I’d like to preface this review by saying that Billy and Girl is definitely not the kind of book I generally read. It reminds me a bit of Ben Elton or Irving Welsh in style. But I’ve got to think that the author Deborah Levy, was drinking heavily while writing this novel because the stream of consciousness jumps from one nutty topic to the next with blinding speed. We start out by meeting Billy, a student of pain, half teacher, half psychologist, this fifteen year old boy may have some profound insights into the nature of loss and hurt, or he might be completely demented. It’s kind of hard to tell with this flamboyant cast of characters. His sister is in a strange way worse though, Girl (Louise really) is a smart ass, chain smoking, department store junkie that lit her dad on fire and is on a never ending quest to find her real mother. Both Billy and Girl get involved in some bizarre situations in their quest for the ultimate consumer experience, and free pizza. But the strangest aspect to this story has got to be the writing style.
Levy is half wise cracking British pop culture philosopher, part lunatic, if you ask me. It feels like her thought were just too much to contain and they’ve spilled out onto the pages but with only the smallest relation to a “quote unquote” proper plotline. It’s a strange world Levy paints for us. The players are all dysfunctional to varying degrees, but somehow they manage to lead lives for more than five minutes without sticking their heads in the oven or something. Maybe I should just chalk it up to being British, I always suspected they were nuts, and Levy has finally given me the proof.
I suppose in the end I’d have to say this book wasn’t really that bad. It had some interesting elements and I kind of like insanity at times. I think if it were more than 200 pages I might have felt differently, but as it is I’d say that if you like this kind of weirdness in your life than check this one out. That’s about all I’ve got to say on this one. Enjoy it, if you dare...
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