Leading the Cheers

by Justin Cartwright

Book Overview

For travelers, history has a way of appearing crystallized. It's all too easy, when visiting someone else's country, to discern the links between the ideas of the past and the way people live now. And... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0786706589
• ISBN13: 9780786706587
• Release Date: January 1999
• Publisher: Carroll & Graf Publishers
• Length: 246 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.4" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Entertaining, perceptive, intelligent

Leading the Cheers is a quick and entertaining read which manages to cover a lot of bases. Underlying the plotline is the revelation that we view the world through only one set of eyes - that our subjective picture of reality might be little more than a self-serving illusion.Reviews praise the book as "hilarious" and "funny", whereas I'd probably say "amusing" or "ironic". Cartwright has an intelligent and sharp sense of humor, but it is definitely of drier/more ironic nature than is implied by these descriptions; this was not a book that made me laugh. That said, this was a lively and compelling novel with interesting, well-developed characters and a good mix between plot and introspection. The storyline involves a successful British ad executive's return to Michigan, his childhood home, to attend his high school reunion. Although he has never questioned his interpretation of the events of his youth he suddenly finds himself faced with a number of questions. Things aren't always as they seem. Along the way we get some sharp insights on middle-American culture, Indian rituals, and the meaning of "success" and "failure".A quirky cast of characters includes a lanky descendant of Northern European immigrants who following his nervous breakdown during his freshman year at Harvard channels the spirit of a long dead Native American called Pale Eagle; a serial killer serving a life sentence; and a group of former high school cheerleaders and jocks facing middle age stranded in their small-town environment. Other reviewers have pointed out some factual inconsistencies, which I honestly would not have noticed. Regardless, I enjoyed Cartwright's eye for detail and well-crafted descriptions. A thought-provoking and original novel.

Recommended.

The inside dust jacket describes this book as "witty and often hilarious" with a "shocking denouement." I'm not sure I agree with any of those descriptions, but I nevertheless found the book moving and enjoyed it immensely. Very thought-provoking, with a number of interesting themes running throughout. I also agree with the "Literary Review" comment to the effect that this is a rare book about "the kind of America nobody (read: none of us upper-crust coastal snobby intellectuals) knows or cares about." I would certainly recommend it. With respect to the reviewer who commented on the apparent inconsistency between 1996 and 1998, it was my sense throughout that the book was taking place in 1996, not only because of the Clinton-Dole campaign, but because of other references as well. I would concede that a 28th-year reunion is somewhat odd, but I just don't recall Dan ever actually describing it as a 30-year reunion, although he does say that the class President has kept in pastoral touch with the class for "nearly 30 years." If in fact I missed the reference to a 30-year reunion, then I would agree that that is more than a minor flaw, given the importance placed on dates in the book.

The prodigal returns

Dan Silas spent his formative years in Hollybush, Michigan. Now resident in a committee run London executive estate, he finds his past calling back to him. Dan is to be a speaker at his high school reunion, thirty years after he's left. Called to speak because he's become something of a success in his home country, and because he's practically the only one of his high school chums to have really left. In the middle of a separation which hurts him less than it should, Dan's return to Hollybush makes him realise a few certain truths. Features of this introspection are the encroaching insanity of his friend, who has gone native under the name of Gary Pale Eagle, a sexual encounter in Jefferson's bed, and the revelation that he had a daughter, brutally murdered by a serial killer. This is a very American novel. All aspects of American and western life come under a subtle but penetrating gaze. There is a discourse on Emerson's notion of self running throughout this novel. Cartwright, born a South African, presents an extremely vivid portrait of a contemporary English man. What better device than to set such a character out into America? Accent is very relevant to this novel, and accent is strong and flowing, mutable, a metaphor for self. Devastating declarations arise, and you feel horror on behalf of the narrator, who declines to comment, since such things are deigned to be self evident. Deprecating humour abounds too. Sometimes, 'Leading the Cheers' feels like the Coen Brothers' Fargo. A homely portrait of American life with engaging characters, mixed with pure horror. It all rings so true, despite the fact that it's mere composition. I've earflapped the pages which speak to me, so that I can find my way back to them in the future. Quite appropriately, it also involves the narrative tracking of a journey, with Gary Pale Eagle willing to steal for clues.

Reality and the past as we remember it

This Whitbread Prize winning novel by Justin Cartwright is bang up-to-date in its modern day references but does a wistfully nostalgic take on the story of Londoner, Dan Silas, a middle aged and temporarily retired ad man, who returns to Michigan, USA to attend and deliver a speech at a class reunion organised by his mates. Expecting a gentler and kinder place than his abode across the Atlantic, Dan discovers to his surprise that life has thrown a few curved balls at his buddies in the intervening years. His best friend, Gary, has lost his mind and now lives in a world of his own, imagining himself a descendent of a red Indian tribe. His ex-girlfriend, Gloria, has lost a teenage daughter (whom she claims was fathered by Dan) to a serial killer. Even the past, as he recalls it, doesn't quite reconcile with their version. As Dan treads the path of self discovery, he realises that there is no real logic to life. Is Gary's spiritual domain, in which life and death co-exist in a continuum, so absurd ? Perhaps not. How about Gloria's insistence in Dan's paternity when this belief flies in the face of all evidence ? Cartwright's prose reeks with irony. He writes in a very readable style, though the proliferation of names and places only served to distract. There are at least two high points in the novel. Dan's interview with the serial killer is chilling and brilliant in its economy. Gary's well thought out plan for Dan to regain lost antiques from the British Museum is touching in its quiet intent and a masterful stroke. I found "Leading The Cheers" a very good read. Highly recommended.

Witty account by English writer of small town America

I read this book last year while I was living in London. It was a best seller there and won the Whitebread prize which it fully deserved. It is a surprising and amusing take on living in small town America, full of twists and turns and truly delightful. I cannot recommend it too highly.