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Knees Up Mother Earth by John Rankin
01/02/2005 . Source: Paul Skevington 
pub: Gollancz. 376 page hardback. Price: £ 9.99 (UK only). ISBN: 0-575-07315-2. Buy from Amazon US - Buy from Amazon UK
nb: US titles may only be available from Amazon US, and UK titles from Amazon UK. check out website: www.orionbooks.co.uk
I'd only just barely recovered from the infectious insanity of Robert Rankin's 'The Witches Of Chiswick' when I was given the opportunity to read this volume, a sequel to the aforementioned book.
You don't need to have read 'Witches' to appreciate 'Knees Up Mother Earth', as continuity is not high on the agenda. The main connection with the earlier book is the re-appearance of the evil Will Starling, who now plots to use technology obtained from an alternate Victorian Age to bring about the end of the world. For reasons best left to readers to discover, Starling's plan hinges on gaining possession of the Brentford United Football grounds: the much loved and long neglected sporting heart of the eponymous village. Standing against him are those valiant heroes of popular renown, Jim Pooley, John Omally and the rest of the inhabitants of the Flying Swan.
I'm glad you asked that question. Yes, the plot is absolutely one hundred per cent barmy. Indeed, it's as mad as a crazy person washing down magic mushrooms with a bottle of absinthe. This is not a bad thing. In fact, it's part of what makes this book so great. It's no more than we've come to expect from one of Britain's best alternative comedy writers.
Unlike other writers of supposedly 'humorous' books, whose works manage only to provoke the odd dutiful titter, Rankin's books are genuinely funny, page by page, sentence by sentence. He displays an acute knowledge of popular culture both new and old, ensuring that the gags he writes are relevant to readers of all age groups. As a practising wearer of black T-shirts and listener of unpleasant guitar-based music, I particularly enjoyed the description of the 'deconsecrated Spiritualist church...Brentford's satanic theme bar, The Beelzepub.' I have to stress though that, unlike the customers of that establishment, I am not an 'underage youth' nor does my girlfriend wear a nose-stud. Also, when all is said and done, I have no sympathy for the Devil. I even suspect that he might actually be a bit of a cad.
The comedy in 'Knees Up Mother Earth' is supported by Rankin's clever use of language. He deliberately misspells words or simply makes them up on demand. The fact that this technique works so well is a testament to the author's skill. Paragraphs are frequently linked together, using a technique reminiscent of modern TV sketch shows. The subject of the last sentence of the previous paragraph will often form the content of the next. This works well in maintaining the flow of a book that relies on fast pacing for its effectiveness.
Rankin also manages to successfully combine his characters madcap antics with some strong (if heavily subverted) SF and fantasy elements. HG Wells is not just an influence, he's one of the characters. Horror enthusiasts will also be pleased by the appearance of Lovecraft's old tentacle-face towards the end of the work. Rankin is not pinned down or confined by the use of these tropes. Rather, he uses the freedom of a setting not confined by the limitations of the 'real' to push at the boundaries of the comedy novel.
The unpredictability and wildness of the text and jokes would make the book unreadable if it wasn't for Rankin's clever use of the familiar to tie the surreal events of the book to the mundane world of middle class Britain. Jim Pooley and John Omally are wonderful creations, 'loveable rogues' who are the chief protagonists of most of Rankin's books. The Flying Swan is instantly recognisable to anyone who has ever spent even the briefest amount of time in a traditional English pub. In Rankin's Brentford, the true magic is that all of the demons, robots and monsters rarely disturb the Brentonians as they maintain the pursuit of their eternal quest for free drinks, easy money and maybe some cheap cigarettes. It takes nothing less than attempted assassination and the possible destruction of mankind to alarm Jim Pooley. Still it's nothing that can't be solved with a pint of 'Large'.
'Knees' is perforated with the personal observations of the author, such as the comparative sexual appeal of writers as opposed to rock-stars. This I think is the books major strength. Often it seems as if this book has wandered straight from Rankin's highly tuned thinking-box directly onto the page, a technique I like to call 'stream of lunacy'. But if this is what it feels like to be mad then book me a bedroom in bedlam, I want to get committed.
Paul Skevington
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