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The Wacky Man

By (author) Lyn G. Farrell
Format: Paperback / softback
Publisher: Legend Press Ltd, London, United Kingdom
Published: 2nd May 2016
Dimensions: w 127mm h 188mm d 18mm
Weight: 220g
ISBN-10: 1785079557
ISBN-13: 9781785079559
Barcode No: 9781785079559
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Aug 2nd 2016, 21:19
Affecting
Awesome - 10 out of 10
I’m sitting in a lush French alpine valley on holiday with my husband, children and some friends (who happen to be a cycling team). There is freedom, laughter and we are happy. Everything about my surroundings is in contrast with the world of The Wacky Man, and it makes me feel a bit off kilter. I don’t think it is a spoiler to say that this book is not light holiday reading - but if your requirements for a holiday read are to be completely engrossed and consumed by a story and to lose your heart to its characters, then it fulfils the brief entirely.

Despite Philip Larkin’s famous words about parents, I’ve got this vague theory that it’s OK to loose it with your kids sometimes. It helps them to learn about depths of emotion; about empathy and how to read a social situation which forms how a person can deal with more complex interactions in school, or even later in a work situation. I’m just talking about when I (and thousands of mums of school-age children across the country) end up screaming ‘SHOES’ and ‘BOOK BAGS’ and ‘HOW MANY TIMES..?’ on an almost daily basis. This book takes you to the dark side of both childhood and parenthood and makes me think twice.

Maybe I’m hypersensitive, but I can’t read any book or watch any film, television or theatre piece that involves children without imagining my own children in the characters I see, and it invariably breaks my heart. This book breaks my heart. In the classic conflict between nature and nurture this tale sits firmly in the nurture camp. There is a nod to the nature of a human here - Amanda is hyper intelligent and well read despite her lack of opportunity, but her systematic destabilisation is clearly down to her circumstance. The story spells out how each little word that a parent utters, look that they shoot, or action that they make impacts on the personality of the child and then twists its evidence right into the reader’s soul.

The story alternates its view from first person to differing third person narratives, allowing us access to the thoughts that Amanda is unable to articulate to those around her, and also transporting us into her mother’s story which, in turn, provides glimpses into her father’s history in Ireland. This is really important as it enables us to appreciate the long history of relationships and learned behaviour that has slowly built over generations (probably prior to the existence of any of the characters that we meet) which finally climax in the condition of one fifteen year old girl.

There’s an element of history here. The story takes place in the North of England in a world where the IRA was at its peak and anti-Irish feeling was strong. There was not the level of support for domestic abuse that there is now, and women were expected to make the best of whatever situation they found themselves in by no fault of their own. Learning about Barbara and Seamus’ history is key to the story being as gripping and moving as it is. This is a tale of generations of female being trapped - by date rape, by marriage, by children, by domestic beatings, by fear, by duty, by society. The female cannot enjoy the freedom that the male does, which is finally reflected in the contrasting fates of Amanda and her brothers. I was left feeling furious at the world for how it once was and I’m angry that these situations still happen today. We’ve not moved on as much as we like to think.

I won’t get into the detail of the story’s events here; each section of each chapter offers a new layer of history and understanding to this tale which is not fantastical but clearly rooted in realism and has the ability to shock and appal. It will make you hug your children that little bit tighter, and give them your undivided attention that little bit more: only after you’ve finished the book of course, because for the duration of the read (a few days probably, so readable it is) you’ll find it hard to tear yourself away from these pages.