Les Allen

After The History of Tractors I expected another very funny tale. This story splits essentially three ways - the parents reminiscing, the son hitting the big time in The City, and the daughter striving to improve the lot of kids in a deprived South Yorkshire. Set roughly around the time of the 2008 financial crash the details of Serge's life in FATCA Tower give a good account of the shenanigans of the bankers... Clara's existence teaching in Donny is a fair portrayal of a failing industrial heartland. Doro and Marcus, the old hippie parents, tie the strands together. Unfortunately it often reads more like a biography/documentary than a gleeful romp.

A very readable and accessible study on where humanity has gone wrong. Money is the root of all evil. Small is beautiful. Just Stop Oil. Modern Humanity, however, does not willingly engage in frugality. Profligacy is our religion. The work's summary preaches hope and alternative societies. And it is laudably optimistic. Personally I subscribe to the belief that homo sapiens is going to hell in a handcart. But Planet Earth will survive

Sorry to say that I floundered with this magnum opus.... One for those with more piscine tastes ....