Jaine Blackman can’t make up her mind over Berkoff’s novel about a serial philanderer
As you may gather from the title Sod The Bitches!, actor, author, playwright and theatre director Steven Berkoff’s first novel – like much of his work – is not for the easily riled or offended.
However, the title might have been even more inflammatory if, instead of sod, it used a four letter word beginning with F, which sums up literally what his character John does to many women in the book and his attitude to them once his passion is spent.
If that sounds crude, then this is not the book for you.
Casually using derogatory and dated terms to describe women and gays, Berkoff has created somewhat of a monster in his portrayal of an ageing actor looking back on his life in and out the theatre.
Never one to shy from controversy, and known for his “in your face” theatre it seems Berkoff has drawn from some aspects of his own life in creating his believable, though repugnant central character.
Like Berkoff, 77, John went to school in Hackney, worked in theatre, TV and on movies, directed his own productions, had a sister who died and other surface similarities.
Not knowing anything about Berkoff’s private life bar, like John, he was divorced and had a new partner, I couldn’t help wondering whether it was a thinly disguised autobiography.
Or maybe he’s just taken the adage of “write about what you know” as a starting point to embroider upon.
It was certainly fascinating to get a glimpse of the actor’s motives, worries and fears, jealousies, hopes and desires.
And any woman considering an affair – or worse, a marriage – with a serial philanderer should read it as a cautionary tale.
The book’s dust jacket warns it may divide readers and it certainly will... I was torn between loving it or hating it myself!
Sod the bitches! by Steven Berkoff, Urbane Publications Limited; £12.99 hard cover.
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