Rumours of a hurricane

by Tim Lott

Book by Lott, Tim

Genres: Fiction, British Literature

377 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Tim Lott is the author of seven novels and a memoir, The Scent of Dried Roses, which won the PEN/J.R. Ackerley Prize. White City Blue won the Whitbread First Novel Award and his young adult book Fearless was shortlisted for the Guardian Children's Book Award. Tim lives with his family in north-west London.

Reviews

[Veronica · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Compassionate, tragic and heartbreakingly beautiful ... I cannot remember reading a more exhilarating or emotionally affecting novel" claimed the Independent's reviewer. My first thought was "Hasn't this person read Anna Karenina then?" Even Jonathan Coe describes it as an "epic narrative of the Thatcher years" -- a bit rich coming from the author of the ultimate 80s epic.

As usual the hype is overdone, and unfair to a good but not great novel. It tells the story of Charlie and Maureen Buck from 3 May 1979 until a fateful day in 1991. Charlie is a compositor at Times Newspapers and Maureen his dutiful, stay-at-home wife. Lott's theme is change:

Things change ... things are change ... this reality is, at the end of the 1970s, still under the carpet. People are beginning to trip up on it; but looking round, they are still puzzled by the cause of their bruises.

Unfortunately this lovely metaphor isn't typical of the writing, which is a bit leaden and clumsy in places. The first chapter goes a bit overboard on the brand names to convey the 1980s atmosphere, rather like those "sex and shopping" novels also typical of the decade: the Triumph Toledo Charlie drives, his Tuf Big T boots, the cans of Double Diamond, the Goblin Teasmade by the bed ... but Lott does do a good job of charting the ups and downs of the 1980s in the lives of ordinary people, even if the symbolism is a bit heavy-handed at times (such as the hurricane which destroys Charlie's treasured model railway, his private, unchanging world, and gives the book its title). Charlie is someone who cannot change, in fact doesn't even realise that it's necessary to change, while as the decade progresses Maureen gradually comes out of her shell, loses her inhibitions, and grasps the opportunities that present themselves. So the tragic ending is inevitable -- as far as Thatcherism is concerned, Charlie is just detritus who no doubt deserves his fate.

Well worth reading, even if it doesn't match up to What A Carve Up which to me still completely sums up the 1980s. And definitely more evocative and genuine for me than the skilful but unpleasant The Line of Beauty.

On second reading, I liked it better than the first. Skilfully drawn characters, who do not (quite) tip into caricature.

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of all the novels about 1980s Britain - The Child in Time, Money, What A Carve Up! - this still strikes me as the best. But its spell is hard to account for. There are no mini-essays tacked onto the story, no brashness, no 'post-modern' narrative trickery. The main characters are as ordinary and well-worn as an old carpet. But in the background, a lot is going on.

Change is the novel's main theme, but also its major challenge. The biggest changes in life are gradual, the ones people rarely notice, let alone put into words. Yet cumulatively they build up, with the driving force of a natural disaster, the 'hurricane' of the title. Showing them without being clunky at best, or condescending at worst, is quite a technical feat. An ordinary life is more revealing than any political sermon, and far messier.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Instead of the obvious high-octane stories of Porsche-driving yuppies in London's Canary Wharf, this book focuses on an ordinary bloke and describes how his family's life is transformed over the years of Margaret Thatcher's reign. It's full of telling details and the characters feel convincing.

[Stephen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wouldn't say this book was funny. It was more pathos. It is quite a tragic story of how people got dangerously seduced into speculating on property. It reminds you of how much has changed since the beginning of the 1980s.

[Paul Cartwright · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this a lot. The story of a relationship breakdown during the 80s. Being of a similar generation as the main characters meant it was easy to identify with the themes. In a away it’s quite a sad book but would definitely recommend it.

[Lesley · Rating 3 out of 5]

The front cover says that it is very funny. It really isn't. It is a harrowing, yet compelling read, especially if you were an adult during the 1980s.

[Kayleigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing

[Poppy · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Karen Wickham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting story, following the lives of Maureen and Charlie Buck throughout the 1980s - the Thatcher years.

There's an unusual start to the story, in that it tells us what situation Maureen and Charlie find themselves in at the end of the tale, then it goes back to the beginning to tell us how they got there. This doesn't detract from the story but actually makes it more interesting.

The title of the book is derived from an actual event in the UK in October 1987. For those who don't live in the UK or weren't around at that time, the UK experienced an actual hurricane in the early hours of the morning. Famously, one of our best known weather forecasters told TV viewers that evening that someone had rung in to say they'd heard rumours there was a hurricane coming but he told viewers there was nothing to worry about.

The theme of the book is change. Against a background of strikes, Mrs Thatcher's fight with the unions, rising house prices and interest rates, a time of upward mobility, we see how the two characters adapt to these changes.

I found myself warming to Maureen at the beginning but by the end I had no sympathy for her and it was Charlie I was rooting for, despite knowing the outcome of the tale.

[Jayne Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love books set in the 1980s - my teenage years - I seem to be able to remember the events more vividly, and the whole decade seems to be more self-contained than the ones that followed. This book follows ordinary couple Charlie and Maureen through that decade, with its ups and downs and particularly the socio-economic upheavals that took place. In a bold move, the author lets us know exactly where they both end up in the prologue, leaving the rest of the book to fill in the blanks as to how they get there. We are also quickly told that Charlie works in the newspaper printing industry and is a union man. Anyone who remembers the 1980s will instantly know where that particuar plot line is heading. Despite everything being more or less mapped out in advance, this was a very enjoyable read, involving the reader in its characters' lives, and humanising some of the headline news items from the 80s. The only thing I didn't like was the rendering of speech in italics. It feels as though the characters are thinking not talking aloud. There's nothing wrong with speech marks - why are so many authors in such a hurry to dump them?

