The Book of Dave

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The fact is, there is a little of Dave in all of us, since he represents the worst of our excesses and the most intolerant of our personalities. I will try and read it a second time at some point, as I am sure I will get more from it with repeated readings, but this started off difficult and never really was comfortable (or completely enjoyable) reading.

It is less clear how other taxi terms could pass from the contemporary story into the future, for example Dave experiences the trauma linked to the phrase of being “broken on the wheel” in the past story after he has buried the book, but being “broken on the wheel” is an integral part of the enforcement of religious conformity in the future story. Most obviously it is a satire on religious fundamentalism, and the cynicism of those who would corrupt it for their own advancement. Interestingly, the plot seems almost sparse – it comes second to the linguistic innovation that Self displays in his language, and in the way that he illustrates the misunderstandings that took place to develop the ramblings of a mentally ill taxi driver and to turn it into a religion. Eric and Dave is the story of Eric Gill and Dave Hollins, two ex-goalkeepers now aged 91 and 84 respectively.But if not, then I wouldn’t recommend it because you just won’t enjoy it – you’ll struggle, and the book will take its toll. A rant against religion and society, a historical detective story set in the far future, and a tribute to the sometimes fraught relations between father and son, The Book of Dave take on grand themes in a grand manner and clearly positions Will Self in the pantheon of Britain’s contemporary greats. There has been a marked decline in the sophistication of children and the attitudes of young people towards religious beliefs and minority groups at large, and the one causation for this—as with most things—is a ruptured family unit. Although it might sound like a somewhat trite aim, Self does want to remind people how important it is to respect almost every living organism we are faced with, since we might just regress back to being savages after a nuclear holocaust and end up the lowest form of being. Some terms, such as the automatic salutation “ware 2 guv” could feasibly be derived from The Book of Dave in which the tormented taxi driver flung down the entire “Knowledge” of a cabbie’s runs and routes along with a polemic commentary covering governance and family life in a world of parental separation.

Indeed, Self’s apocalyptic future has regressed to a kind of medieval tableau of fiefdoms and loyalties under a king and with priestly castes and languages akin to latin (arpee) jostling along beside old English (mockni). Is it worth risking your sovereignty in this society to speak up against doctrines that offend your soul? It was not a smooth process, and some catastrophic ice sheet collapses will have triggered local tsunami that The past story charts Dave’s life and breakdown as he tries to reconnect with his son; the future story follows Carl, a child of the remote community of Ham, as he tries to navigate the inquisitorial perils of the Church of Dave in pursuit of the truth about what happened to his father. It is definitely worth the effort though because understanding the language becomes easier as you get used to it and, as usual, Self provides an interesting story and somehow creates seemingly unpleasant and revolting characters that you nevertheless begin to identify with and like.Both stories are set in London, but one is the London of the 1980-2000s, and the other is the London of the 500-520s AD (After Dave). As a crutch, of sorts, for the poor reader, Self has provided a glossary at the end so you can keep referring back to that when you hit a word you don't understand. Mark Lawrence in his Broken Empire Series invented a far future world by simply melting all the glaciers in the aftermath of a “Day of a thousand suns” that the reader quickly associates with some kind of nuclear holocaust.