Charlie Carroll

Melody Janie lives in a caravan in a remote and beautiful part of the Cornish coast. Everyday she visits the 'Cafy' that her parents ran but which is now falling into ruin. Her father killed in a road accident, her mother disappeared and her 'Little Sister Lucy' fallen over the cliff to her death. Melody Janie is hidden and resentful of the tourists who spoil her land but who the locals are completely reliant on. One day she meets an 'emmet' who is also in hiding and his presence causes Melody Janie to confront the truth about her life and family.
I really liked the premise of this book, its passion around Cornwall and mental health especially. Unfortunately I found it rather hard going and the twist was obvious from the beginning. It was a brave and ambitious book which will garner fans and is to be applauded, but it wasn't for me.… (mehr)

Carroll has been obsessed with Tibet for as long as he can remember. Seizing the opportunity to visit he takes it with both hands and heads off to China. When he arrives he finds out that the border is closed, but he is advised to wait for a little while so he looks around the town of Repkong. Suddenly the borders are open, and he will be allowed to enter, but he must accompany a group to be permitted. So he goes.

Carroll travels over all the country, seeing the capital and other landmarks. He even makes it to the foot of Everest before setting back off to the border with China again. He does manage to meet the locals without supervision from his guide, and in one of these surreptitious sojourns meets Lobsang, a frightened young man who has just had all his possessions stolen.

Lobsang was a child when he had to flee with his family following his brothers murder. He grows up in Kathmandu and becomes a student in Delhi, where he meets Drolma, a privileged student from Tibet. They fall in love, but at the end of his course she leaves for home, and he cannot follow. But he does, and crosses the border illegally to find her again. Working as an illegal he is taking huge risks of being caught, but one day he is made aware that Drolma has been arrested for revolutionary activities, and he is now at much greater risk, and need to cross the border once again to return to his family in Kathmandu.

It is this chance meeting that makes this book so poignant. Lobsang tells Charlie his whole story, extracting from him the promise that he will tell the world.

Lobsang's story is intertwined throughout the book with Carroll;s journey and experience of this country of Tibet. He tells of the majestic landscapes and high mountains, the mass of humanity in the cities, now populated by Han Chinese to dilute the local population, but also of the brutal suppression of the people by the Chinese. It makes for tragic reading at times.

Whilst he does not find much hope fro the chance of Tibet becoming an independent country once again, he does still see the spirit from the people to never forget their history in the country.

Well worth reading.
… (mehr)

Carroll had come to the end of his teaching contract and no immediate prospects of a job in the new term. Inspired by Down And Out in Paris and London, he decides that he will walk from Cornwall to London, as a tramp. Partly to cure his itchy feet and wanderlust, but also to write about the modern plight of the homeless.

So with a small amount of cash, a sleeping bag and a stove, and leaving his wife behind, he walks from his home to Sennen Cove and then begins his journey to London. His first major town is Newquay. With his scruffy clothes and unkempt appearance, he starts to pick up on the negative vibes from those he approaches, and he starts to feel nervous about his first night out alone. He is fine thankfully, but Carroll does start to get an impression of exactly the fears that homeless people cope with every day.

He passes uneventfully through Devon to Bristol. In this city he learns that even though there is more opportunity and money available, he is very much alone with the Bristol homeless unwilling to let him know their sleeping haunts. And now the threats are much increased, not only from drunks coming home from the pub, but from other homeless people. After one frankly terrifying incident he decides it is time to move onto London.

London poses a whole new set of challenges. He stays free with a friend for a week on the couch, before taking the plunge and moving out onto the streets. He meets Boris Johnson and asks him about homeless before managing to grab a long talk with Jeremy Paxman of all people. Finding somewhere safe is really hard, and he suffers a couple of nights with out sleep on the Strand. He stays with the people protesting in Parliament square, before moving onto St Paul's and the Occupy London movement. With events now becoming more perilous he decides to call it a day.

All through the book Carroll is honest to the homeless and the police and care workers about what he is doing and why he is doing it, and whilst he does have the choice to pull out when it suits, an option not available to a lot of people he meets. There are situations and stories that he recounts in here that are chilling and frightening; some of which happen to him and the stories from the homeless that he befriends.

The question that he posed at the beginning of his journey was what is is like to be homeless in the 21st century, and as he says at the end, being homeless is abominable. The threats are terrible, and no one would choose this if they can help it.

I found this to be an eyeopener, you know at the back of your mind that this is an incredibly tough life, but just how tough, coupled with the fear is another level above what I thought.… (mehr)

I have an embarrassing secret, I absolutely love 'reality TV' books, you know the ones, following the life of people doing everyday jobs. They are often trashy and written by cynics disenchanted with their careers but they are the perfect book when you don't want a long detailed plot, just something to read. Monday Books seems to be the preferred publisher of this genre, and I have read most of their books in one form or another.

On The Edge: One teacher, a camper van, Britain's toughest schools appealed to me right from the start, having taught in secondary schools myself and follows the journey of Charlie Carroll, a supply teacher, through a journal style look at his year travelling around teaching in the countries 'toughest' schools. The narrative is well written and you soon feel that your there in the author's freezing cold camper van or in the classroom where the pupils simply don't care. However it lacked the humour of previous books in the genre and only briefly confronted the reasons behind poor behaviour and under achievement in schools. The events recalled in the book are not as shocking as the title might first suggest, and generally it just shows how life really is for supply teachers in comprehensive schools up and down the country. There are some wonderful moments when Mr Carroll connects with the pupils which is heartening to read. It is a must for anyone considering either teaching or supply teaching in the UK to get away from the 'rose tinted' view given during recruitment.

Overall, not what I was expected but a great read and true to life.… (mehr)