[El · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of reviews called this a comedy or hilarious or funny but I didn't find it amusing. Quite the opposite. Taking as its subject a couple's relationship, this book traces the effects of Thatcher's time in power on these two people. Charlie, a print worker, is caught up in the long-running strike, while Maureen is a stay-at-home wife who gradually changes because of the effects of the strike. The opening chapter reveals the final outcome and this spoiled the ending for me as I already knew what was going to happen. It also meant that everything I read was shadowed by this fact. The main characters are well drawn but others less so. Tommy, Charlie's brother, is unbelievable and Peter Horn seemed unlikely to have won the heart of his eventual love. For me, there was a deep feeling of doom pervading the novel, no doubt based on the fact that I lived through this terrible period in our history and can remember it well. The scene of the police and their violence towards the strikers rang very true as did the overt racism and sexism which pervades the book. All in all, a good read but definitely not a comedy for this reader. Recommended.

[Kerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have just finished this book for the second time, the first time I read it I was bout 16/17 and I don't think that I appreciated it fully at the time. There are two things that I really love about the book these are, Lott's descriptive skills I think they are amazing and you are easily transported to certain events by his fantastic descriptions of sounds and smells. The other is the dialogue between characters. The dialogue is presented as that and it is unwatered or politically correct it is raw and honest and I think that is what makes it so enjoyable.
Basically the story starts on election day 1979 famous of course for Margaret Thatcher becoming the first British woman prime minister and then destroying the countries economy. Charlie and Pauline the central characters live in a council flat and their marriage is beginning to fall apart. It follows them through the highs and lows of the following decade right up until the early 90's making reference to various political policies along the way but prominently remaining about a family.

[Andrew Gray · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always read Tim Lott's articles in the Family section of the Guardian and have been impressed by his writing, so thought I read one of his novels. This one is great- a social/political history of Britain during the 1980s when Thatcher's government made and/or presided over so many changes. This is all seen from the perspective of Charlie- a working class print worker who becomes a secret Tory voter after buying privatisation shares and his council house and joins the aspiring middle classes. The book explores how Charlie and his family and friends are affected in all aspects of their lives, some good but most bad, resulting in the attempted suicide of Charlie (which opens the book, prior to going back to cover the events that caused him to do so). Most of the characters are quite weak in the face of all the changes and temptations, with the exception of Charlie's wife Maureen who "finds herself" as an unintended consequence of the changes forced upon her.

[Fiona Frank · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was so personal - Tim is 2 years younger than me and all the history and references are so exactly like it was living through the eighties. Very clever to show what you had to do to survive and what you could do in terms of ridiculous loans and where that would end up - with negative equity, etc - we know that if you were ok you could ride through it and sit it out and the houses regained their previous 'values' and more, but at the time living through it people were desperate . Heart rending book. Very nice and real portrayal of maureen I think .
Snowy's growing self awareness (and Maureen's ) reflects growing awareness of all of us. Makes me think of the victims of Saville and etc - who put up with it at the time ....

Added a couple of days later - there was something about this book that I don't think I've had since reading Proust , which is that now I've finished it I really miss it: I want to be still reading it.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was not the type of book that I thought it would be but it enjoyed it nonetheless. I was expecting perhaps something more comedic or perhaps more disdainful of The Iron Lady and her government. What one finds instead is the slow and unstoppable disintegration of the marriage and lives of two ordinary people as they progress through 11 years of Tory government. Tim Lott here appears to have managed to go a little further than just evoking the attitude of the time and manages to chart the massive social change that occurred during that decade. There are numerous inferences to British media and society and a Briton of that time would will be able to appreciate the narrative more. A bitter sweet read.

[Simon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a big fan of this book - I read it about 10 years ago and have leant or bought it as a gift for several friends. I'm known as a Thatcher's child (born in '76), this era fascinates me as a result of growing up amongst it, a little too young to really appreciate the events and their impacts at the time.

The story of the family enduring and struggling through these times is good enough by itself, but moreover I found it a great account of the privatisation and have-it-all-for-yourself years of Thatcherism. The front cover sticks with me too. Love her or hate her, Thatcher is iconic, and Tim Lott pulled a blinder with this tale set in the Britain that she did so much to mould.

[Deborah J · Rating 3 out of 5]

I seem to be on a 1980s jag at the moment, though Lord knows why. I started off disliking this book, although I wanted to see whether the sense of doom could be sustained, given that the opening was already pretty grim. I thought it captured well the everyday cowardice and confusion of a man set in his ways and finding it hard to form relationships. Some characters - eg, Tommy and Peter Horn - were not convincing, but Lott has again exposed a certain type of male psyche.
I intend to read The Seymour Tapes and then give this author a rest!

[Paula Maguire · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story of a marriage break up set over the Thatcher years. Showed how the culture changed from community based to everyone out for themselves and how it not only destroyed communities but even broke up families - enjoyed the nostalgia of recognising aspects of the era but the book is a bit simplistic at times.

[Rachel England-Brassy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I felt at home in this book and oddly disturbed. I grow up in Thatcher's Britain, but admittedly was cushioned form most of the problems that that decade threw up; this was sober reading with well drawn characters (apart from the son and the neighbour) within believable scenarios. It was funny but compassionate ultimately, but by that I don't mean there was a "Hollywood" ending.
Recommended.

[Martinxo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hah, hah, this was a great book, very well written. Made me laugh a lot, brought back memories of my mis-spent 80s youth.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading Group book - i loved it!

[Redson]

I can combine happiness and sorrow in this book. A brilliant writer

[Nami · Rating 3 out of 5]

FINALLY, starting to read this :D