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A review by lj_crook
Middle England by Jonathan Coe
3.0
It would be fairest to describe Middle England as a decent read; the primary characters feel fleshed out and the prose trips along nicely, but it lands its political messages rather heavy-handedly and some secondary characters are clearly plot devices.
As someone who was only vaguely aware of some of the goings-on during the period it covers (I remember the Gordon Brown 'bigoted woman' moment but not some of the early coalition stuff), it was a welcome refresher on the political history that led up to Brexit, but it felt like Coe was jamming a few too many themes into the same story for it to feel totally immersive. Other than this, though, the writing was strong and I would certainly consider reading more by the author.
As someone who was only vaguely aware of some of the goings-on during the period it covers (I remember the Gordon Brown 'bigoted woman' moment but not some of the early coalition stuff), it was a welcome refresher on the political history that led up to Brexit, but it felt like Coe was jamming a few too many themes into the same story for it to feel totally immersive. Other than this, though, the writing was strong and I would certainly consider reading more by the author.