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| Library of Wales: So Long Hector BebbRon Berry
View more titles by 'Ron Berry' |
ISBN: 9781902638805 (1902638808)Publication Date January 2006
Publisher: Parthian Books, CardiganFormat: Paperback, 215x135 mm, 272 pages
Language: English
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£6.99
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The first title in the landmark series of classics, the Library of Wales. An account in Ron Berry's sparse and uncompromising style of the story of a boxer from Cymmer in south Wales ready to make his comeback. Abe has ensured Hector is nurtured into a single-minded fighting machine. He is ready to take on the world, but where do the true dangers lie?
Y gyfrol gyntaf yn y gyfres garreg filltir Library of Wales. Hanes paffiwr o Gymer yn ne Cymru sydd yn barod i ddechrau ymladd eto; y mae Abe yn cyflyru Hector i fod yn beiriant ymladd digymrodedd; mae'n barod i wynebu'r byd, ond ym mhle y mae'r peryglon gwirioneddol? Fe'i hysgrifenwyd yn arddull noeth a garw Ron Berry.
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Dealing with the anger, frustration and perils faced by a precocious yet fragile talent in the gritty real-life world of the Valleys, this book certainly pulls no punches in its portrayal of 1960s Wales. Based around the tale of Hector Bebb, a young fighter on the ladder to stardom, a fetid picture of greed, violence and betrayal spreads irresistibly through every paragraph, marking the price of his ascent and the cataclysmic occurrence that sends him on his downfall.
It is the way the author details the events that makes this book such an engaging read. Dismissing the concept of a central narrator entirely, Berry instead relies on a series of 'stream of conscience' monologues from 14 of the main characters, giving a refreshing openness about the folk in the novel – a real chance, if you will, for the reader to make up their own minds.
And that isn't easy. Voices from all sides add to the 'community gossip' style that the narrative provides, and the ramifications that actions, prejudices and conversations have on all involved are clear to witness. Certain opinions and particularly juicy snippets of information are sometimes left out - to avoid this problem would require thousands of pages - but it is these gaps of information and clues one must piece together that make Hector Bebb such a fascinating read.
And there are conflicts that regularly make themselves apparent too, with sharp subtle imagery appearing on both sides. The same man who tenderly nurtures his trainer's friendship also ravenously gobbles down raw sheep flesh . . . Is Bebb a graceful pugilist or a vile brawling beast?
It is true to say that this book will not be for everyone, and be warned: the violence and bad language throughout the story may offend. However, personally I would describe this as one of the best novels I have read in a long while. For passion, grit and drama it really cannot be put down – and the climax of the tale is certainly worth the wait.
A forgotten classic that truly should be rediscovered!
Jack Clothier
It is possible to use this review for promotional purposes, but the following acknowledgement should be included: A review from www.gwales.com, with the permission of the Welsh Books Council.
Gellir defnyddio’r adolygiad hwn at bwrpas hybu, ond gofynnir i chi gynnwys y gydnabyddiaeth ganlynol: Adolygiad oddi ar www.gwales.com, trwy ganiatâd Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru.
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Further Information: When a single-minded, sexless fighting machine becomes a killer he discovers who his real family are and how far they will go to protect him.
So Long, Hector Bebb recounts in Ron Berry's sparse and uncompromising style the story of a boxer from Cymmer in South Wales ready to make his comeback.
Abe has ensured that Hector is nurtured into a single-minded fighting machine. He is ready to take on the world, but where do the true dangers lie?
Through a series of first person accounts a compelling tragic-heroic story unfolds. The traditional values of family and friendship are stripped bare-knuckled naked by the relentlessly violent world of boxing. Some are savaged and others liberated, but the consequences of these stark principles leave deep scars on everyone in Hector Bebb's life.
Ron Berry's great Boxing novel is a dazzling multi-vocal exhibition that Mailer would recognise and Joyce Carol Oates too...a novel from the Rhondda, the Heart of American Wales. Dai Smith, Series Editor
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This title is categorised and/or sub-categorised as follows:
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"This is the first book in the Library of Wales series, which aims to republish classics of Welsh literature ‘to bring back into play the voices and actions of the human experience that has made us, in all our complexity, a Welsh people (Dai Smith, series editor). First published in 1970, Ron Berry’s novel is the tale of an up-and-coming boxer who accidentally kills his wife’s lover and is thus forced to go on the run. Like all the best sports writing, it’s a novel that uses sport to tell a wider story.
It’s a raw novel in every sense. The prose is Rhondda English: stark and cold, working to its own rules and rhythms. The story tells of people lost in worlds of drink, resentment, broken dreams and enduring emotional wounds. Yet, most of the characters, who each have their turn at narrating the evolving plot, possess a quiet dignity that transcends the physical and emotional brutality of the novel. They are also articulate in a way that defies their limited language; they reflect on their lives and situations and thus give the book an historical as well as literary value. Here is an ordinary people who seek solace in different ways, some at the bottom of a glass, some in the violence, glamour and excitement of the ring, some in the banal thrills and companionship of marriage and affairs.
The different perspectives Berry weaves together give the book a complex structure that, at first, is not easy to penetrate. It’s probably for this reason that the novel is not better known but once the reader adjusts to ever-shifting camera and the slang of the narrators, the book becomes an absorbing human drama acted out against a background of valleys life and boxing. Although, boxing is a sport that has inspired much great writing in the United States, there is no classic piece of British boxing literature. But here is a novel that comes close and, like the sport itself, it both absorbs and disturbs the onlooker. The horror and delight boxing gives lies in what the sport says about the human condition and the same is true of So Long Hector Bebb. The human resolution and desolation of the book is not a uniquely Welsh condition but it is one that has helped make the Welsh experience.
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