Book Review : Richard Godwin - Wrong Crowd (2015)

Order WRONG CROWD here

(also reviewed)
Order PIQUANT - TALES OF THE MUSTARD MAN here
Order APOSTLE RISING here
Order MR.GLAMOUR here
Order ONE LOST SUMMER here
Order MEANINGFUL CONVERSATIONS here
Order NOIR CITY here

Claude watched Maxine when she wasn't looking, her watched her moods and the clothes she wore when she went out. Her watched her as he made love to her, gently holding the violence in his soul away, as he caressed her slowly in the twilight of their room.

If you ever feel like making your life needlessly complicated, try to explain to a woman what male desire feels like without sounding like a complete rapist. It's almost impossible. It's a fascinating subject, but if anything ever needed fiction in order to be properly explained, this is it. That's why we have writers like Richard Godwin working today, who are obsessed with that question. His latest novel WRONG CROWD is somewhat of a return to form for Godwin, who had been undergoing an experimental phase over the last year or so. It might not be up to his magnum opus ONE LOST SUMMER, but it's the next best thing.

Claude met Maxine, a gorgeous and sensual woman who seemingly lives to find new and creative ways to satisfy his sexual desires, on a trip in the Caribbean. Claude falls for her head over heels and they begin a relationship when they go back to Europe. Only problem is that he lied to her about who he is in order to impress Maxine, passing himself as a wealthy businessman, and the crazy amount of money he spends in order to keep Maxine happy is starting to catch up to him. Truth is, Claude is a thief and he's starting to get mixed up with the wrong crowd in order to keep this ethereal relationship alive and well.

I know it's going to sound fucked, but in order to ''get'' WRONG CROWD, you can't see Maxine as an actual person. It's not a first degree thing. She is the embodiment of male desire. She's not a very interesting character herself, but the way male characters react to her is. She makes them feel entitled to her, because they can all recognize how special she is and all feel like they're the only one figuring it all out, and that includes protagonist Claude. Sexual desire is an overwhelming force that makes men stupid and short sighted, but still responsible of their own behavior. It's like a built-in addiction that only slightly alters your judgement and men define themselves by how they manage it.

Does that make any sense at all? It's the best way I can explain it in a couple sentences, but Richard Godwin does a much better job that me, using 200 pages to set his argument up.

Late that night as she slept he went down to the room he used as an office. He bought a company online and named it Blue Boats. Then he ordered some stationary and got it sent express. He drank a whiskey and tried to think of other questions she might ask. Then he went upstairs and got into bed net to Maxine and touched her as she slept. She stirred briefly as his hand wandered between her thighs. He kept touching her, arousing himself, feeding on the knowledge that she was his. She didn't seem to mind anything that he did to her in bed.

There's nothing quite like reading a Richard Godwin novel. It's an irritating experience to some, fascinating to others, but it's never boring. Godwin's language reads like an unfiltered, yet unspoken Freudian fantasy. We all have them, but most of us have never seen them taking shape on a page. Not until reading a Richard Godwin novel anyway. He never shies away from crude situations and images and seems to even enjoy them. It's never free though. Godwin always use provocation in order to illustrate a greater picture and he doesn't care whether you agree with his ideas or not. WRONG CROWD is not his most uncompromising novel in that regard, but if you pick it up looking for a fight, you will most certainly find something to be offended about.

I've enjoyed WRONG CROWD a lot. It's a straightforward, yet daring and controlled novel that explores the fascinating theme of male sexuality beyond the simplistic "boobs = satisfaction" explanation carried by the pseudo-sophisticated domestic dramas of our age. It's not the kind of novel that will elicit only a tedious reaction out of you. You will either love it or hate it and in both case, your reasons for doing so are probably very good. Try and read Richard Godwin with an open mind and enjoy the unbridled imaginary and prose. It is, I believe, the best way to enjoy him but there are many ways to read his work that'll bring you a satisfaction of some sort. That's what makes him a fascinating writer.