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 Bit too much of the same November 11, 2008
I found this quite funny, but a chapter or two - or make that an essay, really would be enough. After a while the ever samey tone and chippiness (which he tries to disguise but can't) starts to grate a bit.
 In search of some northern soul October 25, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The North-South divide in Great Britain is the subject of this rather tongue-in-cheek travelogue by Northern journalist and broadcaster Stuart Maconie.
For non-Brits, the divide is not an exact line, but one which refers to the economic and cultural differences between southern England and the rest of the country, including Scotland. It involves many stereotypes, including the belief that Northerners are thick and Southerners are posh. Or, as Maconie, a Northerner transplanted to the South, puts it:
"Good or bad, 'the north' means something to all English people wherever they hail from. To people from London -- cheery costermonger, cravated fop or Shoreditch-based web designer on stupid scooter alike -- it means desolation, arctic temperatures, mushy peas, a cultural wasteland with limited shopping opportunities and populated by aggressive trolls. To northerners it means home, truth, beauty, valour, romance, warm and characterful people, real beer and decent chip shops. And in this we are undoubtedly biased, of course."
The enchantingly entitled Pies and Prejudice takes us on a wonderful tour of the North, with the erudite and charming Maconie as our host. Having watched Maconie on a many a TV show, I couldn't help but hear his Wigan accent as I read this book, which made the experience all the more enjoyable. (Indeed, I hope that at some point he turns it into a documentary series, as it would make fascinating viewing.)
As one would expect from a journalist who champions pop music, the book is littered with musical references, such as this:
"The Smiths' songs drip, like an evening drizzle off the Moors, with references to Manchester and its environs. Rusholme, Strangeways, Southern Cemetery, Whalley Range, the Holy Name Church. Morrissey has a video called Hulmerist, a wry reference to his childhood home. In an early interview, he said of his artistic self, 'I am forever chained to a disused railway line in Wigan'. While Thatcher, witchlike, cast the north into outer darkness, The Smiths' songs illuminated it anew with northern light and fireworks. We loved them for it."
But it's also clear that Maconie enjoys history and architecture and food, because these subjects are constantly referenced throughout as he makes his way across the country. Each chapter is littered with fascinating facts and figures and snippets of trivia, all delivered in the writer's trademark witty prose style, which is rather reminiscent of Bill Bryson.
His greatest skill, however, is bringing rather drab places to life. He has a certain knack of saying so much in just a few sentences, lovely thumbnail portraits, if you will.
"Where Bury Market excels, though, is food. In the new Fish Market you can gaze, slightly unnerved, at the dead, sightless eyes of row upon row of sea bass and snapper, mackerel and trout lying in state on funeral dais of crushed ice and parsley. The stalls are staffed by either blonde girls in full make-up who you just know are dying to get out that white coat and into their skimpy glad rags this weekend or cheery rubicund men holding up what look like conger eels and joshing in ribald style with housewives. All of them adhere to Maconie's first law of market trade: cheeriness is proportional to the gruesome nature of the wares being handled. The grislier the fare, the gayer the banter."
By the time I got to the last page I felt bereft: it was that same kind of sad feeling one experiences when a much-enjoyed holiday draws to a close. Having learnt so much about the northern regions of England in Maconie's company, I was itching to go out there and visit these places myself. Highly recommended, whether you are from North, South or somewhere else entirely!
 Even a St. Helenian has to tip his hat to this pie-eater... October 18, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I'd read Stuart's "Cider with roadies" and quite enjoyed it but actually preferred Mark Radcliffe's somewhat similar "Showbusiness: The Diary of a Rock 'n' Roll Nobody". I held off reading this book because it all seemed a bit too obvious - and in many ways it is - it's a travelogue of the 'North', with Stuart's thoughts on the places he visits and of what it means to be a 'Northerner'. I started off being a bit annoyed by the many generalisations he makes but gradually I was won over and ended up being charmed and really liking the book. It's not a comprehensive gazetteer of every northern town but I think he covers most of the bases and many of the relevant issues (although coming from a similar area to him, his experience of the north is probably very similar to my own.)
I think his writing has improved a lot since "Cider with roadies", he isn't Bill Bryson yet (as a quote on the cover claims) but he's getting there.
I recently saw Stuart speaking about the book at the Cheltenham Literary Festival and he was excellent, funny and totally engaging. He also mentioned that he is currently working on a book about "Middle England", which sounds like it should be well worth reading.
A book of two halves October 9, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
For the most part, this book is entertaining and witty. Maconie's enthusiam for his subject is contagious and the stuff you are learning is genuinely interesting. Then he stops writing about Lancashire and starts on Yorkshire.
I can't help but think that this book would have been better if Maconie had stuck to what he knows, ie: the west side of the Pennines. Quite how, for example, he can make various claims about 'professional Yorkshiremen' (a dying breed anyway) and deny the existence of the Lancastrian equivalent is an unforgivable oversight that kind of gives away where Maconie's loyalties lie. They are not called 'professional Lancastrians' as such, but how many 'professional Scousers' and 'professional Mancs' could we name? Is Stuart Maconie's beloved Peter Kay not a great example of a professional Lancastrian? There's nothing wrong with that, and while such matters don't ruin the book, there is a real difference in Pies and Prejudice between the writing about Cheshire and Lancashire and the writing about the rest of 'the North'.
That, and a few errors that half-decent any sub would have picked up, aside, the book largely does what it sets out to do: entertain. Southerners that aren't as touchy as this reviewer will probably enjoy it all the more too.
Entertaining and perceptive August 28, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is a superb book; although it has the appearance of belonging to the recently emerged sub genre of humorous and slightly outrageous travel writing, it quickly become apparent that there's far more to it than that. Maconie takes us on a selective tour of the North of England, visiting both his old haunts and other key areas, such as Liverpool, Harrogate and other parts of Yorkshire. Along the way, there are recollections of various amusing personal incidents and a stock of good one-liners, but alongside these, there's a depth of historical, cultural, political and social information and analysis, which is both well researched and convincingly argued. Well worth reading.
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