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March 2007
Music for the Off-Key: Twelve Macabre Short Stories
Author: Courttia Newland
Publisher: Peepal Tree Press
RRP: £8.99
Review by: Andrea Enisuoh
Fantasy, desire and betrayal are just three of the themes in Courttia Newland’s intriguing debut collection of short stories, Music for the Off-Key. Newland has often been praised for his ability to portray the lives of ordinary people in a way that shuns the stereotypical. Here we are presented with 12 distinct characters, all rooted in the Black British experience and all representing just how broad that experience can be.
Meet Welling, the fortysomething artist whose penchant for relationships with vulnerable young girls pushes him into signing an irreversible life-threatening contract. And say hi to Marcus Jennings, a man whose annoying itch magically develops into the means for his escape from his stifling inner-city environment.
At a time when the short story in the UK still struggles for the recognition that it deserves, Newland illustrates just how well this narrative form can work. Within just a few pages we are presented with astonishing twists and bewildering turns that tease the palate and leave us wanting more and more.
Among some of the best crafted stories is Gold, were Laramie the vagrant ruthlessly betrays the naive and trusting Blaine, and in doing so misses out on perhaps his last chance of love and security. In Double Room a hotel receptionist involved in a foolhardy rendezvous with a very attractive young male guest, discovers this guest is ‘tied’ to a much older woman. Perhaps the weirdest (but also one of the most gripping) of Newland’s stories is Smile, Mannequin, Smile where we read about the doll-maker whose life-like creation causes her to lose her grip on reality.
Newland’s prose has a fluidity and resonance rarely seen in writing about inner city life. With a great ear for dialogue and a flair for description he manages to entice us into a world where ordinary living provides the background for extraordinary experiences.
Perhaps inevitably some of the stories are stronger than others. There are times when you can almost predict the story end, but for many readers second guessing the conclusion is what such stories are all about.
For this collection Newland has clearly drawn inspiration from master storyteller Roald Dahl and his Tales of the Unexpected collection. Shades of traditional horror movies and Japanese works in this genre can also be detected. But it is his utilisation of urban life experiences and the Black British experience in particular that make this collection unique.
It is a credit to Newland’s narrative skills that many of the stories straddle an uncertain line between the actual and the magical, and are all the more absorbing for it. Never judgmental and certainly never apologetic, Newland skillfully challenges modern day perceptions of what it means to be black in Britain. A long awaited collection from an outstanding storyteller, Music for the Off-Key is a memorable celebration of the surreal nature of everyday life.
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