We All Live in a House Called Innocence

Rating:
Summary: James gets a life!
Review: James Morrison (never Jim, because that was already taken) is in a rut. Approaching thirty, with a routine and unchallenging job as a librarian, he's meandering along in a predictable and passionless long-term relationship. He's tall, skinny, uninspired and uninspiring and he knows it.

James' routine explodes with a burst of "Wild Thing", the old Troggs number, loudly sung in the library. When James tracks the singing to the source, he meets Tad, seemingly an unlikely catalyst for change. Wheelchair bound, a victim of osteogenesis imperfecta, Tad insists on living his life to the fullest potential possible, and determines to force James to take a good, hard look at himself and his life.

Originally published in 1992, this book is set in London, England at the end of the 1980s. Tad lives in a sheltered house for people with various disabilities, strangely named Innocence. He actually attributed the name by winning a residents' naming competition, paying homage (too obscurely for me) to D.H. Lawrence. The book's title, therefore, none-too-subtly conveys that we are all crippled in some way, if not physically, then almost certainly emotionally.

James, who realises he has no friends, accepts Tad's friendship with surprising, confronting and challenging results. Inviting Tad to dinner at his flat proves disastrous, since he lives upstairs (no lift) and his live-in girlfriend, Ruth, has furnished the place with designer, but wheelchair unfriendly, objects and has cooked very unfriendly food. Prompted by a conversation with Tad, who earlier revealed himself as a writer of sexy articles for homosexual pornographic magazines, James attempts to live out one of his sexual fantasies, with totally unexpected results. Ruth takes to the fantasy with much more abandon than James, who finds he's in reality quite unadventurous and almost prudish. However, the inevitable separation from Ruth forces him to re-evaluate his life, his needs, desires and goals, and to move on.

This book is charming, witty and sexy. The characters are beautifully drawn and deliciously developed. Without becoming hamstrung by the whole "political correctness" thing, disabilities are handled in a thoughtful, but self deprecating way. Tad is wryly amused by his situation, and really considers James to be the disabled one.

If you can find it, give it a read. I've also read "Twenty Twenty" by Nigel Watts, a more recent book which doesn't appear on this site, but which prompted me to look for more by this author.

Rating:
Summary: James gets a life!
Review: James Morrison (never Jim, because that was already taken) is in a rut. Approaching thirty, with a routine and unchallenging job as a librarian, he's meandering along in a predictable and passionless long-term relationship. He's tall, skinny, uninspired and uninspiring and he knows it.

James' routine explodes with a burst of "Wild Thing", the old Troggs number, loudly sung in the library. When James tracks the singing to the source, he meets Tad, seemingly an unlikely catalyst for change. Wheelchair bound, a victim of osteogenesis imperfecta, Tad insists on living his life to the fullest potential possible, and determines to force James to take a good, hard look at himself and his life.

Originally published in 1992, this book is set in London, England at the end of the 1980s. Tad lives in a sheltered house for people with various disabilities, strangely named Innocence. He actually attributed the name by winning a residents' naming competition, paying homage (too obscurely for me) to D.H. Lawrence. The book's title, therefore, none-too-subtly conveys that we are all crippled in some way, if not physically, then almost certainly emotionally.

James, who realises he has no friends, accepts Tad's friendship with surprising, confronting and challenging results. Inviting Tad to dinner at his flat proves disastrous, since he lives upstairs (no lift) and his live-in girlfriend, Ruth, has furnished the place with designer, but wheelchair unfriendly, objects and has cooked very unfriendly food. Prompted by a conversation with Tad, who earlier revealed himself as a writer of sexy articles for homosexual pornographic magazines, James attempts to live out one of his sexual fantasies, with totally unexpected results. Ruth takes to the fantasy with much more abandon than James, who finds he's in reality quite unadventurous and almost prudish. However, the inevitable separation from Ruth forces him to re-evaluate his life, his needs, desires and goals, and to move on.

This book is charming, witty and sexy. The characters are beautifully drawn and deliciously developed. Without becoming hamstrung by the whole "political correctness" thing, disabilities are handled in a thoughtful, but self deprecating way. Tad is wryly amused by his situation, and really considers James to be the disabled one.

If you can find it, give it a read. I've also read "Twenty Twenty" by Nigel Watts, a more recent book which doesn't appear on this site, but which prompted me to look for more by this author.