Imagine if the middle aged white woman (and we all know such a woman) who calls you ‘pet’ and has funky coloured short hair became a novel. This is what it feels like reading Brother of the More Famous Jack.
This is the story of Katherine, a beautiful and naive student who gets swept up with her philosophy professor’s mad, bohemian family. We follow them from their first meeting to over a decade later where young loves have soured and several difficult lessons have been learned. This book is a romp for sure but also contains just enough ‘real-worldness’ to stop it becoming a mere fanciful lark. Trapido clearly had a riot writing this.
The characters are so out there and unabashed but she fleshes them out expertly and their chaotic mess of a household feels real and utterly believable. Despite being arguably the plainest character in a cast of misfits, Katherine’s voice blossoms over the course of the book and she becomes a sympathetic and warm narrator whose personal tragedies provide the needed solemn pause in a novel that is largely lighthearted and comedic. That sort of emotional connection doesn’t come from nowhere; Trapido’s earnest writing about an average young girl worms its way into your heart and you can’t help but be a little bit enamoured by the whole thing.
This is a sharp and funny little novel which is just as politically incorrect as perhaps only a book from the 80s can be. Dated as it may be, it’s a joyful, vivacious work and kept me great, gentle company for a week.
4/5
