Touching the Starfish [Paperback]

I have to admit that I thought that the title to Ashley Stokes' debut novel Touching the Starfish was a bit rude. But it's not. That's just me.

So what is Touching the Starfish?

It's a book for every creative writing lecturer out there. If you ever wanted to write about your experiences in this area, then don't. It's been done. And I can't imagine it being done better than TTS manages to do. There's plenty of Thank God It's Not Just Me moments when Nathan Flack, the novel's protagonist is describing his horrific experiences with his new tutor group. There's a lot of footnote asides that explain about the Moon-Barkers and Rom-Ts and Wrong-Roomers that inhabit his group.(1) You know what I mean, the ones that would merrily drive you crazy. If you let them.

(1) Put simply, the bonkers, the over-romantics and people who should really be telling it to a therapist type of students.

You might even nick some decent writing exercises.

Still, it's not just a book about teaching creative writing. It's a book for every jaded writer who still has nostalgia for bookshops; the desire to find something to read that feeds you, the ones you relish, as opposed to the 3for2s; the Importance of Any Email / Post / Unexpected phone call which could be The One.

But it's also bloody, and often unexpectedly, funny. Don't read it in front of anyone. Read it on your own so you can choke on your own laughter, finally get it out, and start barking unapologetically. Something writers don't do enough of I think (again, that could just be me). (2)

(2) You may discover you have some different laughs, too. I noted a squeaky one that I wasn't aware of till now.

All this might suggest the book is a bit flippant. It's just superficial, surface stuff poking fun at writers and students and whatnot. But Flack is haunted, perhaps by his inner psychology/destructive self-critic, perhaps by a Moon-Barker, or something even more sinister. Flack also admits to the fact that he writes to be close to other people, a simple and sensitive truth that perhaps many writers would agree with. We write to explore, to understand and, perhaps, to connect. Coupled with the fact that Flack's doing his damnedest to avoid intimacy with an `impossibly beautiful' albeit slightly difficult ex girlfriend, this starts to get really interesting. And the writing is brilliantly observed with nourishing, juicy detail that, if you are a writer, you will nod at and perhaps be slightly jealous (while still inspired to write).

Case in point:

A cafetiere cooled on the coffee table and, underscored by crackles on the vinyl, Miles Davis' Kind of Blue swam around the tangerine walls. (3)

(3) I've heard reviews are supposed to be balanced: Okay. I would have liked it to be ever so slightly pacier. Maybe less of the group to start with. The footnotes work mostly, sometimes brilliantly, but sometimes disrupt the pace.

But enough about why a writer might like it. Here's why readers will read:

Who is the inner voice that speaks to Nathan? Who is the shadowy figure staring into his flat at night? Will he solve all his problems, sell his book and live happily ever after?

I read this book in a couple of days. It gave this rather jaded writer who unfortunately seems to read for a living, as opposed to writing, back that compulsion to devour. To look forward to going back to the book. To wish people would leave so you can - Get Back to the Book. For me, a rare and actual page-turner.

If you don't buy it now, you're dafter than a Moon-barker.

Amazon - £16.14, pp 533

Stokes, A (2010) Touching the Starfish. Unthank Books.

Twitter - @AshleyJStokes

This is such a good book. From the beginning, when creative writing tutor Nathan Flack meets his latest (and weirdest and wackiest) class, we watch as his life unravels in hilarious, and at times poignant, fashion. It is very funny and I found myself laughing out loud - which can be very annoying for those around you who don't know what you're laughing at! It is a while since a novel amused me that much. It is also really clever, with an inventive use of language and wonderful names for people (Hieronymus Ponce is a particular favourite of mine). We follow Nathan's attempts to get published and to control his increasingly shambolic working and romantic life. However, despite his good intentions and best endeavours, everything constantly goes awry. And, of course, he is being haunted by a troublesome literary ghost! It is a great story and a timely indictment of the current state of publishing, where serious writers find it ever harder to get published in a world dominated by celebrity and money. It is a book that has stayed with me after I finished reading it, as really good books do.

Let's start with the title - even though creative writing professor Nathan Flack would advise to never start with the title -Touching the Starfish is a brilliant title that begs engagement and demands creative innovative pros that author Ashley Stokes delivers three fold. While toting this tome around town, people constantly asked, "what is the book about? It has such an interesting Title." Once past the cover, a dynamic story unfolds that is seemingly about the bad choices (and plain old bad luck) of Nathan Flack, but more subtly it is about the effect that the demise of the publishing world has had on all forms of literature . While we follow Nathan's life and reminiscences from his days as fumigator of bad novels, to creative writing instructor to a writer desperately trying to be published the subliminal storyline traces the cruel way in which the publishing industry has marketed the literature out of, well, literature, and how readers are believed to be entertained by the banal instead of the sublime. In the meantime, Nathan hears the voice of the "muse of all time," falls in love, is trapped in the center of a epic medieval battle, finds he is inextricably linked to the most popular book in the world - which he despises - and somehow ends up with the last laugh. It is very cleverly written and a bit experimental at times, both of which could fall with a heavy thud on American audiences. Much of the humor relies - unapologetically - on a vast knowledge of literature and `80s pop culture, the former is also something that could be, unfortunately, lost on a number of readers. Having said that, isn't that somehow part of the point? This is a witty, intense, fast-moving novel that delivers on unmade promises and is good for anyone who has a sense of history and humor.
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1 Literature from Latin, littera; letter, the art of written work and in its historical context: something worth reading, written for clever minds, and not easily pegged into a fictional genre. Currently, not in vogue and "tricky to market" since the rise of mega book stores.