The novelist Hanif Kureishi is perhaps better known as a screenwriter, and his credits include indie faves such as Sammy and Rosie Get Laid and My Beautiful Launderette. He has also written books, including The Buddha of Suburbia and this novel, Gabriel's Gift.
Gabriel's Gift is the story of a teenage boy who's family is falling apart. His rarely employed father, a former member of a superstar musician's band, is not supporting his family. His mother, understandably resentful of his lazy ways, decides to toss him out the door. Gabriel retreats into his imagination, where he has conversations with his dead twin. Things are going poorly for Gabriel until he meets the rock star his father once played for, Lester Jones. Jones, a David Bowie-esque glam rocker from the seventies, gives Gabriel a drawing, and the ownership of this drawing sets into motion a chain of events that change Gabriel, and his family, forever.
This is a very light-hearted book that is very easy to digest in a couple of extended sittings. For some reason, I am always drawn to stories about Britain's lower-middle class. Kureishi is a strong storyteller, and it is no surprise that there is a cinematic quality to his writing. This one left me with a very good feeling and is a great one to take on the plane or to the beach. As a musician, I especially enjoyed the meditations on the nature of creativity and self-expression, which form the basis for the action of the plot.
2 comments:
This is the first book I've read by Kureishi, and I was astonished by the light tone and happy ending. About a week after I finished it, I read an article about him that referred the massive amounts of hardcore sex in his novels, so I'm thinking this one might not be typical?
This is the first for me as well, so that may be the case. I guess when one of his films is called "Sammy and Rosie Get Laid" it shouldn't come as a surprise!
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