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5.0 out of 5 stars
Youthful aggression, ageless compassion, Mar 25 2003
Often when punk music and culture appear in print or on film, the effect or purpose is either to deride the scene altogether as an unruly mob of foolish and destructive delinquents, or alternately as a sad celebration of an ideal doomed to failure. British author John King's Human Punk, however, stands out as a more genuine coming-of-age story, prominently featuring the fictional Joe Martin's punk rock lifestyle without passing judgment on the phenomenon itself. For many teenagers growing up around the London suburbs in 1977, punk is a way of life. Joe and friends Chris, Dave and Smiles get off on listening to the Clash, stomping poseur fashion punks with steel-toed DMs, wooing bleach-blonde girls at the dance clubs, and joyriding into London to catch the best concerts. Told from Joe's perspective, the story follows the boys as they get into trouble with girls, drugs, the police, and elder punk rocker Gary Wells, who tosses Joe and Smiles in a canal with lasting and tragic consequences. Eleven years later, in 1988, Joe returns to England after years spent working in a Hong Kong bar when shocking news draws him back to hometown Slough. On the train ride through China, Russia, and Germany, he contemplates the injustices of human society in the context of reminiscences of fading childhood friendships. By the time Joe's story wraps up in the year 2000, Joe discovers that idle decisions affect legacies, and that some wrongs should not be forgiven. As a study of boot-boy counterculture, what makes Human Punk interesting is that it is not about punk at all. To be sure, the music and influence is there, but King's novel focuses on characterization, creating a believable band of friends who have the qualities of punk rockers but are by no means emblematic or representative of the movement as a whole. With an emphasis on the "human," King is able to portray with a natural continuity the chronicles of an anarchist, as Joe does not "turn establishment" as he ages but rather matures and develops within his punk rock mind frame. King's novel feels like an oral account, as if the reader is along with Chris, Dave, and Smiles to hear Joe's story. This approach certainly has its strengths and weaknesses. On the one hand, it allows a more intimate and first hand understanding of life in Slough as seen through the main character's eyes, and multi-page stream of consciousness passages give a sense of immediacy to the events describe. Unfortunately, these same stream of consciousness passages are sometimes difficult to follow from leap to quantum leap, and occasionally the chronology of events discussed in flashback are difficult to place. American readers will find an added obstacle in deciphering the numerous Anglicanisms, which when added to 1970s punk jargon can make Human Punk read a bit like A Clockwork Orange. This challenge can be surmounted relatively easily by paying attention to context, but remains somewhat distracting. John King's Human Punk provides a valuable snapshot of a particular cultural phenomenon at a particular moment in time. Joe's experiences blend youthful aggression with ageless compassion, fortified by a raw honesty that would make his punk idols spit with pride. The book is rough, at times sloppy, and may very well be distasteful to upstanding members of society. Just as it should be. >This review originally appeared in a college newspaper, back in the day.
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