Greenfly by Tom Lee

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Bob Mehew: July 2nd, 2008

Where obtained: Amazon UK and then brought out to Nepal by my mate Andy
Where read: Nepal
Where left: Dog charity bookshop in Palolem, Goa, India
Thoughts:
I must start by staying that I know the author and therefore I read these stories with a slightly skewed appreciation. Tom Lee is a friend of mine from my home town of Wivenhoe in England, and has since moved to London. Many of his short stories contain a certain edgy, claustophobic intensity that one would associate with young people trying to make their way in a modern caoital, especially when balancing their lives with earning a living and a creative art. I thoroughly enjoyed the stories despite sometimes feeling uneasy after finishing them. The stories are not shocking as such, but they do probe interesting human condition and unexpected responses, whilst at the same time portraying traits that can be identified with. For example, the first story 'Berlin' deals with the subect of jealousy and touches on how the 'jealousee' desires those feelings. There are stories of London life such as 'Greenflly' that centres on a dysfunctional relationship between a young couple where the girl is descending into insanity due to a stressful teaching career that she has opted out of because she cannot cope, and her highy strung and uncommunicative cocaine-taking boyfriend who cannot handle his partners melancholic lethargy.

There are more far flung stories too, such as a great tale of immigrants at a hotel of an annonymous border town waiting for the hotel owner to arrange their passage to a promised land on the other side. The owner keeps them waiting, of course. The main story in this and most others usually disguises a more compelling sub-text that returns time and time to the collections underlying theme (in my opinion) of off-kilter relationships. My favourite is Cerology which centres on the family diaries of both a nineteenth century brain surgoen who has unconventional theories and practices, and his wife who creates entertaining sexual relationships to relieve the tedium of her relationship, with inventive positions based on musical instruments. This one in particular I feel could have been worthy of a much longer story - maybe even a novel, as would be 'The Starving Millions', a tale of two English brothers who are poles apart - one on a mission in Africa and the other crossing to America for a highly paid, souless job that he could not refuse.

I read this book in Nepal, mainly on the road when the excruciating bus journeys where not too bumpy, or some disruption or other such as a strike lead to the bus being stranded in the middle of nowhere, sometimes for several hours. The short sories were perfect length for these occassions, dipping in and reading from start to finish, sometimes in minutes and usually under an hour. The re-start of the bus or a seriously pot-holed stretch of road would necessitate the curtailment of reading which enabled me to dwell on the stories rather that read one after the other in quick succession.

Dwelling was not always welcome however. I read the last story late one night in a quiet out of the way hotel near Lumbini, the birth place of Buddha. There was only one other guest and it was very dark, set in the woods, and decidely spooky. There was a terrific monsoonal storm raging that took out the power. I read the last story by candle-light as the winds howled and the rain lashed the flimsy hotel room. I was up half the night dwelling! Perhaps not one for reading late at night.

Novel Travelling

Follow the journey of books around the world and leave your own location and thoughts. For more information and to see the index of other books on this blog go to:
Introduction and Index

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