreal dialogue (a great example being the hilarious three-way conversation Max has with the parents of an old school friend). Max is an unreliable but very endearing narrator, and his blundering attempts to make friends and his lack of insight into how others perceive him are painful to witness at times (but also very funny).

This book sees Jonathan Coe back on familiar territory after departing slightly from his usual style with his last book, The Rain Before It Falls, and for me it combined elements of two of his best novels - What A Carve Up and The Rotters' Club.

I see that opinion is split regarding the ending. I'm undecided - it's certainly different but I did feel a bit cheated as I wanted Maxwell's story to have a `proper' ending. It'll be interesting to see what other readers make of it.

I loved this book - odd, perhaps, because the main character, Maxwell Sim, is far from lovable, or even likeable. As his wife notes, he doesn't even like himself. At the start of the book, Maxwell decides to chat with a stranger on a plane. The man makes clear that he doesn't want to join in. "I wasn't having that" comments Maxwell to us, and launches into a rambling speech that only ends when the victim drops dead (it takes Maxwell a while to notice). What else isn't likeable about Maxwell? If a woman is merely polite, he assumes that she must be falling for him (eventually he takes this to extremes and strikes up a relationship with his satnav, holding conversations with it and calling it Emma). When he is mugged, he not only hands over his phone but gives his attacker a clear description of how to get to the station. He isn't very observant - driving up the M40 from High Wycombe he remarks that the countryside is all the same, though he must have passed through the magnificent Stokenchurch cutting. (In his defence, I can't totally dislike someone who remembers where he was when John Smith died).

It is fascinating to see Sim's history gradually peeled back in the four parts of this book as he takes a journey. Each is named after one of the four elements and includes a "discovered" text or story which fills in part of the background - beginning, though, with an account of Donald Crowhurst, a 1960s would be round the world sailor whose voyage collapsed into fantasy and with whom Sim sees parallels (though his journey is less ambitious). These might seem rather heavily done, but you have to read to the very last page before it becomes completely clear what is really going on.

The idea of a man in his mid 40s embarking on an epic journey as a way of escape, or of understanding himself better, or both, didn't of course originate with Crowhurst (or Sim) - see for example Sailing Alone Around the World for the full round the world experience or Coasting (Picador Books) for a more thoughtful and introspective version. It works for Sim, giving us a perspective on how he came to be the unlikeable man he is, and complementary insights into his father (perhaps that aspect is a little too neat, though). In the end the solution for both of them is similar: but will Maxwell be able to do what is required?

In the course of Maxwell's journey, Jonathan Coe ruminates on a number of themes recognisable from his earlier books - the homegenisation of the high street (Maxwell approves of this: he likes to be able to visit a strange town and go into a familiar restaurant. He also likes motorway service stations), the loss - in Britain - of the ability, or desire, to actually make things, symbolised by the loss of the Longbridge car factory (whose fate was described in The Closed Circle. Indeed, a character in one of the included narratives goes on about the superiority of spirit to mere physicality: he is also responsible for drawing Maxwell's father into a world of gambling on exotic derivatives, to his loss).

There is just so much that's good about this book, I could go on and on, like Maxwell. Better to stop and just say: read this book!