James Kelman - You Have to Be Careful in the Land of the Free

What a mouthful for a title! It definitely fits in with this novel. To be honest, I wasn't overly fond of You Have to Be Careful in the Land of the Free, which was another novel required for my Cosmopolitanism class.

This novel is referred to as a "jeremiad," which is basically an extended rant about the state of the world. In fact, the name of the narrator was named after this genre, Jeremiah Brown. Jeremiah is a Scottish national who has lived in the U.S. for fifteen years. He has an estranged (maybe ex-, I can't recall) wife and young daughter and is going back to Scotland to see his sick mother.

The entire novel takes place in a span of a few hours the night before Jeremiah's flight as he barhops and reminisces and drinks. Oh boy, does he drink!

I wouldn't say that this was anything close to light reading. It is complex, quasi-stream of consciousness, and partially in Scots. Even visually, it is not easy to read. There is very little white space, no chapter breaks, no section breaks. Here's a little sample for you (Jeremiah has a foul mouth, so I've censored him!)

Mine was a compulsive, obsessive, addictive personality, the usual--plus I felt like a beer and the company of human beings; human beings, not tubes in a box or words on a page, and masturbation enters into that. In other words I was sick of myself and scunnered with my company, physically and mentally. And why was I gaun hame! I didnay even want to go hame. Yes I did.

No I didnay.

Yes I did.

No I didnay. No I f***ing didnay. It was an obligation. Bonne Skallin man it can only be an obligation. The faimly were there and one had to say hullo now and again. Posterity demands it of us.

This is from the very beginning of the novel (page 2, to be precise) and does a good job of showing a bit of the Scots dialect that permeates the novel and the writing style. He does converse with people occasionally, but it isn't traditionally formatted. No quotation marks at all. Jeremiah's dialogue is just mixed into his narration and the other people are expressed in italics. This goes on for over 400 pages and doesn't really much of a plot in the usual sense.

The novel was interesting in relation to the class, but I don't know that I would pick up another Kelman if it is like this one! It was a bit of a struggle to get through. You definitely need a quiet place to focus.