A review by sarahmatthews
The Proof of my Innocence by Jonathan Coe

medium-paced
The Proof of my Innocence by Jonathan Coe

Read on audio
Penguin Books
Pub. 2024, 368pp
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A new Jonathan Coe novel is always a treat, but one that’s set in the predictably dismal premiership of Liz Truss and which is also sending up the publishing industry is like cat nip to me!

Phyl, a 20-something recent graduate is living at home with her parents again, working a boring job at Heathrow airport and unsure what life holds for her. But she knows she wants to write, and this is where the story begins:
“She was thinking of writing a book. What kind of book? A novel? A memoir? Something in the hinterland between the two?she didn’t know. Phyl had never written anything before, even though she was an avid reader. All she knew, was that since coming back from university, no, before that, she’d first noticed it in those few, long, languid weeks after her finals, she had felt a growing impulse, a growing need, the word was not too strong, to create something, to put words on a screen. To try carving something shapely and full of meaning, from the dull block of marble that made up her inert and formless experience.”

She proceeds to draw up a list of popular literary genres for inspiration and what follows is a brilliant satire with a cast of great characters used to explore the state of British society today, all mixed up in a kind of book within a book. There are three sections, experimenting with cosy crime, dark academia and auto fiction. I admit to being slightly lost at times but I just went with it, and with a storyteller as accomplished as Jonathan Coe you’re in good hands.

There’s a lot going on in this book and I really enjoyed the strand about author Peter Cockerill, who’s forgotten books become the cult obsession of a small number of fanatics ; I think Jonathan Coe had a great time constructing this narrative, even featuring briefly himself!

there’s also a great recurring theme about the calming effect of watching random episodes of Friends for young people,  as it’s rooted in a time before we had everything at our fingertips on smartphones.
This is a very entertaining unorthodox murder mystery that I whizzed through but which includes serious themes along the way, including the rise of extreme right wing politics, abuse of power, the bleakness of zero hours, minimum wage contracts, and the various ways we try to cope with grief. Being set in 2022, He weaves in the reaction to the Queen’s death, with a great scene where detective Pru Freeborn tries to figure out the murder while queuing for hours to pay her respects alongside her husband.

My only criticism is with the audio production which was a cast of several voice actors. I found the switching of voices really distracting and was always relieved when we returned to the voice used for Phyl which I enjoyed most. Personally,I would have liked that actor to have voiced the whole book.
All in all a fabulous, compelling read.