Changes

It's beautifully done in that gorgeous jingle-jangle prose of Crace's, which is utterly sublime - sometimes I even forget the sense of what I'm reading; it's all just so perfect and I get lost. Set in a near-future Britain, there are all sorts of sly, funny and alarming digs at current assaults on civil liberties and various bits of health fascism. There are some remarkable descriptions of jazz, and a wonderfully feisty, vivid young girl in Lucy, Maxie's estranged daughter, and Lennie's new friend. I loved her. Ultimately, though, it's about Lennie (Lessing''Less''ing) busily trying to prove less is more (than Maxie''Max''ie). Geddit? I'm not so sure he managed it, but that doesn't mean I didn't love this book. The fairtrade banana in my Waitrose trolley is an unnervingly similar reminder of my own agitprop youth and current lurch towards wrinklehood. Sigh.