Book: No More Heroes
Author: Stephen Thompson
Publisher: Jacaranda Books
Price: £7.99
Review by Reshma Ruia
No More Heroes is a bold and ambitious work by a writer who exposes with passion and conviction, the challenges facing young black men in contemporary Britain.
Hackney-born Simon Weekes, the central protagonist in Thompson’s novel, is a reluctant hero of the 7/7 terrorist attacks on the London Underground. Despite being lauded for his bravery in saving the lives of two fellow passengers, he is unwilling to accept the adulation and shuns the publicity that follows his heroism.
The first part of the novel focuses on Simon’s nondescript life as an employee of a video rental store in a town where people live in “crumbling” pebble-dashed houses or on drab, low-rising housing estates. Yet Simon seems to welcome the dreary and dull anonymity of this small town. His is a character anxious to lead a life under the radar.
There is a hint of the darkness lurking within him without giving much away in the first half, whetting the reader’s curiosity. Involved in a relationship with a single mother, Simon decides to sell his story to a newspaper for a considerable amount of money to help her out of a cycle of dependency on her ex-partner.
By the second part of the novel, the consequences of this act means Simon’s violent past is exposed. This is when the novel picks up pace and momentum as Thompson skilfully presents a detached, yet emotionally resonant insight into the lives of young black men caught in a vicious cycle of poverty, crime and drugs, with little opportunity to break free and start afresh.
Thompson’s real skill lies in presenting a vivid and convincing portrayal of a Jamaican immigrant family, trapped in low cost housing and dead end jobs. In prose that is both direct and non-judgemental, he draws us into the world of a flawed hero.
Simon is a young man with promise and hope who aimlessly drifts into the twilight world of drugs and violence due to a lack of chances and societal prejudice. Yet his selfless act of bravery in the aftermath of a terrorist attack, reveals a man with a strong fibre of moral courage and values.
The novel is an indictment of a society where the cards are stacked against those who have been so conditioned into regarding anything black as negative that they “couldn’t picture Christ as a black man without experiencing a pang of fear”.
An author to watch.