BOYRACERS by Alan Bissett (Polygon Books, 2001)
“Like characters in a plotless novel, we race through night after night, story after story, film quote after film quote, eternity stretching out before us like an open road”.
The above quote may sound like a romantic dream, but this rambling, albeit entertaining, tale is set in Scotland not America so the symbolic open roads have a nasty tendency of going in ever decreasing circles or else ending up at brick walls.
The ‘boyracers’ of the title are groups of teens who race cars in industrial wastelands in the city and exemplify the speed of life which is a double-edged sword of excitement and terror. A kind of modern equivalent of the ‘chicken’ game played out in Rebel Without A Cause.
This is not the story of the racers themselves but of four young male onlookers whose beat up car named Belinda is not built for speed. The Falkirk friends are soccer mad Irn-Bru addicts in pursuit of any combination of sex, booze and rock’n’roll that they can find.
The central character is Alvin who is nearing his 16th birthday. The fact that he’s younger than the other three (Brian, Frannie & Dolby) earns him the nickname: The Runt.
It reminded me what a hideous age this is. Bissett is good at showing how Alvin’s life is dominated by the need to fit in, get laid and generally prove his manhood. He muses : “If being a teenager was a job, you wouldn’t apply for it. Enterprising youths wanted for angst-filled soul-searching. Seven year contract. Bathroom breaks. Will affect your sex life”.
Instead of ‘scream if you want to go faster’, this is more often the case of ‘stop the world I want to get off’. All the future seems to hold is a “parallel universe” of adulthood which may go at a slower pace but looks even less like fun.
Alvin’s school life is likened to a war movie where the common enemy are his classmates. He fantasizes over an unattainable beauty named Tyra. His home life is complicated by an absent alcoholic mother, a depressed father and a brother whose new life in London hits a dead end.
He’s bright kid but even the prospect of higher education is laden with doubt since the consensus among his class conscious peers is thar university is a place for “tossers and posh fuckers” .
The novel is full of references to movies and books that shape the cultural viewpoint of the characters. Music too is an essential point of reference; so much so, that this list of some of the key songs mentioned will give a flavour of the book:
- The Sex Pistols – Pretty Vacant Alvin’s dad’s early morning soundtrack – his parents were punks but the world has moved on since then.
- Pink Floyd – Is There Anybody Out There? Johnny Rotten (and Alvin’s dad) once wore a T-shirt declaring ‘I hate Pink Floyd’ but Alvin worships the band and The Wall, Roger Waters’ definitive statement on alienation, is his all time favourite album.
- U2 – Beautiful Day After The Wall, the long-awaited release of All That You Can’t Leave Behind is the most referenced album in the novel. “In the years between U2 releases we grow older, and don’t even notice”.
- The Eagles – Hotel California Brian dreams of moving to America and this song epitomizes the West Coast vibe that seems such a long way from Falkirk.
- Oasis – Rock And Roll Star + Blur – Parklife Not only is this a post-punk novel it’s also post Brit-pop but songs like these still dominate pub juke-boxes.
- Suede – She’s In Fashion Shades of glam rock and the lure of sex.
- Radiohead – Paranoid Android Post Floyd alienation.
- Madonna – Ray Of Light The preferred tune of the first girl Alvin has full sex with. A ray of light and a glimmer of hope.
- Deacon Blue – Dignity The cause of an argument about whether the lyrics about a council worker who saves money to buy a ship called Dignity are bullshit, patronising or both.
- Placebo – Slave To The Wage Hears about his father’s nervous breakdown with this track playing in the background.
- The Bonny Banks o’Loch Lomond A traditional tune just in case you forget where the action is set : even these lyrics suggest that life is a race against time: “you’ll take the high road, and I’ll take the low road, and I’ll get to Scotland afore ye”
Footnote : A sequel to this novel - Pack Men - was published in 2011. I intend to read this to find out what happens next.
