Christie Malry's Own Double Entry

B S Johnson

(I can't remember if I have sent anything to the Barn about this book before - if I have, apologies) This is the first Johnson I have read, and it is widely considered to be his most accessible. It's a breeze to read, only taking a few hours, and is often hilarious. Christie works in accounts in a bank, and later in a baker's, and he develops a system of moral double entry book-keeping, where any slight or annoyance he suffers is a 'debit', and the revenge he takes is a 'credit'. The first example of this is of a building Christie is forced to walk around to get to work - to counter this irritation he scratches the brickwork with a coin. Some of the 'debits' are hilarious: "Chagrin at learning no secrets" and "unpleasantness felt at presence of Reverand" being two pearls. But what is obvious as the book progresses is that we are watching the development of a terrorist mindset, which results in Christie poisoning London's water supply and killing 20,000 people to try and balance the debit "Socialism not given a chance". The book is full of dark humour, and the odd Johnson-esque authorial interventions, one of which consists of the author talking to Christie, a conversation which offers a pretty bleak view of the novel as a form. Another example of this is when one character pauses for breath, in order that what might have been a daunting mass of type is broken up, and one character says to Christie, I'd tell you more about it, but we don't have time, this is only a short novel (paraphrased). Then there are the Chapter headings: 'Not the Longest Chapter in the Novel' etc. It's very good, and recommend it to everyone.