The Outcast - Sadie Jones

The Author: Sadie Jones was born in London in 1967. Her father is Jamaican poet and screenwriter Evan Jones and her mother an actress. Her friends left to go to University and she took up a variety of jobs and then travelled. After travelling she settled down in London and spent several years as a screenwriter before writing her first novel The Outcast.

The Review: The book a reccommendation by Joan Bakewell and offered in the selection was anticipated to be good. The book was an easy read with a relaxed style of writing. It held most peoples interest with the subject matter around parental attachment, loss risk and transgression and held the promise and raised expectations that an insightful story line would be revealed. Many felt the characters were underdeveloped and unconvincing. This included Lewis the main character who stays child-like and in observer mode with no inkling of responsibility or engagement to change his life or take the risk of being different and resolving what is bothering him as he grows up. He demonstrated a general rage that festers inside him and is focused on authority and his father figures.



There is a complex theme of bereavement and guilt around the circumstances of death of his mother, the brutal approach of the police and the indifference of his father result in an inrovert and repressively angry individual. It was felt that the mother's character was fun and lively and sensitive to her child did not stretch the imagination, further than that although combined with the separation and terse reunion with the father, and claustrophobic and deadening routines of family life (meal times, please and thank you) provided a rich source for insecure attachment and psychological immobilisation.



Some members of the group were keen to place the behaviours of the families into the context of the 1950's, demonstrated by the parenting style, emotional deprivations, and class and lifestyle references. Although these were were not overplayed, the over all feel of the book was that it tried to do too many things by addressing too many issues. The step-incestuous scene showed the kind of dsiassociation of the character throughout the book and perhaps a useful literary device to show the full impact of being lonely, isolated, cut off and how a lack of fulfillment can be displaced on both parts and lead to distructive behaviours.



The group felt that it was good first novel for the author although the view was that it was a bit gimmicky, if these strong emotional topics are to covered they need much more research and simplicity in delivery.

The books put forward for selection are:

Olive Route - Carol Drinkwater

Short Stories/Licks of Love - John Updike

Longitude - Dava Sobel

The Four Loves - CS Lewis

The Man Who broke Napoleons Code - Mark Urban


The selected book is ............ Longitude by Dava Sobel