Editorial Reviews

An Entertaining Read

A Stroud Novelist has written a humorous novel about division and reconciliation, J. L. Dent’s dark, edgy comedy about bad relationships, delves into societal divisions, with a frivolous nod to D. H. Lawrence’s 1924, once banned classic, Lady Chatterley’s Lover. Dent’s story begins in 2014; the UK on the brink of the stay or leave Brexit referendum. Each chapter alternating in character’s point of view. First, we meet Liam, a disenfranchised loner who finds himself working for local aristocrat, Daniel. Their lives alien to each other, yet loneliness and past trauma draws them into a connection they’re both desperately in need of.

Next, we’re introduced to Maya who runs alternative dance classes. The kind you might find in the counterculture side of Stroud, Maya describes herself as polyamorous, without quite grasping the ethical side of this, and in her hands it turns into a clunky, time bomb, particularly when it comes to her latest lover, Troy, fresh out of prison, and possibly not the kind of man you want to annoy.

The plot twists and turns from beginning to end, with plenty of surprises. One chapter was so funny, tea literally exploded from my mouth mid-sentence, others made me cry, whilst Troy is just plain scary. The writing also has contemplative moments, particularly within the natural world where much of the story is set, and then of course there’s the romance that stays on the side of authentic throughout. Genre wise, it doesn’t quite fit into any particular box, but this goes along with each character’s struggle of knowing who they are, an existential question that reverberates throughout. It’s a book that challenges ideas around identity, how we put limited definitions on ourselves and others, through class, gender and race. It reflects on this not in a preachy way, but instead by playing with paradox and contradiction.

Throw into the mix a blend of entertaining characters; Daniel’s snobby, elitist wife Meredith, struggling to ride a menopausal tsunami, Maya’s guru whose new age platitudes she constantly quotes, the Buddhist with an unpronounceable name, Troy’s poker-faced therapist, and many others, making for a truly entertaining read.

Stroud News and Journal

Communing with Nature and How to Have a Sh*t Relationship

Judith Gunn

“It wasn’t until I was seventeen and I moved to the squat scene of London that my sister said why don’t you read this book? And she gave me JD Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye and I loved it.” He enjoyed it so much that he read it twice, brought to tears by its power. He also thought (remember he was seventeen) that it would be pretty simple to write a book like that, so he had a go. “I attempted to write a book and I realised that it’s not that easy to write a book that’s easy to read.” Writing was proving a challenge but he didn’t give up on reading. “I love reading and I’ve always wanted to write … I came from a working class background but my parents did read, so the house was full of books.” That was then, JL Dent (John) has now written and published a novel that goes by the sassy and entirely justified title of “How to have Sh*t Relationship … I think we can all relate! John left school with that love of reading but no qualifications. He headed to London, first to a housing association and then to the squat, which was his first, but not his last experience of communal living. “It was a U shape of houses that had been left derelict and empty and there was a walled garden and at the end of the U shape, so it was an enclosed community.” A diverse community that offered a place for those with a taste for counter-culture and those from mixture of heritages, origins and ages including one man who still called people “cat”. The community built a stage and put on performances, shopped for secondhand clothes, made communal meals, shared everything. “Maybe its partly coming from the north of England, in a street where everyone knew everyone -

lending and sharing milk or sugar, so it was kind of completely normal just to know everyone.” Although John’s first attempt at writing a book had foundered, he did not give up writing altogether. He wrote poetry and participated in the poetry scene of Eighties London. “I used to do stand up poetry on the alternative cabaret scene.” He wrote and performed alongside the likes of John Cooper-Clarke, Atilla the Stockbroker and Robbie Coltrane and he continued to participate in the DIY performances of the squat. Many years later John’s book How to Have a Sh*t Relationship is precisely that well-crafted easy-to-read book that he so wanted to write when he first read Catcher in the Rye.The novel has taken its time but, it’s a raunchy, funny and life-affirming piece that draws on his life experiences from London squats to a career as a therapist. John’s communal journey took him to Atlantis (no not that Atlantis). This Atlantis was a commune based on an island off the coast of Ireland, he, and a group from the squat, found it in The Communes Directory (who knew) and a few of them headed to Atlantis! “I went to this commune, you weren’t even allowed cigarettes there, and it just fed my soul being there… I just fell in love with the sea, the sky, the stars. I had never seen the Milky Way. I remember going for a walk at night and seeing the Milky Way and being in awe.” This love of nature defined much of what followed, in the end, after moving with the commune to Colombia for a while, he decided to return conceding that it had become a bit “cultish” and he needed a change. “I remember the day when I came back, it was drizzling and everyone was hiding behind newspapers on the train.” Despite the drizzle John chose to live in a caravan in Surrey, so that he could work with the land as a landscape gardener. “I love outdoor work, I love being in nature so that’s kind of reflected in the character Liam.” The novel is told from the perspective of several different characters in turn, as they navigate their identity and their relationships. There is young Maya’s angst as she explores the virtues of monogamy versus polyamory, as well affirming her affinity with yoga and struggling with her relationship with her parents. Masculinity, including toxic masculinity, is represented as a character aptly named Troy, articulates the anger of the disenfranchised while all of the characters struggle with class divisions and personal flaws. “It's about class but it’s also about reconciliation - we live in a really polarised world at the moment, as a therapist most people I see are middle class and some are aristocratic - decent nice people the middle class will often look down on the aristocracy … I just wanted to broach that subject.” Whilst living in nature, John began training as a therapist, and that has been his day job for the last twenty years and he has been in Stroud for over a decade. “There’s something about being around XR and all that counterculture and the stuff around the environment here.” Counter-culture has informed John’s life and has its moments in the novel, gently satirised with both humour and understanding. The novel is published under his own imprint, Anatta Books - a Buddhist term for no self. The book is a riot of relationships, misunderstandings and pathos and it is available in all good bookshops and online book retailers.

Good on Paper