Kieron Smith, boy Book

What goes on inside the mind of a boy from the time he is 5 until 13 years old? It could be beautiful, dark, mischievous, hopeful, scary, innocent, imaginative, indifferent, angry, loving, envious, and a lot of other emotions and thoughts.

James Kelman (born 1946) wrote Kieron Smith, boy (published 2008) 14 years after winning the 1994 Booker Prize for How Late It Was, How Late that became controversial when one of the judges said that Kelman's book was a disgrace upon hearing that it won the award. After reading this 422-page book, I have no doubt that Kelman has proven his brilliance and should be given due respect for having written a book as beautiful as this.

What makes this novel a joy to read is that it is told in first person narrative by a child, Kieron "Smiddy" Smith, from his tender innocent 5th year until that time that he is at the brink of young adulthood. That narrator lives in Glasgow, Scotland and uses Glaswegian speech patterns with words like ye (you), yer (your), maw (mother), da (father), fag (cigarette), lassie (girl), wean (child), wee small, Pape (Catholic), cannay (cannot), isnay (is not), etc. At first, it was like reading Anthony Burgess in A Clockwork Orange with its own set of words but Kelman was able to gradually phase in those words mostly in the first chapter. As the boy is also forbidden to swear by her maw, all the vulgar and curse words are represented mostly by stars except the first and last letters. I just don't know how to type *sigh* those stars here in Goodreads. Oh, there are also words that I could not figure out being not to familiar with Glaswegian speech.

To answer my question above, these are the things that go on inside the mind of a boy from 5-13: family members (Oh, I did not care about them except my Granda), runaway (Oh, I go to a place where nobody knows about me), money and things that it can by (Oh, when I have a job and a money of my own, I will buy a denim jacket), sports (Oh, I want to play but I have a job so I cannot join the tryout), ghosts (Maw, maw, maw, ghost ghost) and my favorite: sex (Please, Sandra, please is Kieron's pickup line for a girl to agree to have sex with him).

Innocent without going overboard. Think of Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes sans the unbelievable dirt-poor life in Ireland. This oozes with sincerity and truth. It is like being a child again and having a Scottish boy pal like Kieron Smith.