Kane's Ladder by Carlos Alba - Revision history

Sue at 16:27, 26 May 2021

2021-05-26T16:27:46Z

Sue at 10:17, 19 September 2020

2020-09-19T10:17:20Z

Sue at 13:09, 7 September 2020

2020-09-07T13:09:06Z

Sue at 15:01, 4 September 2020

2020-09-04T15:01:44Z

Sue at 11:22, 1 September 2020

2020-09-01T11:22:16Z

Sue at 13:50, 17 March 2018

2018-03-17T13:50:47Z

Sue at 12:44, 1 January 2015

2015-01-01T12:44:00Z

Keith: 1 revision

2009-10-24T17:52:33Z

1 revision

Sue at 09:34, 16 July 2008

2008-07-16T09:34:02Z

New review

{{infobox
|title= Kane's Ladder
|author= Carlos Alba
|reviewer= Sue Magee
|genre=General Fiction
|summary= A look at what it was like to be a child in nineteen-seventies Glasgow is laugh-out-loud funny and poignant by turns. Elegant writing and a gret plot - highly recommended.
|rating=4
|buy= Yes
|borrow= Yes
|format= Hardback
|pages=224
|publisher= Polygon An Imprint of Birlinn Limited
|date= March 2008
|isbn=978-1846970474
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846970474</amazonuk>
|amazonus=<amazonus>1846970474</amazonus>
}}

Steve Duff comes from a good home. It's not in the best part of Glasgow, but it's definitely separated from Govan by a railway line and the Duffs are buying their house with a mortgage. The family are well fed and clothed, but is Steve content with his lot? Of course he's not. He wants to be like his best mate, Wally, whose parents are drunkards and who isn't even missed if he doesn't go home at night. Be careful of what you wish for, Steve, for surely it might come true – and in the course of a year his father is made redundant and has a fling with a barmaid. His mother leaves home and then starts a psychology degree. Elder brother, Tony, gets a girl pregnant and his sister is arrested for demanding money with menaces. And all that's without the normal problems of being a boy on the cliff edge of puberty.

It's the nineteen seventies and despite the 'swinging sixties' a lot of attitudes have been set in concrete since the last war. Single parent families are social outcasts and it's more acceptable to force young people into a loveless marriage than to acknowledge that there has been sex before the wedding ceremony. The stigma of being in a single parent family extends to the children too. That's how Johnny Nae Da got his nickname. Well, actually, his full nickname is Johnny Nae Da Wan Baw because of an early accident with a glass coffee table, but the second part is rarely mentioned to save the lad's feelings.

Steve's the narrator of the book and at the age of ten he's on that wonderful edge between childish innocence and knowingness:

''Bernie and Fran were the only women who never brought their husbands to Vera and George's lunches. They wore dungarees, shaved their heads and they smoked roll-ups. Dad said they were queer and I could see what he meant. They were definitely a bit odd.''

The transition from childhood is captured perfectly. Steve's at the gawky stage and pretending to be a lot more worldly wise than he really is. He might not know what a shag is but he certainly knows better than to admit as much in front of his mates. And he definitely couldn't be seen talking reasonably to a girl, under any circumstances.

It would be so easy to categorise this book as a comedy of manners, as a social satire or a coming of age book when the truth is that it's all of these things. When that's said about a book, the next sentence is usually a comment that it failed to do any of them well, but that's definitely not the case here. There's the observation of people, the mannerisms caught in a few words and gentle humour which you normally associate with Alan Bennett and a plot which saw me reading into the early hours of the morning to find out what happened to Steve.

I did enjoy this book. I remember the seventies and I remember them as a single parent. Carlos Alba has captured the hypocrisy of the decade perfectly, with the snide comments about the bride's rounded stomach coming from someone who might well have been in the same position herself. The writing is elegant and assured. Sometimes it's laugh-out-loud funny and it would have been easy for the book to descend into farce, to become a collection of good one-liners, but it never does.

I'd like to read more by Carlos Alba, but I have one quibble with the book which he might like to remember before his next work is printed. He's been let down by his publisher. There are a lot of typos which have gone uncorrected or queries from the proof reader which have not been resolved and they're frequent enough to be irritating. It makes a classy book that bit less classy. I'd still like to thank him for sending a copy to the Bookbag though.

