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3 Stars

Written entirely in the Scottish vernacular this book will either draw the reader in or completely throw them out. I was drawn in. While on the surface the story may appear bleak it is actually very humorous and Sammy’s encounter’s with bureaucracy is so well drawn I felt like I was in the office with him.

This is a story with a seedy background hidden behind a heart of gold.

I got to the end of the book and thought WTF did I just read? I have no clue what happened but I enjoyed the ride.

This is a story of a few days in the life of an ex-convict, alcoholic man. On a bender over the weekend, Sammy wakes up, gets beat up by law enforcement, realizes he is blind and is under suspicion by the legal authorities because of a possible contact with a man of interest to the law enforcement. The story is stream of consciousness told in Glaswegian dialect with excessive amounts of vulgarities.
Sammy is newly blind, he is without any help that he can trust until his son shows up towards the end. And at that point, Sammy takes on role of father and tells his son a story that downplays the troubles. Sammy's goal has now become to escape,to get away from the system, law enforcement, etc. He wants this so bad that he leaves a shelter, his belongings, and takes what little money he can get his hands off and "...then the door slammed shut and that was him, out of sight." Rating 3.8 stars.

I gave it 4 stars because Kelman, the author managed to make an alcoholic, foul-mouthed, criminal be understandable to this reader. The reader spends almost the whole book inside Sammy's head as he navigates being newly blind, fails to navigate finding out what happened to his girlfriend, fails to adequately navigate the bureaucracy of Scotland's government benefit offices and yet does manage to find some very limited independence. The language is extremely vulgar but works to give you insight into Sammy. It was a unique book and as Book says - quite a ride.

I originally gave this one 3 stars, but just bumped it up to 4 the more I thought about it. Which is to say, I enjoyed it alright, but I think reflecting on it closer is required to really admire everything put in there and why it won the Booker prize.

The use of Glaswegian vernacular and only describing what the blind narrator himself can see both add to a sense of realism and empathy for the main character.

The blindness within exists all as a reinforcement about the horror of police brutality, a metaphor for how the listless plan-less Sammy drifts through his life, and a greater metaphor for the ability to see oneself and for oneself that is lost under structural oppression. This exists both on the immediate level of the police against the working class (and other barriers to needed public services as well), and the English political and cultural occupation of the Scottish identity.

This is a cleverly written account of a week in the life of a petty criminal who has a drinking problem, who is so severely beaten up by off duty police that he becomes blind, who is incapable of navigating the welfare system to his advantage but who, despite all this, is resourceful, stoical and brave. It is written in a stream-of-consciousness style in the Glaswegian vernacular, full of obscenities and repetition, but brilliantly effective, as far as I can judge. Despite the grim predicament of the protagonist, it is an enjoyable read as the reader cannot help hoping that something good will happen for Sammy.

Rating: 4 stars

On the surface this is a difficult to read book about a drunk protagonist with little going for him. Digging deeper, this is actually quite brilliant. It reminds me in ways of Trainspotting. Once I got into the flow of the vernacular, I found it much easier to navigate.