Book review: Life Subtracted, by David Hailwood
Derivative, certainly, but an entertaining fantasy fiction read anyway.
Millions of people have the words and scenes of popular entertainment stuck in their heads and can probably recite snippets of that old stuff to you. The fantasy and absurdity we grow up with helps to shape the sense of humour people carry around within them, always. It’s the inner voice that gees us along and memories that put a smile back on our faces instantly. “He’s not the Messiah. He’s just a very naughty boy.” Good times. This author is clearly no different as he’s re-worked obscure lines and scenes from classic sources into this book. Did he intend us to notice? That practice loses the appreciation of the audience if it is blatant lifting but perhaps warms the audience’s feelings of nostalgia and connection to the author if they feel they’ve spotted a detail that only a ‘Trufan’ would find. I think I have to give the author the benefit of the doubt and say the latter because, by the end, I liked this madcap story and he has done most of the creativity on his own.
The Holy Grail’s Black Knight duel scene echoes here, but arguably “have at thee” was snatched from Shakespeare’s Henry VI long before by the Pythons. There’s quite a lot in common with The Life of Brian too, with the everyman character being mistaken for the Messiah and then familiar lines, close to “Nice one, centurion”. The Hitch-hiker’s Guide is another influence, with a repeat of Arthur Dent’s line on first seeing a Vogon ship “What the hell’s that?”, the professor character having more than a suggestion of Slartibartfast, the professor misquoting Marvin the Paranoid Android’s line “It pains me to think down to your level”, the imminent destruction of planet Earth and then a scene near the end where the Earth is new and seemingly Neanderthals skulk amongst the trees, plus a couple more familiar forms of words I’ve since forgotten. There’s the Terry Pratchett thing where a character is claiming to be something unlikely and then holds up a random piece of cutlery or something as evidence. We even get a Red Dwarf “awooga”.
I have no complaint to make about the ‘Everyman’ character of Anthony/Colin because this is a common British anti-hero form (Brian, Rincewind, Lister, Arthur Dent), which originated in The Plain Man’s Pathway to Heaven, written by Arthur Dent (1601), so that’s fine for everyone to re-use in the same way that Hollywood can’t do without the ‘born on a farm, inherited unique skills, is tested, becomes a hero, is given a kingdom’ form copied from Gilgamesh (2,100 BC).
Okay, that reads as a heartless demolition but the reality is that I don’t think the book is particularly damaged by this stuff intruding into the story. The author’s tastes in entertainment come through here but they are very often aligned to the comedy fiction readership’s preferences anyway. He has probably written a book to entertain himself and is lucky in this case as it’s the same kind of story readers like me are into. I think you might be taken back to happier times if you gave this book a go because this plot has more to it than most fantasy paperbacks you’re likely to encounter.
