Something Chronic : A novel

2nd March 1979: a young man called Euan Saddler collapses as he is about to vote in the Scottish referendum on devolution and falls asleep for twenty years. The 40% 'yes' vote required to establish a Scottish Assembly is not achieved, but in the twenty years that Euan remains asleep Scotland changes immeasurably. "Something Chronic" tracks the story of Euan, as he, and this changed Scotland, both face the new millennium.

The narrative moves forward confidently as we follow Euan through the byways of his home city of Dundee and its rural hinterland. We visit gay bars and sample the local 'talent'; we meet folk struggling to survive in the 'badlands of Bannockbrae' the grim council house 'scheme' that climbs the hills behind the city; we go to a gathering at the Angus farm of Euan's brother where a masterpiece of miscommunication ensues between the emergent gay Euan and his father's old farming friends. We meet Lakshmi the feminist Scottish Asian editor of the local radical newspaper, Dolly, a feisty community activist from the 'scheme' and his psychologist Haris a refugee from Sarajevo. There are other characters too, whom Euan summons from the dead, who give him their angle on the Scotland they once inhabited.

Assaulted on all sides by bewildering new impressions Euan tries to make sense of a new multicultural Dundee where the industries that gave the city its shape and pride have collapsed and the young have been given no hope. There is a fight back of sorts going on but many long for the days when Scotland was 'purely' Scottish and men were men and women knew their place. Into this heady mix the local radio station ' Radio Dighty ' with its sinister presenter Millar Gibb gives voice to many people's fears by peddling a particularly unpleasant and conservative form of Scottish nationalism where 'queers', feminists and immigrants have no place.

This is a funny, compelling portrait of Dundee showing it to be a city of great character, and characters. The Doric dialogue is superb and wonderfully conveys the strength and wit of the different people we meet. Incident piles on incident as key aspects of changes in Scottish life in the closing decades of the twentieth century are played out, culminating in a hilarious but ultimately tragic bus hijack, designed to launch a ' Declaration of Scottish Values.' The hijack prompts Euan to summon up John Knox, the most ideological Scot of them all, but he quickly goes up in a puff of smoke before he can give Euan the benefit of his reflections.

[Review by Leisha Fullick]