Book Review- Going Loco by Lynn Truss

On the face of it, Belinda Johannsen appears to have a lot going for her. The main protagonist of Lynn Truss's novel Going Loco has a blooming writing career, a charming and professionally successful husband, plenty of friends and a spacious house in a pleasant part of south London. However, she also has (or imagines she has) a circus-trained rat doing somersaults in the pit of her stomach. Is this simply a device to alert us to our heroine's mounting urban anxiety- or is the rat, like so much else in this intriguing novel, not quite what it seems?

We will find out on the very last page- but back at the beginning Belinda is not content: she is in fact driving herself half-crazy in an increasingly vain effort to juggle social and domestic commitments with her main writing priority, the production of a definitive study into the use of doubles in literature (such as Jekyll and Hyde and, er, loads more apparently). Wouldn't it be nice- our heroine wonders, as she breaks down in tears while attempting to field a cold call from British Telecom, find her bus fare and get herself and her bulging handbag out of the front door- if she had her own 'double'- someone to take care of social and domestic duties, and leave precious, uninterrupted time to spend at her desk? Wouldn't that be just the perfect solution?

Belinda certainly thinks so. But when she succeeds in securing the services of her best friend's housekeeper, she gets more than just someone to hoover the stair carpet. Linda (the similarity between the names is not insignificant) is also happy to take care of chores such as accompanying Belinda'a mother to the opera, talking to her friends on the 'phone, and even appearing (to great acclaim) on radio chat shows. Soon half of London believes Linda is Belinda, and Belinda, secluded upstairs in the attic working furiously on her great literary work, seems not to care one jot.

However (you will not be surprised to learn) this apparently cosy arrangement is not as harmless as it seems. Linda- who defines herself as someone who 'abhors a vacuum, like nature'- seems to take it has her duty to take care of any part of Belinda's life that its rightful owner seems neglectful of- possibly including her marriage- and soon it is doubtful whether Belinda has an identity any more, or even a life worth living. And there is more, because if Linda's motives are questionable, then so (it seems) is the actual identity of Belinda's husband, Sven Johannsen- is he really just a harmless Swedish geneticist, or could he be an impostor? Could be even be (and this is where the plot starts to take a macabre turn) the result of a Scandinavian cloning experiment gone horribly wrong?

As the pace begins to quicken, it is time for a strong cast of supporting characters to drive the plot forward as, in an increasingly bewildering chain of events, they follow each other from London to Malmo, Sweden, and back again. Along the way there is treachery, betrayal and even murder- but the dizzying chain of events is handled with such skip-a-long dexterity by Truss (whose ear for the absurdites of everyday conversation never goes AWOL) that we are prepared to follow her even when the rate of outlandish plot developments rises to approximately three per page. By the time of the hectic denouement we (I mean every surviving member of the cast) are back where we started- at Belinda's Battersea abode. But even now, not everyone is going to get out alive- and, of course, this being ultimately a very tidily-put-together piece of work- we are going to find out exactly what that rat-in-the-stomach thing was all about.

Going Loco, then, starts out as a domestic comedy on familiar lines, develops (I will not say descends- the shift is too cleverly handled) into classic farce, then moves into thriller mode, before depositing its characters- well most of them- back where they started, except a bit battered, and a lot wiser. And none more so than Belinda, who has learnt (and in doing so, taught us) the central lesson of this unusually thought-provoking comic novel: that you can sometimes get a little bit too much of what you think you want.

If you admired Truss's more-celebrated Eats, Shoots and Leaves, then you will probably admire this too. But it is a novel worth recommending to anyone who appreciates high-class comic writing. It brings to mind at first the eye for contemporary detail of Helen Fielding, then the hectic invention of Tom Sharpe, while always retaining something of the gentle touch of early Muriel Spark. It is not a simple book- but it is, quite simply, a delight.

Comments

[Martin Q]

I read this review two days ago, promptly got onto Amazon.co.uk and bought the book for a bargain £0.01 (plus £2.75 p&p). It arrived this morning, and I read the first five pages while eating a late breakfast. Even in those introductory paragraphs I almost spat my Asda Strawberry Crisp cereal out with laughter... thanks for your excellent review of an apparently excellent book.

More please!

[jonathan]

Mind there's a blast from the past- I had almost forgotten my brief forary into book reviewing, but I am glad it has inspired you to pick up this bargain. Mind that postage isn't cheap though, I don't remember Going Loco being a particularly weighty tome...

I have thought at times of doing a few more reviews (I have read the odd book since July 2004!), but there have always been other things to write about. But time permitting, I may try to write one one or two more in the coming months..

In the meantime if it is intelligent literary criticism you are after, some of the best I have found in blogland is at Silent Words Speak Loudest (see the sidebar..), home of my fellow Northumbrian Ben. You'll be spending all your hard-earned pennies (and harder-earned £2.85s) on his recommendations in no time...