View source for Mountains of the Moon by I J Kay

{{infobox1
|title=Mountains of the Moon
|author=I J Kay
|reviewer=Lesley Mason
|genre=Literary Fiction
|rating=5
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|isbn=9780099554738
|pages=351
|publisher=Vintage
|date=February 2013
|website=
|video=
|summary=Zulu-Lulu is a strange child, running barefoot by choice through the Masai Mara, strongly protective of Baby Grady and treasuring the conkers (one for each of her years) left by her elder brother.  Kim is just out of prison and not really sure how to start building another kind of life.  A strangely beautiful tale of damaged lives, and the potential for moving beyond them.
|cover=0099554739
|aznuk=0099554739
|aznus=0099554739
}}

The overriding joy of being a book-reviewer is the sheer serendipity of it.

In many cases you have no control over what you're given to read and express an opinion on, which leads you down genre alleyways you might otherwise steer clear of, only to find yourself wanting to return again and again – or equally might simply serve to reinforce a prejudice.

But even in the Bookbag, where I get to browse the shelves and pick for myself, I often start a book that is immediately absolutely nothing like I was expecting.  Of course, this does occasionally lead to disappointment, but more often it leads to something obscure, odd, defiantly strange and in its own way utterly remarkable.

''Mountains of the Moon'' is such a book.  

Be warned, this is a very strange book, full of haunting voices and haunted characters.  There is a plot-line lurking in the mists, under all the frosted webs, the outline of which is quickly evident, but the indistinctness of which is what holds the gaze.  What EXACTLY happened, and how.  And what EXACTLY is happening now.  

When ''now'' is… is a bit of a tease in itself.  The frame keeps shifting.  

The story starts harshly, with a release from prison, a bail hostel, a refuge for people with mental health problems as a better-than-nothing-lied-to-be-obtained kind of a sanctuary and a slow easing back into society.  If you can call a housing association flat, with a decorating voucher and no furniture, only occasional power and annoying neighbours ''society''. 

It could be worse.

It certainly already has been.

It might well become so again.

Even with a new name, you can't stay hidden for long.  Kim's past caught up with her quickly in the shape of Heath.  An old friend.  A lover maybe.  Certainly someone able to ''hardsell... bygones and a lot of water under bridges''. 

Voice-switch.  

We leave Kim and catch up with a strange, feral-sounding child.
 
Feral-sounding, but not truly wild. This child has a family.  There is Aunty Fi who says she's 'long-limbed and lean'' which is good for running ''Running's important especial if you want to get somewhere and fast like the phone box outside the Taylors. I is fast, even in my jarmas... I waits out front for the police and the ambulance''  You get the idea that this might be a regular occurrence, having to run in her bare feet and pyjamas to phone for police and ambulance. ''Bare feets is best for running but I has to be careful in the Masai Mara grass cos there might be lions or broke glass. Mum says she int taking me to the hospital gain, next time I can bleed to death''

So there's an aunt, and a mother.  We slowly learn there's also an elder brother Pip, Sheba the dog, and baby Grady.  Fi isn't a real aunt.  It's said as if that is something strange.  Not to me.  It was normal when I was growing up.  Don't think my mam found any of my honorary aunts crying outside the DHSS, but it was a general mark of respect for an older member of the family.  We all had aunts and uncles who weren't, but who also weren't scary pseudo-step-parents either.  They were just the adults who you knew and trusted and who kept an eye. 

Somewhere there's also a loving set of grandparents.

Then Pip goes away to be with his father.  Leaving our African warrior Lulu with her mum, who might just drink a bit too much and certainly likes to relive her glory days as a show girl in the stage musicals, and Bryce.  ''One time mum said I should ask Father Christmas for a daddy, thats how come I got Bryce.  I int arst for anything since...''

This strange child with a fascination for Africa gets by on her wits and her athletic abilities.  She is not unloved, but clearly she is also not undamaged.  This child, Zulu-Lulu, African Queen of the Mountains of the Moon, will take us on a strange journey...

Then there is Kim.  Kim Hunter, Beverley Woods, Jackie Birch, Dawn Redwood, Catherine Clark. At the age of 21 she voluntarily turned up at a police station and confessed to what amounted to attempted murder.  Ten years later, she's free.. except for the fragments of her past that keep intruding.

Those fragments are skilfully managed. 

Lulu talks about life at home with mum and Bryce and taking Baby Grady out into the Masai.  She talks about the Sandwich man, who carries a packed lunch but never eats it.  She talks about the wild, about the fly agaric and the tree camps.  She runs barefoot through the grasslands and the trees wearing a red robe and carrying a spear.  Eventually, she finds home and family.  

Kim talks about being a young woman trying to make her way in the world.  Living alone and dead-end jobs.  But also flat-shares and working in casinos.   Making friends.  Falling in love.  

And just falling.

Fear.  Pain.  And a need to move on.

A lot happens to both Lulu and Kim, that it would be wrong to even hint at.

We're often asked to sum up what a book is about, and sometimes you can't.  For me (and maybe only for me) this one is about 'being outside'.   It's about living a life that's half-a-shift disconnected from what is really going on around you.  It's harsh.  It's beautiful.  It's not quite real. But it's ultimately true.

It's sad in its depth, but delightful on the shimmering surface.  Just like the female protagonists.

With some books, you can see the screenplay being hawked around, even as you read, just knowing it'll be a brilliant film, or maybe a classic TV series.    Then you come across something like 'Mountains of the Moon' and you hope the script is never bought, because the film just won't match up.  Read it now, before some-one thinks it'll make good viewing.  It won't.  It deserves the richness of your own imagination bringing it to life.

This is a debut novel.  Kay is currently working on her second, but if, like [[:Category:Harper Lee|Harper Lee]] or Margaret Mitchell, this were to be the only one she ever brought to fruition, she'll have served her talent well. 

Clearly I loved this book, but I'm not the only one.  What other people have said:  ''both disturbing and entertaining'' (Spectator), ''unsettling, hallucinatory and without precedent''(TLS), ''Fragile, innocent, knowing...unsettling, uplifting'' (Guardian).

It is all of that and more.  It might only be February, but there's going to need to be some strong competition in the months to come if this doesn't end up being my book of the year.

There just isn't anything quite like this.

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