THE BOY WITH THE TOPKNOT.

THE BOY WITH THE TOPKNOT: A MEMOIR OF LOVE, SECRETS AND LIES IN WOLVERHAMPTON by SATHNAM SANGHERA.

SOURCE: I was a giver of this on World Book Night.

For Sathnam Sanghera, growing up in Wolverhampton in the eighties was a confusing business. On the one hand, these were the heady days of George Michael mix-tapes, Dallas on TV and, if he was lucky, the occasional Bounty Bar. On the other, there was his wardrobe of tartan smocks, his 30p-an-hour job at the local sewing factory and the ongoing challenge of how to tie the perfect top-knot. And then there was his family, whose strange and often difficult behaviour he took for granted until, at the age of twenty-four, Sathnam made a discovery that changed everything he ever thought he knew about them. Equipped with breathtaking courage and a glorious sense of humour, he embarks on a journey into their extraordinary past - from his father's harsh life in rural Punjab to the steps of the Wolverhampton Tourist Office - trying to make sense of a life lived among secrets.
...... Outer back cover

FIRST SENTENCE {Chapter 1: Life of Surprises}: Drinking alone needn't necessarily be a lowering experience.

MEMORABLE MOMENT {Page 111}: I'd be embarrassed if I knew what any of the words meant or if I wasn't so preoccupied with the task of drying my hair in front of the electric fire. With my head bowed, I move around the heater with the efficiency of an automated kebab skewer, making sure each bit gets an equal amount of heat.

MY THOUGHTS: Reissued as The Boy With The Topknot, the original hardback copy was titled If You Don't Know Me By Now.

A book with so many aspects to it, a young boy caught between two cultures, a mothers experience of an arranged marriage beset in its early days by violence, a family coping with periods of mental ill health.The Boy With The Topknot though not without its humorous moments (albeit of a mostly self-depreciating kind) is not always an easy read, my enjoyment of it greatly marred by the authors self indulgent whining.

Inconsistently written. Whilst much of the book offered a personal insight there were times when it felt very much like a piece of journalism (hardly surprising given the authors profession of journalist) written to be as sensationalist as possible. 

Essentially what I felt was a missed opportunity. This memoir had the potential to offer such an amazing insight into so many big issues and yet I can't help but think its whole purpose was to help the author move on, to help him reconcile his issues.

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