Member Since:
Oct. 13, 2012
J.C. Kelly
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Website: http://authorjckelly.com
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Smashwords book reviews by J.C. Kelly
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Hawker Kingsley
on Oct. 13, 2012
Tom Woodward has created an intriguing, mysterious character in Hawker Kingsley, an ex-con with a daily ritual of shooting at a mannequin he calls Judy. A misanthropic loner who breeds kittens and only feels safe expressing love to them, Hawker is anything but cordial when the next door neighbor’s teenage daughter Elsie pays him a visit. In spite of the rude reception, Elsie returns with two albums she purchased as a gift for him. She persists until she wears him down, and he offers to teach her how to throw a punch. The two are drawn together by a shared sense of alienation—Elsie being a smart, serious girl among a school full of dimwits and Hawker a former Marxist who used to belong to a motorcycle gang that sold marijuana around Australia. Woodward keenly observes how the teenage characters in the book seem to exist outside of an age they can call their own, referring back to eras such as “the sixties” and “the eighties,” yet standing only as a reflection of the images of those times rather than the substance that defined them. “They all had facial piercings and dyed black hair,” presumably emblematic of a punk era rejection of conformity, yet an obvious act of conformity in itself. Fans of Holden Caulfield will appreciate the homage to him represented in Hawker. Like Holden, Hawker condemns contemporary society for its phoniness and pettiness, implying that social movements fail because unified groups with strong ideals invariably devolve into fractured, reactive individuals fueled by personal vendettas and other trivial, selfish concerns. Yet such condemnation stems from Hawker’s own personal history, the unveiling of which culminates in a shocking revelation that explains why he shoots at the mannequin. Some of the descriptions, while artful and poetic, seem to be out of place. They are effective at creating an ominous mood, but then what follows in the narrative isn’t always proportionate. At times the dialogue lacks relevance, and some scenes are unnecessarily detailed. Yet there is some very beautiful writing that evokes the spiritual receptivity experienced only in youth prior to the ineluctable loss of spirit that comes with the worldly concerns of adulthood. Charged with a subtle sexual energy, the dynamic between Hawker and Elsie is seductive both in its forbidden nature and in its aptness. The dramatic ending will attempt to shake your faith in what you know is certain.