One christening and a funeral. (Little Bits of Baby - Patrick Gale)

Name: pje

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Product:	Little Bits of Baby - Patrick Gale
Date:	11/03/02 (103 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: No murders.

Disadvantages: No murders.

Patrick Gale sometimes describes himself as "England's westernmost writer" as he lives on his boyfriend's farm near Land's End in Cornwall.
He was born [and I don't want to hear any tittering here] in Camp Hill Prison on the Isle of Wight, where his father was the governor. (Rather embarrassingly, his father was also in charge of Wandsworth jail when Ronnie Biggs escaped.)

His first novel, written on the back of an order pad while he was working as a singing waiter, rejoiced in the title: "The Aerodynamics of Pork" and, bizarrely, was published simultaneously with his second novel ("Ease"). He had published seven books by the age of twenty-eight, and he has never had "a proper job" - doesn't it make you sick? "Little Bits of Baby"
(published in 1989) was his fifth novel, his most recent book (his ninth) "Rough Music" came out (so to speak) last year.

I borrowed this from a library hereabouts and, interestingly the last page was still uncut despite having been borrowed seven times by the people
of Sherwood, where it had originally been shelved. Sherwood library get
all the new books first, before any of the libraries in my less posh part of the city, this annoys me - especially now I know they don't even read 'em! But perhaps folks thereabouts weren't broadminded enough to appreciate this novel.

The central character is Robin Maitland, who's been living in a monastery on an island called Whelm for the last eight years - having hardly left his room in the first five. But he returns to the outside world when he's invited to be a godparent to the baby of his childhood friend Candida Thackeray (now a breakfast television presenter) and her hubby Jake Browne. Perdita Margaux, as the poor mite is to be named, is their second child - their first, Jasper, a spoilt-rotten six-year-old, has never been christened, but he isn't b
othered because, as he puts it: "God's all crap mummy."

Robin and Candida met Jake at University, and, as the saying goes: two's company, three's a crowd... There was a major falling-out between them, and this led to Robin running away to Whelm. When he arrives at the christening, that 'eyes-meeting-across-a-crowded-room' thing happens, and romance ensues - but from a different direction...

Let's stop hanging around the bushes, this ain't exactly a straight novel.

A number of interesting characters are developed as the past and present are unwoven before our eyes:- Luke, who befriended Robin on Whelm; Robin's parents Andrea and Peter, whose lifestyle has changed following the 'loss' of their son; and Andrea's friend Faber Washington, a painter, and his adopted twelve-year-old daughter, Iras, who's writing a book!
The title stems from Iras mishearing Nina Simone's version of the song "He's Got The Whole World In His Hands" - with "itsy-bitsy..." becoming "little bits of..." thus:

~ He's got little bits of baby in his hands...
~ He's got the whole world in his hands.


Style-wise this is a very easy, entertaining, read. The nearest comparison that springs to mind is Joanna Trollope (Yes, I admit it, I read one of her books once, but I swear I didn't inhale.)

I admired the way that black, blind and gay characters are well-rounded BEFORE any reference is made to their colour, disability or sexuality.
The author obviously enjoys taking readers by surprise, only introducing those details AFTER the character is established. He doesn't define his characters by WHAT they are, but by WHO they are and what they do.

Gale's books are eagerly anticipated by Armistead Maupin among others, and he is also one of the writers who have contributed a short story to the book "Girls Night Ou
t/Boys Night In" in aid of the charity War Child.


¶ Paperback: £6.99 ¶ ISBN: 0586090606 ¶ pp 320 ¶
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