Review: The Boy Who Made It Rain

Title: The Boy Who Made it Rain
Author: Brian Conaghan
My Age Recommendation: 16+
Publisher: Sparkling Books Ltd.
Publication Date: 3rd June 2011
Pages: 208
Rating: 4/5
Reviewer: Jon

Synopsis
At only sixteen Clem's world is turned upside down. His Willy-Loman-like father, a travelling salesman and a loser, is transferred from Eastbourne to Glasgow and along with him go Clem and his meek accommodating mother. But Glasgow is rough and Clem's posh English accent is not well-accepted in the sink school he attends. And he's a brilliant scholar. He soon becomes the target for McEvoy's group of thugs for whom slashing faces is the most important ambition in their depraved lives. When a school tragedy happens, you probably lay the blame on society, the Internet, TV or violent films. Not many of you think it could be the parents' or the teachers' fault, do you? But then, is it? We all have our say, spout off opinions in different directions according to our view of the world. In this novel, too, they all have their say, but who's right?

Jon's Review
This is a strange book.

The Boy Who Made it Rain tells the story of a young man who due to his father's change of job is uprooted from his home, his school and his life in Eastbourne and moved to inner city Glasgow. Coming from an excellent school, well-educated and well spoken, our protagonist Clem finds himself the centre of attention in a low achieving school that is plagued by the Scots equivalent of "Chavs"; the smoking, drinking, knife-carrying, Burberry wearing "Non-educated delinquents" (or NEDs for short). The attention he receives, whilst at times desirable (as in the case of Rosie, who is to become his girlfriend), is mostly abusive and threatening. The village mob mentality of his Glaswegian classmates is all too apparent as he suffers daily verbal abuse, not least on account of his posh English accent.

We are introduced to a variety of colourful characters, each who tell their account of what happened leading up to and including a climactic event. These include Rosie, her friend Cora, his previous headmaster and others who have an opinion on what caused the event to occur. Throughout the book, we are not told what this event was, but clearly it is of an extremely serious nature. I had a pretty good idea of what the outcome was going to be; whilst I was surprised by the technical details, I guessed what was going to happen fairly early on.

That said, this book is not a mystery, more a psychological delve into the darkest recesses of the human psyche; perhaps an attempt to understand why people act the way they do in extreme circumstances.

The sensible grown-up in me wanted to hate this book. The prolific use of foul language, whilst contextual, is wholly inappropriate and unnecessary. That may sound old-fashioned and I'm sure some teenagers who read this know all the swear words (and more, undoubtedly) but that is not the point. The author is clearly a master wordsmith who beautifully crafted some of the most profound scenes and conversations I've ever read in a book before. Unfortunately, I felt that this talent was ultimately tainted by the overuse of offensive language. Yes, this is a story set in a violent sub-culture in a city with frightening statistics of knife crime (and worse), and granted, some of the locals do colour their vocabulary with a considerable amount of swearing. Nonetheless, did the author really feel it added any realism to the story to include it? That is for you to decide.

The teenager in me loved it. As I read the story, I recalled my own turbulent teenage years. Time and again I found myself reflected in the story of Clem. Having been home educated as a very young boy, then schooled in a peaceful part of Devon, I was suddenly uprooted because of my father's career change, and moved to inner city London at the age of 11. Immediately I could relate to Clem's plight. Just as Clem found himself in a poor school in a poor part if Glasgow, I was sent to a sink school in what was the poorest part of South London: Lambeth. Surrounded by South Londoners, my "posh nob" accent and education was the subject of much verbal and physical abuse. Consequently I grew to hate my school, my classmates, the useless teachers and London itself. Like Clem, I had to decide which battles to fight and which to walk away from. Thankfully I survived and came out of it all the stronger! This story tells us how Clem deals with his situation in a way that teenagers (and adults) the world over can relate to, especially if they have suffered similar experiences.

This is an extremely well written, gripping and numbing story that grabs you by the throat and won't let go until you see it through to the end. I'm glad I read it. I love and hate the book in equal measures, and can only commend the author on stirring such strong, conflicting emotions out of me with his words.