Hood Rat

This is a brilliant and insightful example of the "new journalism" at its best, a work of narrative non-fiction in which the writer observes and is a silent presence to the reader, letting the main characters whose lives and experiences he is chronicling tell their own stories in their own words. In this case, Gavin Knight spent two years following in the footsteps of those dealing with the problem of youth violence in Britain -- a problem that dramatically exploded last summer, only weeks after the book was published, in riots in Britain and other major British cities.

But not in Glasgow, which is one of the three cities that Knight writes about -- and to understand what might have made the difference, you'll need to read this moving, terrifying and sobering book. Knight allows us to feel the frustration of those on both sides of the divide -- of the young men who feel trapped by the culture of violence (one young boy is given a machete by his parents for his 13th birthday, so that he can defend himself) -- and of the police, social workers and other who so desperately want to halt the violence. It becomes clear that all our glib explanations -- it's race, it's poverty -- are nothing more than quick lies we tell ourselves. The real issue may be a poverty of the imagination of those on both sides. I sensed the immensity of the challenge, but also the need to find ways to address it.

The book is on the shortlist for this year's George Orwell prize; it's a nuanced and thoughtfully eloquent book that richly deserves the award. ( )

I enjoyed reading this book, a lot but I think it needs a lot doing to it to support an interesting premise. Firstly, the cover needs serious attention. It is dull and grey and certainly wouldn’t stand out for me in a shop – which is how a lot of books do catch my eye, meaning I might just pass it by. Secondly, the style of writing took a little bit of getting used to. What I did was research Gavin Knight and spent time reading his webpage which helped me to appreciate the New Journalism (the style in which it was written). I do think, in order to not put people off because of the way it is written, that there should be something mentioned in the book to either offer an explanation or to link back to Gavin Knight’s blogs. I don’t like beginning a review with what seems to be negative comments but they are two big factors for me.

Back to the book itself; it is sectioned into three areas of the country (London, Manchester and Glasgow) with a focus being on gangs and gang culture. It is the result of two years and (according to Knight) over 100 hours or recordings. This alone is what merits it a worthy read. It is difficult to read the book because of the style of journalism, in that it appears to be fiction but is actually non-fiction simply for the reason that you keep forgetting it is real and that everything he has recorded here is said to be true.

The first section on London felt somewhat rushed although the detective focussed on here (Svensson) was great to follow. It seemed a bit lengthy though. The second section on Manchester was actually about to spoil the book for me and I was pleased to move on the fantastic Glasgow. Manchester just seemed like one long interview and just didn’t go anywhere for me. It was interesting to read about Pilgrim’s life and how he arrived at the life described but in reality this can be read about in any autobiographical material of the same nature. Glasgow described something different, it showed what could and can be done and was good to read through and felt again like something that is a world apart from anything I have experienced.

What would have been a great addition is a small chapter outlining the research that went into the book, how Knight got into working with the police anti-gang units. Other than this, it is a well-presented book (apart from the awful cover!!). ( )