DES...
Liverpool, Railways & Eternity.
A Locospotter’s Life. On Parable Tracks.
By John Piercy
The Shalom Habakkuk Trust. 62 pages.
ISBN 978 0 951 471 570
First impressions of this small self-published book are not good. The plain yellow cover devoid of any artwork or photos and a confusion of three subtitles all in home computer text is off-putting – unfortunate for an item which is being sold to raise funds.
Skimming through the first chapters showed an unsophisticated style and a heavy focus on detail which made me inclined to send it back unreviewed until I saw a chapter about his character’s obsession with prewar Riley cars; as that is also one of my interests, I thought I had better read it!
It is the story of the life of ‘Des’ and the first ten short chapters are overwhelmingly nostalgic and period detail-crammed autobiographical stories of adventures from a Liverpool childhood in the 1950s – trams, Meccano, The Beano, Basildon Bond notepaper, his dad’s Craven ‘A’ cigarettes – you get the picture.
Some, such as following the beautiful Mavis home from school. are amusing, others seem a little pointless and there is no direct Christian content. He is an avid trainspotter, as many boys were then, and there is considerable talk about engine classes, names, numbers, etc. which may delight those in the club but I suspect would cause other people’s eyes to glaze over.
The second half changes abruptly and Des is now a vicar in a small country parish, and we read of his doomed attempts to bring God to the uncaring congregation. Here the autobiographical is mixed with imaginative ‘updated parables’ paralleling Jesus’s teaching and life. This has potential, but as there is no reference to the source, some biblical knowledge is needed to fully appreciate them. The way of salvation is described and an appendix has ‘the sinner’s prayer’ and next steps, but no easy follow-up route is given, nor how to enquire further into the faith.
Could you use it? Maybe, if you know a nostalgia-steeped transport enthusiast with an undemanding literary taste and who could cope with the book’s mix of ideas. A tall order perhaps.