For another look at the nineteen seventies, but from a rather different perspective you might like to read our review of [[Paper Houses by Michele Roberts]]

{{amazontext|amazon=1846970474}} {{waterstonestext|waterstones=6053434}}

{{commenthead}}

@@ Line 33: / Line 33: @@
 I'd like to read more by Carlos Alba, but I have one quibble with the book which he might like to remember before his next work is printed.  He's been let down by his publisher.  There are a lot of typos which have gone uncorrected or queries from the proofreader which have not been resolved and they're frequent enough to be irritating.  It makes a classy book that bit less classy.  I'd still like to thank him for sending a copy to the Bookbag though.
-For another look at the nineteen seventies, but from a rather different perspective you might like to read our review of [[Paper Houses by Michele Roberts]]. We also have a review of Alba's [[The Songs of Manolo Escobar by Carlos Alba|The Songs of Manolo Escobar]].
+If this book appeals then we think that you might also enjoy [[Autumn Camp by Barry Fowler]].  For another look at the nineteen seventies, but from a rather different perspective you might like to read our review of [[Paper Houses by Michele Roberts]]. We also have a review of Alba's [[The Songs of Manolo Escobar by Carlos Alba|The Songs of Manolo Escobar]].
 {{amazontext|amazon=1846970474}}

@@ Line 33: / Line 33: @@
 I'd like to read more by Carlos Alba, but I have one quibble with the book which he might like to remember before his next work is printed.  He's been let down by his publisher.  There are a lot of typos which have gone uncorrected or queries from the proofreader which have not been resolved and they're frequent enough to be irritating.  It makes a classy book that bit less classy.  I'd still like to thank him for sending a copy to the Bookbag though.
-For another look at the nineteen seventies, but from a rather different perspective you might like to read our review of [[Paper Houses by Michele Roberts]].
+For another look at the nineteen seventies, but from a rather different perspective you might like to read our review of [[Paper Houses by Michele Roberts]]. We also have a review of Alba's [[The Songs of Manolo Escobar by Carlos Alba|The Songs of Manolo Escobar]].
 {{amazontext|amazon=1846970474}}

@@ Line 33: / Line 33: @@
 I'd like to read more by Carlos Alba, but I have one quibble with the book which he might like to remember before his next work is printed.  He's been let down by his publisher.  There are a lot of typos which have gone uncorrected or queries from the proofreader which have not been resolved and they're frequent enough to be irritating.  It makes a classy book that bit less classy.  I'd still like to thank him for sending a copy to the Bookbag though.
-For another look at the nineteen seventies, but from a rather different perspective you might like to read our review of [[Paper Houses by Michele Roberts]].  When you read ''Kane's Ladder'', you can't help but think of [[Jamie's Keepsake by Michael Gallagher]].
+For another look at the nineteen seventies, but from a rather different perspective you might like to read our review of [[Paper Houses by Michele Roberts]].
 {{amazontext|amazon=1846970474}}

