JON & JAPONIKA
By Clie Price
Illustrated by Alex Hindhaugh. Zaza Comms. 78 pages. £4.95.
ISBN 0 9541421 0 1
National Marriage Week is to take place from February 10 to 17. This is the promotional book to accompany that week.
It is a little piece of fiction in the Adrian Plass genre and tells the story of the first year of marriage of the eponymous couple. He constructs websites and likes red meat. She sells organic pet food and is presented as a kind of timid suburban eco-warrior. You get the picture. The tale is meant to explore some well-worn myths about marriage - like 'your wedding day is the best day of your life' and 'love is all you need' - and convey some common sense instead.
Some of its humour comes off and generally it makes the point about marriage being something worth working at. Its weakness is that it is extremely light, bordering on hot air. After all, the biggest problems Jon and Japonika face in their first year of marriage come down to things like a naff hotel on a weekend away and the eco-warrior getting a warning from the local police while on a protest. I can imagine folk with real problems (like redundancy or abuse from a previous relationship) losing patience. It is a happy distraction, but definitely in the category of fantasy and does not plug people into anything particularly biblical.
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