Review: What Will Survive

Synopsis

Graham Melton was a normal fifteen-year-old until he met Charlotte Marshall over a can of warm lager at his best-friend’s party in 1985. It was love at first sight, and teenage life was never going to be the same again.

 Two decades later, Graham is a single father trying to protect his son from the rigours of the modern world. Everything has changed, and the innocence has long gone.

What happened in those years inbetween? How did something so perfect go so tragically wrong?

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Review

Life in its natural state can be extremely mundane. Grief, love and growing up narrated in books can be uninspiring. Some books dealing with these issues lack the sensitivity to really capture the true nature of loss and growing up. Mark Gartside is fantastic at capturing life’s highest and lowest points without succumbing to clichés. His What will survive is set in modern day Britain with Graham Melton struggling to understand his teenage son whilst also battling his own demons.  

As the book progresses Gartside intertwines this modern Britain with Thatcher’s Britain where Graham falls deeply in love with Charlotte Marshall. He draws you into the political issues plaguing the 1980s whilst also satirising the class issues that could have potentially ripped the couple apart. What Will Survive brought tears to my eyes.   It is an emotionally charged read with fantastic characters dealing with sensitive issues with a realistic flare that forces you to empathise with the book. He captures the heart and soul of a father and son relationship with enough awkward moments to create humour.  

What Will Survive is a real triumph for Gartside, a moving tale of loss, love and growing up. To say I loved this book would be an understand. I really really loved it.