�INDEPENDENCE DAY�
by JIM KEEBLE
�Love is a force that acts against the vertigo. Love grounds you, binds you. Maybe that�s why we get married. Because otherwise we are alone in a very big room.�
So� what is the honeymoon capital of the world? No � not Gretna Green, silly! It�s Niagara Falls, of course! More to the point though� what do you do when you are jilted at the altar there by your beautiful Canadian wife-to-be and everything you know and love leaves you with a heart so broken it screams like a shattered record? Ah, �Everyone�s been dumped. It�s part of growing up. But this was different. This wasn�t dumping, this was being pushed out of Concorde at 60,000 feet with a grand piano tied to my testicles.�
If you are nice guy Englishman Jim Keeble you somehow manage to get over the tragedy by leaving Niagara (�For 48 hours I spent more time than psychologists recommend staring into the thundering water, especially at night, when � contrary to American popular opinion � the Falls are not turned off�) for dust, and travelling around the rest of the US� coincidentally hooking up with nice ladies every time he stops off on his whirlwind tour through 8 chapters and states before winding up in old hat New York when he finally realises he�s got over his beloved. And that there�s plenty more women back in England.
So he flies home, bubbling with enthusiasm and participating in a final chapter that reminds of the final chapter in the Michael Dibdin novel �Thanksgiving.� Even if he does concludes that �America is a mixed-up crazy place, teeming with psychotic people bent on destruction. It�s a superficial place where money rules and failure is not an option, where neighbours sue each other over lawn clippings, where white policemen kill unarmed black men, where Adam Sandlers gets paid $20 million for farting on the silver screen.� Mmm, I agree: where is the justice?
I�m guessing this novel is semi-autobiographical in that the author is also called Jim Keeble (as in the lead character�s name). It somehow has to largely be a true story for his observations on life and love are some of the most sublime and well-empathised that I have ever encountered, with this novel having had a profound effect on my attitude towards �looking for, and finding, love.�
If you�re obsessed with Kerouac�s �On The Road,� you�ll thank Jim Keeble here for sharing his blood, sweat and tears on his journeys through Nevada, California, Florida and the beautiful, aww-aww-awe-inspiring state of Arizona.
Indeed, it makes a bold change for a lovelorn romantic to be a sensitive bloke with such a cracking story to tell. And while Keeble�s outstanding prose consistently hint at the fact that he could be a world-renowned travel writer in his spare-time (his detailed and poetic descriptions of the places he visits, and the people he meets, are exquisite� as on his flight over Nevada: �I stared out of the window, seeking solace in the empty darkness, the vast endless hole of the American night, strangely primeval, not a light to be seen. Until Vegas), his wry wit underpins everything and succeeds in elevating this novel into one of my all-time favourites. Meanwhile, Vegas� grand designs totally perplex him when �in Benny and Ted�s casino you can get your picture taken in front of $1 million in cash. It�s free, so a lot of people do it. But for some reason nobody under 21 is allowed in the photo, although they are allowed to die for their country, have anal sex and in certain states marry their sibling. Evidently one of the last taboos in America is posing in front of banknotes.�
Keeble is an intelligent, 30-year old man blessed with much to remark upon, as he differentiates between lust and love and� �is this what human relationships are all about? A food chain of attraction, each one of us getting consumed by someone just one level more desirable than ourselves? Why can�t they judge on inner talents rather than external bumps?�
�Only those who dare truly live.�
Come the satisfying finale, the effect that this book has is similar to the exhilaration of having just watched and cried your heart out over the movie �City Slickers.� In short, it�s utterly life-affirming� as is �snogging an ex-cheerleader with breast implants beneath a billion stars in the middle of the Arizonan desert. If that�s not the American dream,� Jim ponders momentarily, �I don�t know what is.�
Similarly, I don�t know why Jim Keeble is not yet a household name in high rising literary circles when a story this well-told could quite amicably act as a self-help guide to changing your life.
So forget about your ex. And get away with Lunn Poly. (STEVE RUDD)
ISBN �349-11294-0
First Published in the UK in 2000 by Abacus.