After the death of
his mother, Dave Fazackerley receives a letter from her. In this letter, after describing
her pride and love for her son, she unlocks an old secret. From her death bed,
she reveals that she is not Dave’s biological mother, something her and his
father have failed to mention for the last forty something years. Distressed by
his mum’s death and confused by his father’s past, Dave sets out in search of
his biological mother. Meanwhile, he’s making a muddle of his personal life in
his attempts to win over his ex-wife Louise, and discovering that his parents
may not be the only people in his life who have lied to him.
Six
Lies is Ben
Adams’s second novel. It is, I suppose a rom com, with a side order of mystery.
I kept on thinking of Nick Hornby’s About
a Boy (although to my shame I haven’t read that, only seen the film), or
perhaps the film Run Fatboy Run. I’ve certainly seen more films like Six Lies than I have read books like it.
It felt like a gentle, funny, romantic comedy. Certain scenes – especially the
end – are very cinematic. It is dramatic, engaging, and funny – both through
Adams’s comedic narrator and, every now and then, at his expense. The book
certainly has its cheesy moments, but they are all knowingly and lovingly
written. The cliché is so completely embraced at points that you simply go with
it, and just when Adams has fooled you into thinking you know what’s coming, a
new development takes place. You can really tell that Adams is getting
beautifully immersed in his chosen genre, and thoroughly loving every word he
writes.
I’ll be honest: I did
have a moment or two of panic when I began reading this book. There is a
certain trope in literature that I have come to hate, and it is this: a central
male protagonist who is self-involved, self-obsessed, horrible to everybody,
casually misogynistic and has a very high opinion of themselves – or at least,
what I dislike in books is not so much this character type as when the book
supports them, when it seems to come round to their way of thinking, when the
author seems to think as highly of the character as they think of themselves. I
can name countless books where I read on desperately hoping I was supposed to
hate this detestable man I was reading about, only to discover I was apparently
supposed to like them. Ian McEwan’s Enduring
Love, James Salter’s All That Is,
Claire Kilroy’s All Names Have Been
Changed are a few examples
So I was very pleased
to find that, if Dave Fazackerley starts off looking like one of these
characters, he gradually becomes something different. He begins as a man with
quite a high opinion of himself, his looks, his humour and his general
wonderfulness, but as his life begins to crumble around him, so does his opinion
of himself. I enjoyed Dave’s character development over the novel. I love how
the more he discovers about his father and his father’s life, the more he aims
to define himself against his father, and the more he begins to look into
himself. Dave is not exactly the deeper of thinkers, and openly admits to
avoiding dwelling on anything that will cause him stress, but we do get a sense
of how the novel’s events affect him as a person. His attitude towards life,
and towards himself, changes, and I like that. I started off the novel
constantly frustrated by Dave, and ended up kind of routing for him.
Indeed, no one in
this book is a saint. No one is completely likeable. Everyone has their flaws,
their inconsistencies, their follies – except perhaps Dave’s (adopted) mum, who
seems lovely. But this is also part of the fun. And as with so many good books,
I found myself enjoying reading about these people, even when I wanted to shout
at them to pull up their socks and fix the messes they were making all around
them.
All in all, I very
much enjoyed Six Lies. Yes, it is
silly, it is cheesy – but that is part of the fun, and amongst the humour and
hilarity, we do find moments of rare and sweet poignancy. It is an engaging and
lovingly written book. It is simply great fun.
Greatest
strength: The fun
and engaging plot, and Dave’s character development across the book.
Greatest
weakness: Twice in
the book, Adams slips into multiple narration, and allows another character to
narrate something Dave could not. I felt like these sections were sort of
unnecessary, or were only really there for the sake of advancing the plot. I
think I would have liked a more complicated look at the inner worlds of our two
other narrators, or for them not to narrate at all. But this is a minor point.
Let’s
finish on a quote:
‘Those words must be truly shocking to you. I can imagine your sharp intake of
breath. You’re probably swearing.’
Next week: will be another throwback books
review, of George Meredith’s The Egoist.
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