Ray Robinson (2)

Lily O’Connor’s neurology is a wild, untamed beast that knocks her on her face time and again. Afflicted with epilepsy, Lily knows the condition is more than the general public believes it be, and she determined to live as normal a life with the condition as possible. Saddled with a rough (and I mean rough) family (her mother is entirely to blame in causing the injury that led to her disorder, in an act too ghastly to mention,) Lily has learned to hide the hurt away, armed with a misanthropic wit. But the death of her beastly mother, grouped with the arrival of her gambler brother and the mystery of another sibling’s disappearance, shakes up Lily’s life in ways she never could have imagined and sends her on a quest for reconciliation on the dirty, chaotic streets of London.

So, apparently this is a movie now. It’s hard to picture how a film adaptation would work, to be honest. Electricity is a otherworldly experience, an journey through the senses shedding light on a condition no one would wish on themselves or their loved ones. How will a movie give us such an unyielding look into this woman’s mind? How will a movie explain how the seizures feel? But the miracle of this novel is that Lily O’Connor is so much more than her disability.

She’s tough, complicated, seriously flawed but fundamentally decent. The strength of Lily’s character ensures that Electricity will not a textbook slog through issues of disability and dignity. Also, I don’t think I’ve ever read so much onomatopoeia in one book. The book has an interesting feminine perspective on sexuality, as well as a heartbreaking take on sexual abuse (what if I didn’t fight back! What if I liked it?)

Lily believed she was in love with her mother’s boyfriend when she was about nine years old, and appreciated the attention in a time when she was all too often ignored and overlooked. But does that make it any better? Of course not. Sexual misconduct with a preteen is abuse whether or not the child thinks they enjoy it or not. In a way, Lily has to move past her own feelings and perceptions about the event just as much as she has to move past the abuse itself.

Lily is often a hard character to like. But you can’t hate her. You just can’t. She’s too vulnerable and damaged and real for that. However, the circumstances of her upbringing seemed a little too dire at times. That coupled with her truly horrific experience with men (only her wig-donning mentor, Al, emerges unscathed) makes Electricity a sometimes disturbing read. Lily is an often sexually ambiguous character; she reports to enjoy sex with men (although she can’t climax,) while her less-than-sisterly affections for her lesbian buddy Mel makes the reader wonder what side of the fence she’s really on.

The only parts of the book I felt were lacking were the sex scenes between Lily and her boyfriend, Dave. Here we are subjected to analogies such as “He licked my breasts like lollipops” that fall short on insight into a woman’s experience of sex. They were a little corny, to be frank. They didn’t quite fit in the otherwise smooth, flawless jigsaw puzzle that was this novel. Mostly, what stands out in Electricity was the close inside view of a misunderstood condition and Lily’s unique, dialect- and profanity-salted voice. Lyrical yet not tweedy, Electricity is a engrossing read.… (more)

JAWBONE LAKE by Ray Robinson

A car crashes through a bridge and falls through the ice of Jawbone Lake. A woman standing in the dark in the snow at the side of the lake witnesses what happens and runs as a man starts chasing her. Set in the Peak District in Derbyshire, Jawbone Lake a story of lives changed forever when the crash unearths an unknown mysterious life of the respected business man CJ. He leaves behind his father Bill, wife Eileen and son Joe, who are left to figure out who CJ really was. Joe’s search for the truth about his father takes him to Spain, and Hastings, finding another life that CJ lived. The woman who witnessed the crash, Rabbit, has her own grief to deal with is caught on the fringes of the mystery by someone who is pursuing her.

At the centre of the story is Lake Jawbone being carefully woven into the book with death; the death of a village that lay underneath, a man, and the ashes of a baby.

As their lives unravel Ray Robinson has a great way of bringing the reader into the intimacies of each of them. The characters and their actions are very plausible making the book a good read. I like the way that there are links throughout the book encompassing both sides of the hidden underworld to the everyday life of the characters. I love how the descriptions of the changing scenery throughout the seasons convey a respect for the countryside. To me this cleverly written book is both subtle in its story and careful in its language. I particularly like the line “Every remark she made seemed to have a depth to it, another level of inference. Scribbled notes in the margins, whisperings just out of earshot”

A book set in the UK is always special to me. It means I may have travelled the area, can understand the landscape, the localism, and the people. This is such a great book to read to get a real sense of being in the Peak District. This mystery thriller is so beautifully written by someone who understands the art of literature completely.


I think I would like to have known more about CJ’s relationship with the girl in Andalusia although I am not sure that it would have added to the story. However, leaving out much details of CJ’s hidden life gave me a sense of the shock his family was feeling about a man they never really knew. It is simply a curiosity I had reading it because I was unsure of how important their relationship is in the story.

I enjoyed reading this book and would recommend it as an excellent read. I would quite like to read a book written from aspect of CJ’s secret life as a follow up!

My thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review
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"Ray Robinson's debut novel Electricity was one of the best things I read this year ... until I read his second novel The Man Without.

The Man Without has many similarities to Electricity and the language is equally direct. Right at the start of the novel, we see that the hero Antony is trying to sort himself out after a near suicide attempt. Antony also has a childhood of abuse, a father he never knew and a mother who doesn't appear to have had a maternal bone in her body. Now in his twenties, this has left him with some challenging emotions and dangerous sexual fantasies, we get the slightest hint of what's to come at the start of the second chapter:
""Wrapped in a silk kimono and twisting helix of smoke, he flicked through the new copy of Harper's until he found one: a model with a similar pair.""

Veils are gradually lifted until the full effects of Antony's problems are revealed. Prepare to be shocked, but this merely compels you to read on, and hope that he pulls through.

Contrasted against his own problems are those experienced in his job - as a Mental Health Carer. This is particularly expressed in his relationship with one patient, Kenneth - a former vicar suffering from total amnesia and personality change, and suffering from deteriorating relationships with his family that he can't remember. The exchanges between Antony and Kenneth are funny and touching, but reinforce the loss of family that is the central theme of the novel. What Antony the professional carer really needs a family to care for him ...

This novel was stunning - read it."… (more)