Knees Up Mother Earth

I hadn't read any of Robert Rankin's work before, mainly on the grounds of 'life's too short to commit to another multi-novel humourous writer'. And so it might have stayed, but a friend passed this book on to me. if I say that this is the seventh book in this author's 'Brentford Trilogy', that should give you a clue as to what you are in for.

Inside, you will find a tale of surrealist lunacy, set in the West London suburb of Brentford. Never having been to the real Brentford, I can't say how much the novel maps onto the real world, though some of the locations are certainly real. The events are not; eldritch ancient forces line up in opposition to each other for the fate of the world, under the pretext of the FA Cup competition and a show more football team that starts out as an unlikely bunch of characters and then gets weirder as the story unwinds.

Rankin knows his popular British culture and his fantastic literature; many beings, real and imagined, are namechecked (some of them in the style of Mrs Malaprop). The writing style is clunky; it reminded me of fan writing, trying way too hard to be funny (if I never read a description of a thing being 'of the [such-and-such] persuasion' again, it'll be too soon); and yet I often found myself laughing out loud. The lunacy all hangs together, despite everything.

The cast of characters seems to include a number of walk-ons from other novels in the Brentford Trilogy. This may be a bad sign that I could be susceptible to reading more Rankin despite my reservations. show less

So, book seven in the Brentford trilogy eh? What Rankin does with Knees Up is very clever. He uses the same characters, the same plot (Brentonians to stop Armageddon) and a lot of the same gags that are present in many of the previous books. There's certainly a whole load of deja vu... and it's all good. The scenario of football is cleverly woven in to the Brentford mythology and creates a raft of new options for Rankin's masterful use of humour, running gags, insightful use of language and even some suspense. Rankin clearly enjoyed writing this book. Knees up is a slow starter but builds up well to an enjoyable conclusion. It's a tad too long as well, but certainly recommended.

The 7th book in the Brentford Trilogy and the second book in the Witches of Chiswick Trilogy. When Norman Hartnell of the paper shop collects a large amount of computer spare parts and builds himself a strangely Victorian-looking computer, it starts a string of events involving a buried serpent, Pooley becoming manager of Brentford football team (with Omalley as his PA), H.G. Wells and his Time Machine, and yet another evil corporation based in a pitch black building.

I'm not sure that it made much sense, but it was very enjoyable.

A sequel for two of Rankin’s ongoing series (The Brentford Trilogy, of which this is Book Seven, and the Witches Of Chiswick Trilogy, of which this is Book Two), and one that would have been better to read before the World Cup, since it’s about football. Like all of Rankin’s books, it’s good silly fun, though for once the title seems quite forced. But is that really any good reason to criticize a book? It is not. And did I mention they make fun of David Beckham and Manchester United a little?

In which Jim Pooley must coach Brentford's football team to win the FA cup to prevent armageddon.

Slightly confusing, in that Norman the shopkeeping inventor is still married to Peg, but in all "previous" novels in the Brentford "trilogy", she'd left him long since.