Togetherness and solidarity<\/strong><\/p>\nBennett\u2019s novel is set in the year 1998. He uses three narrators who are also characters in the action. They are Arthur Coyle, a grandad in his 70s, his twenty-year old grandson Daniel Coyle, and Stevie McShane who is young like Daniel. Each narrator pushes the action forward and by about a third of the way through their stories begin to morph into one another.<\/p>\n
This triple narration worked extremely well with each character being fully realised. And the fact that Bennett chose to cross the generations gave his text an added dimension by showing how the young and the old apprehend their world. Arthur has roots in Glasgow\u2019s industrial past whereas the younger ones are part of the post-industrial world we know today. What raises the novel above the telling of a tale is the way these contrasts in outlook are expressed. Arthur\u2019s values belong to the togetherness and solidarity he experienced during the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders’ campaign of the early 1970s. The young narrators seem much more rootless and lost.<\/p>\n
The novel is also written in Glaswegian Scots throughout and Bennett \u2013 and Rymour Books \u2013 should be applauded for pulling this off. The language is distinctively from Glasgow, along with many Scots words that are not peculiar to Glasgow alone which are also used. The language convinces and the three main voices of the narrators \u2013 along with the voices of others \u2013 all ring true.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The novel is set in Glasgow\u2019s East End, particularly around the Shettleston area. Though there have been many attempts at renewal, the area is still known for its social inequality and all the accompanied ills that go with this. Sadly, the No Mean City (1935) <\/em>of Long and McArthur is still alive and literally kicking in Glasgow today. The razor gangs of the 1930s have now given way to Stanley knives and baseball bats.<\/p>\nAdd into this mix the continuing blight of sectarianism, drink and drugs and you may be forgiven for thinking that not much has changed since the 1930s. It is a bit more complex than that though. Bennett\u2019s novel is fully aware how the industrial past of this great city once defined it and how its post-industrial reincarnation struggles to fully affirm. Young Glaswegians like Daniel Coyle are well aware of this. And the precariousness of employment through agency work for lads like Stevie McShane convinces him that today\u2019s workplace is a game for losers and selling drugs is a better option.<\/p>\n
A theme that runs through the novel is the role played by market forces. Where there is a demand for something then a supply is obviously required. Bennett applies this to drugs and he seems to suggest that these market forces are out of control. The extent of the demand is so widespread. Yes, the demand in the housing schemes stem from misery and deprivation, and Bennett paints a grim portrait in this regard:<\/p>\n
\u2026 the underbelly ay society; the wans that faw between the cracks. The forgotten tribe. Social misfits. The miscreants nae cunt wants, nor needs, cast asunder oan tae the pile ay social security numbers, social workers case files an their ever expandin criminal records \u2013 the only documentation tae validate their sorry existence.<\/em><\/p>\nHowever, the demand has grown further up the food chain as well. We know this from reports of cocaine being found in the toilets of the House of Commons; and recently Prince Harry has confessed to using cocaine.<\/p>\n
While we can understand how drink and drugs may seem to alleviate suffering \u2013 though both actually add to it \u2013 in areas of deprivation, the fact that people from more affluent backgrounds feel the need to use drugs shows that the stresses and strains associated with our economic and political model is clearly out of control.<\/p>\n
State brutality<\/strong><\/p>\nThe drug business is every bit as vile as every other business under capitalism. Why should it not be? Down at the bottom it is particularly brutal for those on drugs but this simply mirrors the state\u2019s brutality towards the poorest in our society with zero hours contracts, food banks, demeaning fitness for work interviews, sanctions, cuts to benefits and pre-payment energy meters.<\/p>\n
The local gangster and hard man is called Mullin. He parasitises on his clients and terrorises the neighbourhood. There are many Mullins all over Scotland, England, Europe and elsewhere. While he comes from the neighbourhood himself and grew up between the cracks, Bennett clearly implies that there are other gangsters who seem outwardly respectable who wear suits but whose actions are every bit as brutal as the Mullins of this world. One thinks of Bezos, Musk and so many similar others. McShane tells us \u2018the bankers an the politicians, they\u2019re the biggest crooks ay the lot.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\nIt turns out that Mullin had murdered Danny\u2019s dad, John Coyle, who was also the son of Arthur Coyle. Mullin was also responsible for the death of Arthur\u2019s mate, Tam O\u2019Henry. Tam\u2019s daughter has fallen on even harder times and Tam accepts money from Mullin but every time he pays some back Mullin increases interest payments. By doubling up as a money lender as well as a drug dealer, Mullin has enormous power in the area.<\/p>\n
Arthur and Tam go to the bowling club and also to the Portland Arms. They have been friends since they worked on the Clyde as apprentices. Tam has a disability \u2013 \u2018a gammy airm\u2019 \u2013 <\/em>from his time working as a welder. He had been on Invalidity Benefit but this got changed to Incapacity Benefit and Tam, at 63 years old, is told to find a job. This is the background to Tam\u2019s life becoming embroiled with Mullin.<\/p>\nThere was, at times, a sense that Arthur and Tam were a bit like the two most famous pensioners in Scotland, namely Jack and Victor from the TV programmes of Still Game, <\/em>but any similarity is short lived as the lives of Tam and Arthur become deeply troubled by more serious events.<\/p>\nAnother parallel that could be made concerns Danny Coyle dropping out of Glasgow Caledonian University. He now goes around with his former mates, McDade and Pearcey, and Danny\u2019s mum castigates him \u2013 \u2018ye decided tae drap oot ay university tae piss aboot wae yer nae good, waster pals.\u2019<\/em> This is incredibly similar to Tom Leonard\u2019s mum, in his poem The Dropout:<\/em><\/p>\nwell jist take a lookit yersel<\/em>
naithur work nor wahnt<\/em>
aw aye<\/em><\/p>\nyir clivir<\/em>
damm clivir. <\/em>
but yi huvny a clue whutyur dayn.<\/em><\/p>\nIt is a strength that Bennett\u2019s novel raises such comparisons. Another one could obviously be made with Irvine Welsh\u2019s Trainspotting<\/em> (1993). Like Welsh\u2019s novel, Liberties<\/strong> looks at the drug scene in a deprived area. Bennett also focusses on the music that was around in the 90s and pays attention to the clothes and trainers his characters wear. On one occasion Danny, McDade and Pearcey head off to a bothy out by Ben More and this scene was reminiscent of when Renton and his mates in Trainspotting<\/em> decide to go north for fresh air and to temporarily get away from Leith.<\/p>\n
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