I'm a sucker for any book with a good pun in the title. And this one is particular genius. I'd never noticed before I found this book that you can reverse the meaning of the word United by transposing the middle two letters. That was the entire reason that I bought this book, sometime back in 2003 or 2004. It also has the tagline "A State in a state" at the top of the back cover...
I read it then and thought it perhaps too episodic but a damned good fun read. I also wondered what could have reduced England to the state it's described. These days, it's looking like an accurate prediction.
The basic story - after a series of disasterous political decisions, England has been ostracised by the international community and bombed back to a third world state. As this was written 16 years ago, its vision of a post brexit future is scarily prescient. The government have decamped to the Bahamas for the duration, leaving the ordinary people to get on with it. That's the state of the nation when we meet our reluctant everyman hero Fenton Morris.
He lives in the town of Downbourne - about 55 miles from London. In the middle of a festival held by the town mayor, who fashions himself after the Green Man of olde english folklore, a gang of raiders from London attack the town and kidnap many of the women, including Fen's not-so-loving wife Moira.
He decides the only decent thing to do is to try to rescue her and sets off on a journey across the South of England.
On his way he runs into a friendly railwayman. This section starts oh so pleasantly but very quickly becomes uncomfortable. This segment is brilliantly done with the atmosphere becoming more strained and awkward between the two men as it moves on.
His exit from the train leaves him lying in a field with a broken leg, unable to move. Considering that this section of the book is nearly 50 pages, the fact that it's never boring and manages to rack up the tension to the level it does is truly remarkable.
Fen then finds himself in the midst of a semi-religious cult with an all too human focus to their devotion - a second rate writer they have decided holds the answer to England's current predicament.. This section is hilariously funny and was the bit that stuck with me the most from my first reading.
After leaving this bunch of lunatics behind he finds himself in a much more comfortable prison of sorts while he recuperates from his injuries.
Eventually, he makes it to London, but what is he going to find? A parallel narration to Fen's tells what is happening to Moira as his quest becomes more and more delayed and convoluted.
The alternating storylines serve to increase the tension for the reader. We can see more and more trouble brewing in Moira's story, which picks up and gains pace during the happier segment of Fen's.
This book swings from dark to funny and back again effortlessly. On this reread I didn't find the episodic nature quite as offputting as first time I read it, possibly because I was expecting it.
I found myself visualising Martin Freeman playing Fen in any potential film version of this book. Although a few in my book group thought he was a bit too wimpy, I really liked the character. He's not an action hero, he's a decent man, trying to do something most likely impossible, just because it's the right thing to do. The characters that drift in and out of his journey are well realised and always entertaining - if not all likeable.
The book is a very easy read and I highly recommend it.
Available from all good bookshops and even on Amazon
8/10
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