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It would be very easy to be envious of Mark Watson's success.
He's got a first in English from Cambridge, directed the prestigious
Footlights, has established himself as a stand-up, is working
on a BBC sitcom and has had one novel published and is working
on the second.
Oh, and he's just 23.
Possibly even more frustratingly, he's proving rather good
at almost everything he tackles; winning the Open Mic comedy
competition in 2002 and being part of the Footlights team nominated
for the Perrier in 2001. His first novel, Bullet Points, is no
exception.
Thankfully, this young polymath has skilfully negotiated the
twin traps of the comedian-turned-novelist, who can be tempted
to either produce a gag-a-page effort that sacrifices plot and
character for a wearingly relentless chuckle-fest, or overcompensate
by producing a wordy, worthy, unnecessarily literary work to
try to prove they are more than just a jester.
For while there are plenty of dark, understated jokes in Bullet
Points, Watson instead tells it straight, even if he does manage
to invent a literary device of his own in the process.
Rather than going down the 'write what you know' route, his
first book revolves around a middle-aged psychiatrist, Peter
Kristal, who comes up with a short-cut way of problem solving
by summarising everyone's life as a series of bullet points.
It's a technique that makes him something of a celebrity shrink,
and he becomes involved in a number of high-profile cases in
the Seventies and Eighties.
His life is told as though his own, unreliable, memoirs, and
structured as a series of short stories covering each of his
patients the singer trying to discourage a stalker, the
actress with stage fright or the athletes trying to win a psychological
advantage.
As the years unfold, we learn more about his own character,
driven by the feeling he's forever in the shadow of a more high-profile
friend, is struggling to find the love of his life and feels
increasingly rootless as he moves from his native England to
make his professional name in the States.
They are quite broad strokes, enough to provide a rough picture
with some depth, but not a detailed character study that will
ultimately unveil some great truth. Perhaps it's kept that way
deliberately, to give the twists in the tale more of an element
of surprise while still remaining credible.
Either way, Bullet Points is never less than readable. In
setting a tight, compelling pace, Watson has created a cracking
read that's intelligent enough to nourish the grey cells, without
putting them under undue strain.
Borrowing the bullet point method from Kristal, and indeed
the novel itself, which uses the unconventional device effectively
and sparingly:
- Breezy, entertaining debut with a kick
- Comic background adds a nice touch of appropriate humour
- Episodic structure useful to keep story moving
- Interesting characters and fascinating subject matter
- Assured, mature and original entry to the world of fiction
- Novel No 2 anticipated already.
Steve Bennett
March 15, 2004
Bullet Points is published by Chatto And Windus as £12.99.
Click
here to buy from Amazon at £9.09.
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