Ich hab die folgende Rezension fuers hiesige Literaturfestival geschrieben, daher ist sie auf englisch. Im Moment hab ich leider keine Zeit es zu uebersetzen, werd es aber sicherlich nachholen, spaetestens wenn das Buch in deutscher Uebersetzung erscheint.
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The WordFest bookshelf may seem small but can offer you a glimpse into the huge world of literary experience. Sometimes, I might pick something from a familiar genre, sometimes I go for something well outside my comfort zone.
Max Schaefer's debut “Children of the Sun” definitely falls into the latter category. What could be further away from my own life experience, i.e. that of a pretty liberal minded married women, than that of a gay skinhead living in Britain during the 1970s and 1980s?!?! An exciting book cover and a text that includes copies of newsprint from those times promise an interesting perspective into a very strange world.
Schaefer gives us two fictional storylines, alternating between Tony, a young skinhead and clandestine gay and his life during the 1970s and 1980s, and James who is openly gay living with his boyfriend in London in 2003, and starts research for a film project on the life of Nicky Crane, a real-life neo-Nazi and openly gay man who died of Aids in the early 1990s. Tonys life is filled with violence and secretive encounters. James, who narrates his experiences in the 1st person appears as a middle class young man whose growing fascination with the neo-Nazi subculture worries his friends.
I was quite impressed how Schaefer uses language to immerse the reader into those different worlds that over time become closer and closer. Tony's dialogues are rough and violent, James much more intellectual and emotional. In addition to this are the copies of far-right newsprints as well as a few regular newspapers.
The result is that the characters have time to develop on their own in a very non-judgemental way. Some of the most memorable scenes for me are ones where skinhead Tony beats up an innocent black man or tries to pick up a young man for a one-nighter - and I feel like I'm right in his head seeing the world through his eyes. I feel sympathy for him on his way to prison more so than for the poor black guy who'll end up in the hospital.
The intent of this book is quite ambitious and creates some very memorable scenes. But in parts Schaefer doesn't quite reach his ambitious goal. As much as I like the intent of using language and style to describe the different worlds it sometimes makes for some very difficult reading. There are words that are unfamiliar to me (British?), too many names and fractions of different neo-Nazi groups to keep track of, dialogues that hint at something but not quite tell me what's going on. Considering that most readers will find the world described in the book utterly foreign there need to be more explicit explanations to make sense of it. More social context and family background for the skins could have been quite beneficial.
In conclusion, I'm very glad that I picked up this book giving me an insight into a foreign world that we all need to be able to better understand. Some more editing could have really helped to take this book from a very good one into an outstanding one.
