The book looks at the social life during the times of Margaret Thatcher, says Swarn Kumar Anand
Maggie and Me
Author: Damian Barr
Publisher: Bloomsbury, Rs 399
Is it a comic-tragic tale of resilience or a melodrama involving a gay boy’s sufferings and desires during the Thatcherian eraIJ Maggie & Me by Damian Barr is, in my opinion, a gripping blend of these genres — full of heartburn, hate, regret and expectation — revolving around the main character, Damian Barr. The wry autobiography, explaining the social era of the milk-snatcher Iran lady, cleverly mirrors the violent emotions of a growing gay boy.
The story begins on a sombre note as eight-year-old Damian and his toddler sister, Teenie, are taken away by her mother to her boyfriend’s home, the day Margaret Thatcher rises like phoenix from the IRA bombing. Damian — the son of diametrically opposite union of a Catholic mother and Protestant father — is subjected to physical and psychological abuses by his mother’s boyfriend, logan.
Even as Damian is struggling to come to terms with his parents’ divorce, he fails to accept how his father’s home no longer belongs to him. Rubbing salt into his wounds is logan, who leaves no stone unturned to let loose his satanic fury on the child in the absence of his mother who is recovering from brain haemorrhage at hospital.
Damian’s fortune improves a little as his mother realises his persecution at the hands of logan and moves out to a new house bagged as a social security benefit. It is here that Damian is formally initiated into the gay society as meets his first potential partner with the help of a small advertisement. He figures out that he has no future with his ‘straight’ girlfriend Heather, but doesn’t tell her lest she feel hurt. But he is filled with guilt for misleading her.
Damian can be described as an anti-hero with his introvert, shy nature bearing ill-treatment with patience. Most comic scenes are woven in such splendour that trials and tribulations exhibit the funny side of life at the same time. He displays many flaws, but the reader can still empathise with his character. In fact, his shy but resilient disposition is main reason the book is so brilliant. But logan’s character leaves a bad taste in the reader’s mouth. His viciousness towards Damian is upsetting, but the author’s tout prose saves him from indulging in self pity.
The main part of the book relies on the actor-narrator. The congruous dry humour doesn’t dilute the tale of deprivation and resilience. Each chapter of the book is prefixed by a quote, hilarious or harsh, from Thatcher. However, the temptation of Damian to go for a big finish is a dampener. He touches the anti-climax by calling Thatcher “My other mother” — an unjustified salute as per the flow of the story. Also, Maggie & Me is not an easy read for the non-native as some of dialogue is written in dialect.
Despite all, Damian’s style of writing is marvelously smooth, especially as the storyline demands the narration to move back and forth through time.