Tim Martin
And All That Jazz
Jim Crace’s tenth book, All That Follows, is quite a surprise, but not because of its habit of skipping about in time or its attempts to imagine a society of the future. Crace’s aptitude with such tactics was amply proved both in Being Dead (1999), which slowly wound back the clock on a murder as the victims’ bodies cooled in a sand dune, and in The Pesthouse (2007), a dreamlike scramble through a ruined future America. What surprises in All That Follows, despite the promise of its presentation, is the novel’s deep unadventurousness. It’s a book about a political coward that itself demonstrates a distinct lack of nerve.
The setting is Britain, 2024, and Leonard Lessing, aka Lennie Less, professional saxophonist and estranged stepdad, is preparing to celebrate his fiftieth birthday. Flicking through the news channels, he comes across the face of Maxie Lermontov, a firebrand revolutionary with whom Lennie shared one of the most exciting
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
'Empathy is our moral portal gun, and it jams from underuse.'
Don Paterson on Portal 2, catching Covid on the Eurostar, and rereading Ian Hamilton’s 'Against Oblivion'.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/portal-agony
'Few people ... have ever taken Bunting, in his deep strangeness, as representing anything or anyone beyond himself.'
@nemoloris on Basil Bunting, the 'demon of delinquency'.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/long-road-to-briggflatts
'Most national anthems start at the top and find their place with the people ... few come from the people and find their place at the top, though I still live in hope for "Sunshine on Leith".'
Robert Colls on how 'Jerusalem' became our unofficial anthem.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/o-clouds-unfold