A Month In A Noose

by Leigh Osborne

Set in the milieu of a Manchester bedsit in the early 1990's, but devoid of any of the glamour the city was famous for at the time, 'A Month In A Noose' chronicles the lives of six very different characters. The six different people with different lives and aspirations are not only united by the existence of the walls of the bedsit, the essence of which is different for each character, but also the prevailing lack of hope that envelops their lives. The walls of one room conceal an old man's lonely wait to die. Left by his already departed wife, largely ignored by his family apart from the obligatory weekly visit which no party enjoys, the bedsit is just a waiting room, a place to wrestle with the problems of old age until finally moving on to the final resting place. As life is ending in one room it is just beginning in another. A single mother battles with the responsibility of raising a child and trying to survive in a world of poverty and despair. Abandoned by the father of the child after a relationship of necessity, she leads an existence devoid of fun and harbouring the modest dream of living in a council house. Another life of sorts is beginning in another room. An unemployed teenager is full of excitement when he moves into his 'own' place but quickly becomes disenchanted as his expectations of his new life fail to materialise. An alcoholic, who only uses the room to sleep in, a place to rest while waiting for the pub to open, or more importantly the start of his fortnightly cycle of cashing his benefit book at the Post Office. A small time drug dealer, free from the aspirations of success or material possessions, is in search of something far more elusive, freedom. Although, by freeing himself of some of society's binds, his life is more free than most, his search for total freedom will remain eternally elusive, despite his drug aided contemplations and analyses, for the protective bubble that he wants to wrap himself in will always be punctured by the existence of others. And the bedsit is also home to a middle-aged working man who watched his business collapse with the economy, his marriage collapse with his business, and now while trying to pay his debts off by working, is trying to start another business. The book begins on the nth day and follows the lives of all six characters for almost a month - detailing the daily lives, thoughts, aspirations, conflicts, neuroses and idiosyncrasies of each character. But it's not really life, as the title implies, it's more like slow death.

278 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 13, 2021

Reviews

[Alexis K. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this a few years ago. A promising start for a new author. Lots of excellent characterizations and full of excellent quips and dialogue. The overarching story struggles at times, but delivers in the ways it counts if you like character-driven novels.