The Lunatic Son by Jack C Whitehead
Paperback published 16th April 2021
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It’s 1969 and mankind is shooting for the moon. Meet Tom Grey, the new Bob Dylan, a dreamer, a would-be village Hemingway and misplaced romantic. He’s smart, he’s witty – and totally lost between his own barely shaped dreams and his stubborn father’s vain pursuit of his own faded ambitions. Increasingly estranged from his parent the tension between them strains his lifelong friendship with Matt Graham, a talented boxer who Tom’s father mentors as a surrogate for his son, who has failed to embrace his father’s love for the sport, or to exhibit more than an average ability at it.
The disintegration of both Tom’s key relationships is accelerated when he reluctantly agrees to act as go-between for Gwen, Matt’s pregnant ex-girlfriend. This further alienates his friend and, as his own confused feelings for Gwen develop, other complications arise that leave Tom feeling increasingly isolated from family and other friends. At the same time he finds himself sucked into an unsatisfactory sexual relationship with an older woman alarmingly steeped in the counter-culture of the decade. As he stumbles through the no-man’s land between lust and love, he casts an often humorously jaundiced eye on life as an intelligent working–class youth coming of age in a small mining community in South Yorkshire (affectionately referred to as the Socialist Republic at the time and still), peopled by eccentric peers and teachers, demanding parents, and nosy neighbours.
Can love save him, or will it just confuse him even more as it lays bare the predatory shallowness of his closest friendships and the barrenness of relationships lived purely on the physical level? As events move towards a catastrophic conclusion he learns the hard way that being cool while keeping your cool is not an easy tune to strum when you’re weighed down by and struggling against all the prejudices, uncertainties and predatory instincts ingrained by upbringing and peer pressure.
Tom has the arrogance and self-importance of youth, but they don’t keep reality at bay forever. When Gwen, the girl with the Titian hair crashes into his life, all his poetic intelligence, cultural heroes and wry cynicism won’t help one bit.
MY REVIEW
I loved the cover as it reflects the three main young characters, Tom, who plays guitar, Matt who does boxing and redheaded Gwen.
I really loved reading The Lunatic Son, as the author got everything spot on, in the way teenagers talk, it was easy to hear the voices of each character. I specially liked the way the author has it exactly right what kind of things that teenagers do and what was planned out for all the characters that feel so real-life.
At the age of thirteen Tom is just like some of the thirteen year old’s today he started smoking.
When Tom reached eighteen he was into poetry and was the next up coming novelist and when he wasn’t writing he loved listening to music and rocking out playing his guitar.
He was like all teenagers arguing with his father who run a boxing club, that Tom had no interest in, that infuriated his father.
I did feel sorry for Tom, as not all son’s want to do the same thing their father does for a living or taking up the same hobby. I felt Tom’s father was out of line being impatient with his own son for failing to be the son that he had always wanted and for failing to love his father’s favourite sport of boxing.
Tom has known Gwen Lewis for years, and he has known Matt Graham, since the first day at infant school. Red headed Gwen starts to date his best friend Matt who is rather cocky and loves himself a bit too much.
The story becomes painful and quite believable Gwen is about to drop a bombshell, she tells Tom that is pregnant by Matt and they have broken up, she wants Tom to let Matt know that she is having Matt’s baby.
But I think it far too late for Gwen as Matt has moved on to another girl and he is far more in love with boxing, which leads to his mega big ego with not having care in the world for Gwen saying she’s pregnant by him.
So many theories started racing through my inquisitive brain making me wonder, will Gwen keep her baby? and if she is going to, will Matt finally go back with Gwen? or is Matt really determined to have nothing further more to do with Gwen.
As I was glued to the story about Gwen expecting a baby I thought, of another option, perhaps Tom will help Gwen? I then began to question myself, what if no one helps Gwen, how will she cope brining up a baby on her own?
This story made me feel like I just wanted to give Pregnant Gwen Lewis a cuddle and tell her I’m okay with whatever you decide.
I highly recommend reading The Lunatic Son by Jack Whitehead as it takes you on an unhurried journey leaving your mind boggle into what is going to happen next.
ABOUT AUTHOR JACK C WHITEHEAD
Born on a mountain top in Tennessee … no, wait that was Davy Crockett, wasn’t it? Start again, born on a slag heap in Denaby Main, South Yorkshire, well nearly. Just down the road in Mexborough actually, born at home in a terraced house in the era of rationing and holy pullovers. Abandoned by the fairies he was brought up in a working class home full of love and spam, and like many of his generations got stuck on the barbed wire of the No Man’s Land between his working class roots and the middle class aspirations of the local grammar school, where he learned to love Ted Hughes or else. Always wanted to be a writer, or Batman, but was held back for years by the petty prejudices of publishers and law enforcement. Under his secret identity he writes witty, erudite detective stories in the manner of Raymond Chandler, Robert B. Parker and Darcy Sarto. Whitehead is not his real name, though he is of the old Denaby blood royal through his mother’s side of the family. Close friends still get go call him TC (clue) and he can be amusing but gets banned from Facebook frequently for failing to be as funny as he thinks he is. He blames this on the lack of a good woman in his life – so if you know anybody that likes a challenge…
I would like to thank The book network for inviting me to take part in the blog tour.
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