The Book of Dave by Will Self
When East End cab driver Dave Rudman’s wife steals his only son from him, Dave writes a compelling text that captures all of his frustrations and anxieties about his modern world. The text is a compilation of everything from the environment, Arabs, and American tourists to sex, Prozac, and cabby lore. In the Hampstead backyard of his ex-wife, Dave buries the book with the intention of giving it to his son Carl when he reaches adulthood.
The Book of Dave by Will Self
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Dave’s book is discovered by the people of Ham, a primitive archipelago in post-apocalyptic London, five hundred years later. There, it becomes a religious document of biblical proportions and the model for a new civilisation. Symum is the only islander who continues to be sceptical. However, following his incarceration for heresy, his son Carl must travel through the Forbidden Zone and into the frightening centre of New London in search of the one thing that will finally put an end to the mystery: a second Book of Dave that contradicts the first. The Book of Dave is a biting satire of modern life and a profound meditation on the essence of religion.
In the book of Dave, London is seen in two different eras: the present and a very far-off future. As the calendar system resets with the discovery of “the book of Dave” at some point in the future, and those future scenes take place roughly 500 years beyond that point, we are unsure of the precise date of how far in the future scenes are. Dave Rudman is a furious London cab driver who is now going through an unpleasant divorce and child custody disputes.
Everything in his life is influenced by his fixation with “the knowledge,” which is the enormous and flawless recall of all the streets in London that cab drivers are required to possess. Dave writes a book about what’s wrong with society and the laws that should govern everyone after things take a decidedly negative turn for him (and, spurred by anti-depressant medications). This author’s book begins with the “runs and points” of “the wisdom” before transitioning into a rant on how men and women (mommies and daddies) cannot coexist. Dave has a unique edition of this book produced on indestructible metal plates, and he buries it in the backyard of the house where his estranged wife and son reside.
A second book that Dave writes as a personal cathartic exercise, overturning much of what he wrote in the first book, is published after he discovers that his hidden book is irretrievable and after eventually figuring out some things about life, finding love, and finding peace. Dave’s tale is truly a lovely tale of atonement.
