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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The first thing that strikes you about Mike Riddell's book, 18 Aug 1999
By A Customer
The first thing that strikes you about Mike Riddell's book is the fact that, after goodness knows how many centuries of printing, someone has finally decided to do something adventurous! At the start of this century the Futurist Marinetti called for a "typographical revolution" through which, by using different ink colours, text sizes, fonts and directions, "the expressive force of words" would truly be represented on the page. Riddell comes close to doing this perfectly. Each page is more or less divided into two halves, the top section holding words in this variety of fonts, sizes and directions, the bottom, boxed-off section containing a linear page to page narrative. Once you've figured out how to read it - in the end I plumped for reading the top sections page by page to the end, then repeating for the bottom sections - you begin to see exactly what he's achieved. The narrative carried along the bottom section, a woven story of love and spiritual discovery, is built upon by the ideas represented in the top sections. It's almost as though you have Riddell with you, looking over your shoulder and developing themes and ideas as you read them in the narrative. I was concerned that as I read more I would begin to find the top section thoughts/bottom section narrative arrangement a little contrived, but having read and enjoyed all the top parts first and then read the narrative - making the connections as I went along - I can truly say it works. In the top sections Riddell quotes from sources as diverse as the Beatles, T S Eliot and Jesus, tells stories, jokes and gives recipes, but most importantly he does so in a manner that never comes across as contrived. This is, ultimately, a book with a Christian message by a Christian author, and aimed as it is at the 16-30 audience, the "Generation X", it could have come across a little contrived, a little crass, a little cringe-worthy. As he himself writes though, "I am sick of lectures . I want to hear stories . don't tell me what you believe or how you think. Tell me what happened. Give me a story". By the end I was in little doubt that Mike Riddell has lived and experienced the story he tells - the voice of the book is very much his, and thankfully his is a voice that never slips into preaching. Had I written this review immediately after reading the book, I would have had no qualms about giving it top marks - this is a book that leaves you with a lump in your throat, a head full of ideas and the feeling that you've read something truly special - but time has allowed a small niggle to develop. There's something about Riddell's style that reminds me of Douglas Coupland - indeed at times the book even physically resembles Microserfs. Most of all though, the narrative suffers the same flaw as novels by Coupland such as Microserfs and Generation X. Coupland's novels (that is, until Girlfriend in a Coma proved he could write sophisticated fiction) can often feel like a series of clever, witty and even important observations, followed by a few pages at the end that tear at your heart and leave you choking back tears - an enjoyable read with a fantastic surprise at the end, but somehow insubstantial. Riddell's tale suffers similarly; you read his narrative and then, on reaching the last few pages, are struck by its full emotional force. Wonderful, but nonetheless slightly lacking, as though the whole narrative had been building up to the last shock revelation, almost too excited by its own impending surprise to truly affect elsewhere. I am, however, being picky, and probably a little spoilt too by the full impact of what you learn at the end. Riddell's story is expertly told, enjoyable particularly if you read the likes of Coupland, and the story is told with ingenuity when one considers the layout of the book. Most impressively though it is a book that retains a truly human edge while delivering something new, something exciting, something that left me with ideas buzzing around my head, thoughts to take away.
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