@@ Line 17: / Line 17: @@
 }}
-Steve Duff comes from a good home.  It's not in the best part of Glasgow, but it's definitely separated from Govan by a railway line and the Duffs are buying their house with a mortgage.  The family are well fed and clothed, but is Steve content with his lot?  Of course he's not.  He wants to be like his best mate, Wally, whose parents are drunkards and who isn't even missed if he doesn't go home at night.  Be careful of what you wish for, Steve, for surely it might come true – and in the course of a year his father is made redundant and has a fling with a barmaid.  His mother leaves home and then starts a psychology degree.  Elder brother, Tony, gets a girl pregnant and his sister is arrested for demanding money with menaces.  And all that's without the normal problems of being a boy on the cliff edge of puberty.
+Steve Duff comes from a good home.  It's not in the best part of Glasgow, but it's definitely separated from Govan by a railway line and the Duffs are buying their house with a mortgage.  The family are well fed and clothed, but is Steve content with his lot?  Of course, he's not.  He wants to be like his best mate, Wally, whose parents are drunkards and who isn't even missed if he doesn't go home at night.  Be careful of what you wish for, Steve, for surely it might come true – and in the course of a year, his father is made redundant and has a fling with a barmaid.  His mother leaves home and then starts a psychology degree.  Elder brother, Tony, gets a girl pregnant and his sister is arrested for demanding money with menaces.  And all that's without the normal problems of being a boy on the cliff edge of puberty.
-It's the nineteen seventies and despite the 'swinging sixties' a lot of attitudes have been set in concrete since the last war.  Single parent families are social outcasts and it's more acceptable to force young people into a loveless marriage than to acknowledge that there has been sex before the wedding ceremony.  The stigma of being in a single parent family extends to the children too.  That's how Johnny Nae Da got his nickname.  Well, actually, his full nickname is Johnny Nae Da Wan Baw because of an early accident with a glass coffee table, but the second part is rarely mentioned to save the lad's feelings.
+It's the nineteen seventies and despite the 'swinging sixties' a lot of attitudes have been set in concrete since the last war.  Single-parent families are social outcasts and it's more acceptable to force young people into a loveless marriage than to acknowledge that there has been sex before the wedding ceremony.  The stigma of being in a single-parent family extends to the children too.  That's how Johnny Nae Da got his nickname.  Well, actually, his full nickname is Johnny Nae Da Wan Baw because of an early accident with a glass coffee table, but the second part is rarely mentioned to save the lad's feelings.
 Steve's the narrator of the book and at the age of ten he's on that wonderful edge between childish innocence and knowingness:
@@ Line 25: / Line 25: @@
 ''Bernie and Fran were the only women who never brought their husbands to Vera and George's lunches.  They wore dungarees, shaved their heads and they smoked roll-ups.  Dad said they were queer and I could see what he meant.  They were definitely a bit odd.''
-The transition from childhood is captured perfectly.  Steve's at the gawky stage and pretending to be a lot more worldly wise than he really is.  He might not know what a shag is but he certainly knows better than to admit as much in front of his mates.  And he definitely couldn't be seen talking reasonably to a girl, under any circumstances.
+The transition from childhood is captured perfectly.  Steve's at the gawky stage and pretending to be a lot more worldly-wise than he really is.  He might not know what a shag is but he certainly knows better than to admit as much in front of his mates.  And he definitely couldn't be seen talking reasonably to a girl, under any circumstances.
 It would be so easy to categorise this book as a comedy of manners, as a social satire or a coming of age book when the truth is that it's all of these things.  When that's said about a book, the next sentence is usually a comment that it failed to do any of them well, but that's definitely not the case here.  There's the observation of people, the mannerisms caught in a few words and gentle humour which you normally associate with Alan Bennett and a plot which saw me reading into the early hours of the morning to find out what happened to Steve.
@@ Line 31: / Line 31: @@
 I did enjoy this book.  I remember the seventies and I remember them as a single parent.  Carlos Alba has captured the hypocrisy of the decade perfectly, with the snide comments about the bride's rounded stomach coming from someone who might well have been in the same position herself.  The writing is elegant and assured.  Sometimes it's laugh-out-loud funny and it would have been easy for the book to descend into farce, to become a collection of good one-liners, but it never does.
-I'd like to read more by Carlos Alba, but I have one quibble with the book which he might like to remember before his next work is printed.  He's been let down by his publisher.  There are a lot of typos which have gone uncorrected or queries from the proof reader which have not been resolved and they're frequent enough to be irritating.  It makes a classy book that bit less classy.  I'd still like to thank him for sending a copy to the Bookbag though.
+I'd like to read more by Carlos Alba, but I have one quibble with the book which he might like to remember before his next work is printed.  He's been let down by his publisher.  There are a lot of typos which have gone uncorrected or queries from the proofreader which have not been resolved and they're frequent enough to be irritating.  It makes a classy book that bit less classy.  I'd still like to thank him for sending a copy to the Bookbag though.
-For another look at the nineteen seventies, but from a rather different perspective you might like to read our review of [[Paper Houses by Michele Roberts]]
+For another look at the nineteen seventies, but from a rather different perspective you might like to read our review of [[Paper Houses by Michele Roberts]].  When you read ''Kane's Ladder'', you can't help but think of [[Jamie's Keepsake by Michael Gallagher]].
 {{amazontext|amazon=1846970474}}

@@ Line 4: / Line 4: @@
 |reviewer= Sue Magee
 |genre=General Fiction
-|summary= A look at what it was like to be a child in nineteen-seventies Glasgow is laugh-out-loud funny and poignant by turns.  Elegant writing and a gret plot - highly recommended.
+|summary= A look at what it was like to be a child in nineteen-seventies Glasgow is laugh-out-loud funny and poignant by turns.  Elegant writing and a great plot - highly recommended.
 |rating=4
 |buy= Yes

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-{{infobox
+{{infobox1
 |title= Kane's Ladder
 |author= Carlos Alba
@@ Line 12: / Line 12: @@
 |date= March 2008
 |isbn=978-1846970474
-|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846970474</amazonuk>
+|cover=1846970474
-|amazonus=<amazonus>1846970474</amazonus>
+|aznuk=1846970474
 }}

@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
 |buy= Yes
 |borrow= Yes
 |pages=224
 |publisher= Polygon An Imprint of Birlinn Limited
@@ Line 35: / Line 34: @@
 For another look at the nineteen seventies, but from a rather different perspective you might like to read our review of [[Paper Houses by Michele Roberts]]
 {{amazontext|amazon=1846970474}}
-{{amazontext|amazon=1846970474}} {{waterstonestext|waterstones=6053434}}
+{{amazonUStext|amazon=1846970474}}
 {{commenthead}}

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