The Northern Clemency - Review

I just finished reading The Northern Clemency by Philip Hensher. I had to read it quickly over the Christmas holidays because the library wanted it back. Well, actually it's a bit late. (It's a big book). Anyway, here's a quick review. It's a kind of thinking persons domestic saga set in Sheffield during the late 70s through to the early 90s (following the early Thatcher years and the Miner's strike among other events). The story centres around a couple of families in a middle-class subdivision or housing estate in Sheffield. There is a wonderful domestic quality to the story as the two main families' lives unfold and intertwine. In the midst of their growing is the Thatcher's war with Arthur Scargill and the unions during the early 80s. A conflict that changed the face of England, particularly the North. The political events serve as a backdrop rather than any kind of focus to the story, or so it seems. He writes with amazing detail and insight about family life, and what are essentially relatively mediocre events in the lives of a few people are written with a sensitive and interesting perspective that kept me focused. His attention to the details of life in the North is a bit of a nostalgia trip for me. I think he documents well how fashions, food and people were changed during the period. (He seems fascinated by the development of food - in particular, finger food. We read how the sophistication of the buffet moves from potatoes wrapped in tin foil with sausages on sticks, through sushi, to prawn cocktail being eaten satirically on a restaurant's 70s night). Although I liked the characters, none stood out as particularly interesting, except as children. I felt the women characters (all of them) were two-dimensional and stereotypical and, for me, this was the biggest weakness in the novel. The men characters were given more depth and development (but not that much). I felt the novel could have been shorter. It seemed as though there was a lot of "filler" description. I'd sometimes read a couple of pages and wonder how it related to the rest of the book, only to find out that, in my view, it didn't. Anyway, I did enjoy it. I come from the north of England and grew up in the time period Hensher writes about, that added to my enjoyment. Having said that, if it wasn't the case, I'm not sure I would have liked it so much. It was kind of Dickensian in scope, but lacking the ability to really bring to life any of the myriad of characters. In Amazon style, I'll give it 4 out of 5 starts. It was well written. Now onto A Prayer for Owen Meany. One of those books that's been hanging out on my "must-read" list for years.