Dangerous Parking - Stuart Browne

Buy one get one free offers are quite possibly the greatest invention shops have given us. For all of us, it’s a chance to get something for nothing. But for the brave, it’s a world of opportunity. After all, if you already have one thing you’d really like in your hand, something you’d willingly pay the full price for anyway and they’re offering you something else, you’re getting it for nothing. So you have nothing to lose.

It was ...
...my hand recently. This particular buy one get one free offer was in my local Oxfam. Having chosen a book I knew I’d like, I could afford to take a chance on my other purchase. At worst, my total outlay would be about £1.50 and I already had something worth £6.00 in my hand, and something I knew I was going to enjoy. If I was going to be that far ahead, I had less than nothing to lose.

Noah Arkwright, unfortunately, does have something ... more

Buy one get one free offers are quite possibly the greatest invention shops have given us. For all of us, it’s a chance to get something for nothing. But for the brave, it’s a world of opportunity. After all, if you already have one thing you’d really like in your hand, something you’d willingly pay the full price for anyway and they’re offering you something else, you’re getting it for nothing. So you have nothing to lose.

It was this latter attitude that put Stuart Browne’s “Dangerous Parking” in my hand recently. This particular buy one get one free offer was in my local Oxfam. Having chosen a book I knew I’d like, I could afford to take a chance on my other purchase. At worst, my total outlay would be about £1.50 and I already had something worth £6.00 in my hand, and something I knew I was going to enjoy. If I was going to be that far ahead, I had less than nothing to lose.

Noah Arkwright, unfortunately, does have something to lose. His life. Of course, we all have a life to lose, but for Noah it looks likely to happen sooner rather than later. Noah, you see, has cancer of the bladder. He’s beaten it into remission a couple of times already, but on each occasion the cancer has done nothing more than pause to get its breath back and return for another try, stronger than before. That’s not all, either. Noah has spent part of his adult life hooked on hard drugs and is also a recovering alcoholic. He might have escaped a small town background to become a famous and successful film maker, but he hasn’t escaped his demons.

Although the story is set in the present, it largely concentrates on the important parts of Noah’s past life. At the time of much of the story, he’s very ill, and frequently passing in and out of consciousness. It is during the periods where he’s drifted out of the present time that the past comes to the front of his mind. Mostly, this concentrates on the times he’s been happiest, of life with his wife and children, but there are plenty of other times – his rehab from drink and drugs and his earlier battles with cancer also feature quite heavily.

The plot makes the book sound a lot more depressing than it actually is. There are plenty of dark moments, as you might expect from someone suffering from a potentially fatal illness. But Noah manages to retain what he calls his “sense of tumour” throughout everything and there are some light hearted moments dotted around here and there. Noah seems to be able to look back on his life, even the toughest parts, with a wry smile, as if mocking himself for the idiot he’s been over the years. The belly laughs are fewer, but some still sneak in.

Strangely for something with such a depressing subject, it’s a very easy read. It’s written with a light touch that keeps the pages turning. It may be a difficult subject to approach, but it’s by no means a difficult read – there’s no real technical terms regarding either the illness or the film-making Noah has as a career and there’s a distinct lack of long and unusual words. What also helps is that there’s very little wasted story. The only parts of the life that are recounted are the ones that are required. And, as with any of us, it’s the significant parts of a life that spring most readily to mind, particularly when, as in Noah’s case, they are recounted during periods of unconsciousness.

The characters are beautifully formed, with none of them really seeming unreal. Which, given some of the strange situations they’ve been encountered in, largely thanks to Noah’s career and drug addictions, is impressive indeed. But no-one in reality is perfect and so no-one in “Dangerous Parking” is either. So much of modern literature seems airbrushed, failing to reflect the negative sides of either life or the people in it. “Dangerous Parking” recognises this and ensures it is left out. As strange as it seems to describe a book concerned with such dark subjects as cancer and addiction in this way, it’s actually quite refreshing.

If there are concerns about the novel, it would be that it does jump around in the time frame a little. Although this is understandable, given that’s the story line is almost following a stream of (un)consciousness, it can get a little confusing at times. The subject is a little darker than some people might like, and the language a little more colourful. If you object to swearing, I’d advise you to avoid “Dangerous Parking”. The bad language used does add to the basic reality of the novel, but there is rather a lot of it.

Essentially, “Dangerous Parking” is a trip through a man’s memories as he sees his end approaching. There is always a danger than something like this could be self-indulgent, especially as you can see where the novel may well be auto-biographical in many parts. However, it manages to stay away from those traps and instead proves to be a light-hearted, quite sweet novel and the journey, despite where it leads, is one you’re happy to share.

If you’ve had enough of stories where everything is wonderful and everyone is perfect, then this will make a welcome change. The novel this reminds me closest of is Tawni O’Dell’s “Back Roads”, as the characters aren’t have the best of times, but it’s a beautifully told story and doesn’t drown in pessimism. “Dangerous Parking” is currently selling for £5.59 at Amazon and there may be cheaper copies available at the Amazon Marketplace. For that money, for a read you can lose yourself in and become wrapped up in, that’s a small price to pay. 

...less