SCOTTISH BOOK OF THE WEEK

Bleak by R.M Murray, Saraband £9.99

This book’s blurb describes Bleak as a “memoir…of sorts”. It is unlike any memoir I have read before and I mean that entirely as a compliment. Through an assembly of personal stories and vignettes, we are given a snapshot overview of Murray’s life. From his childhood spent fishing and misbehaving on the Isle of Lewis. To his time at Glasgow School of Art, where he performed in a band with Peter Capaldi. To the gaining of his position as Head of Visual Art and Literature at An Lanntair arts centre in Stornoway.

Rarely has a book (or life) contained more misfortune than Murray’s. No subject is off limits as he shovels back through a lifetime of blunders. Dreary, injury-filled fishing trips. Getting beaten up by “a bunch of neds”. A teacher who wields the belt with a “windmill arm”. Finding a sheep in the living room. Nor does he shy away from the emotional big-hitters, touching upon themes such as alcoholism and miscarriage.

However, the word bleak does not allude to the writing at all, which is candid, relatable and astoundingly funny. Murray has a rich, descriptive style and a wry, self-depreciating tone. He gives us a sensory experience, from the “saltine slap” of the ocean, to the “mobile, airless greenhouse” of a bus in the summer. His personality is palpable on the page – he could easily be telling us these tales over a pint or two.

The memoir maps Murray’s life, but also the Isle of Lewis and beyond. Place, ideas of home, and gentrification are central themes. The stories told on Lewis are full of detail, and interspersed with Gaelic sayings, names and places. Murray’s interest in a place and its people continues throughout the various settings of the book, from Capri to the “feral” streets of 1970s Glasgow.

The middle sections of the book are an ode to punk music; the musicians, the clubs, and the mad lifestyle. From a David Bowie concert with “be-denimed bodies pinging like popcorn”, to the escapades of his own band. Alongside the musical influences are references to an array of artists, films, poets, writers and pop-culture. Everything from Gatsby to “Homer (Simpson)”.

By self-admission, this book is not a fable of grand proportions or “XXL experiences”. But given the enormity of a global pandemic, it is these local and relatable human experiences that bond us together when it’s needed most.