Jonathan Barnes
Jonathan Barnes on a Cosmopolitan Quintet of Debut Novels
It is October 1978 and in a ‘scorched and burning’ Rhodesian wilderness a soldier, Sergeant Gordon, is captured by guerrillas. Strapped to the bonnet of their car ‘like a game animal’, he is driven to a copper mine where he is forced into slavery. Made to toil deep beneath the earth beside a clutch of fellow prisoners in conditions so appalling as to be scarcely imaginable, he begins, haltingly at first, then with increasing confidence, to tell his story, ‘weaving together the threads of his life’.
The terrifying opening sequence of George Makana Clark’s The Raw Man is also its most memorable component. The tale of Gordon’s life flits through the decades – from birth to childhood and adolescence to the violent events that led to his enslavement. The cumulative effect is potent and strange,
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
Twitter Feed
How to ruin a film - a short guide by @TWHodgkinson:
Thomas W Hodgkinson - There Was No Sorcerer
Thomas W Hodgkinson: There Was No Sorcerer - Box Office Poison: Hollywood’s Story in a Century of Flops by Tim Robey
literaryreview.co.uk
How to ruin a film - a short guide by @TWHodgkinson:
Thomas W Hodgkinson - There Was No Sorcerer
Thomas W Hodgkinson: There Was No Sorcerer - Box Office Poison: Hollywood’s Story in a Century of Flops by Tim Robey
literaryreview.co.uk
Give the gift that lasts all year with a subscription to Literary Review. Save up to 35% on the cover price when you visit us at https://literaryreview.co.uk/subscribe and enter the code 'XMAS24'