Carving Up Society...!

Jonathan Coe’s latest novel, What a Carve Up!, ambitiously satirises English society in the decade of greed under Thatcher’s control. Coe uses the grotesque members of a beastly upper class family, the Winshaws, to ridicule society of the time. They each have one of their greedy fingers in each of the pies which constitute the society they endeavour to ‘carve up’. Ultimately their morals, or rather lack of, catch up with them as meet their unsuspecting yet fitting comeuppance at the reading of their father’s will in their family home in Yorkshire.

What a Carve Up! is Coe’s first ‘long’ novel, which differs from his earlier work not only in length, but also in complexity; all of his previous work has been less multifaceted. What a Carve Up! interweaves various characters together, who stretch right back to the Second World War, where the centre of the history of the Winshaws begins with the death of Godfrey Winshaw. Godfrey’s sister Tabitha later pronounced mad, claims his death was due to the conniving plan of their brother Lawrence. The novel then moves right up to 1990 to Michael’s present day life, climaxing in the first section on New Year’s Day 1991; a new era without Margret Thatcher.

Michael Owen, a middle aged writer finds himself coincidently, or so he thinks, writing a history of a certain family; the Winshaws. He begins to realise, after putting the pieces and events of his past and present together, that he is not as detached from the Winshaws as he once thought, he is not simply writing their family history; he is in it. He was specifically chosen by Tabitha Winshaw the supposed mad Aunt of the six siblings that ruin the British society, to write this family history for a very specific and personal reason.

Coe’s every thickening plot differs to his previous works which mainly consists of basic humour as opposed to how he satirises society in his latest novel. The extent to which he clearly criticises society in this novel is indicative of his feelings towards the Conservative government.

His previous novels collectively are humour based, but this latest book sees Coe use satire to expose the money grabbing antics of the upper classes during a difficult period in English history. His characters are selfish, cruel, uncaring and more often than not, inhuman. Mark Winshaw’s materialism is evident when a bomb intended for him explodes in his car; killing his newlywed wife. Yet he appears to be more concerned by the damage the car has endured rather than murderous death of his newlywed wife, which to add salt to the wound, he describes as only having been “useful”!

Not only is Coe’s plot complicated through the amount of characters and interweaving stories, but he is also highly adventurous with his use of narrative. The use of a shifting range of narrative form grasps the reader’s attention from the offset. The range of narratives he uses is vast; including first person, manuscript, tabloid newspaper article, diary entries, TV manuscripts and third person. Shifting narrative form like this all adds to the fast paced over-the-top fragmented image of reality that Coe is trying to create. Coe uses these forms clearly in an uncomplicated way to work well in the novel; the plot is so fragmented that a single narrative approach would not have worked, or perhaps not as well as this multitude does.

The title is perhaps the biggest signpost that the novel encompasses more than one story and meaning and Coe uses it skilfully to mean many things. Not only does the title mirror the fact that the novel is a re-make of the 1960s film of the same name, but it also reflects the regimented structure of the novel itself; therefore ‘carving’ up the novel. Coe uses a prologue to introduce the Winshaw family history to the reader and to set the scene. The main story is then told in ‘Part One: London’ where Coe alternates the focus of the chapters between Owen and a different Winshaw.  He then employs Part Two ‘An Organization of Deaths’ to detail the reading of the father’s will. Lastly, he ends with the preface of Owen’s Family Chronicle of the Winshaws, ironically where it all started.

Coe cunningly introduces each chapter with a caricature of the Winshaw relevant to the chapter. These Tenniel like sketches represent the whimsical nature of the characters, much like that of Alice in Wonderland, albeit a little over the top. It helps give the reader a physical idea of each character, even though it is obviously Coe’s way of offering a comical image to the reader to aid his satirical devices. 

Coe carries the ’carving up’ metaphor from the title and uses it to document the careers of the Winshaws throughout the novel. The Winshaws personify satire with their corrupt careers as they bridge the gap between appearance and reality as their occupation choices reflect their gluttonous lust for money and power. There is Dorothy producing super low cost food from battery farms, which she refuses to eat herself, Henry the MP who dismantles the NHS, Thomas the merchant banker who trades favours with Henry, Mark the arms dealer, Roddy the art dealer who only sees money and not art and Hilary the tabloid columnist who writes what she thinks people want to hear.

 Each Winshaw presents themselves in society as something they aren’t. Hilary poses as a loving woman who adores children; except when it comes to her own. In an interview just after she has given birth to her first child, Hilary claims she wants to spend as much time with Josephine as possible, only to moan after the interview “Now, what’s the matter with it” when Josephine starts crying.

This novel is the first of Coe’s to win a literary prize, the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, the second oldest prize in the UK, therefore sealing his reputation as a writer. As the novel is a satire, there is an obvious moral message behind the humorous patchwork of the plot; greed is bad. At times, Coe does appear to be preaching this moral message a little too often, although this can be attributed to the (occasionally) over the top satirical style that he uses.

However, one question that can arise in the reader’s mind after reading the novel surrounds the character of Michael. Although he is the protagonist, at times one is left wondering whether or not he is strong enough for this prominent role. He is, for most of the novel very passive. He spends most of his time staring at his television, or rewinding his VCR to ‘that’ all important moment in the film What a Carve Up!, wasting away his life. But for Coe this seems to be a recurring theme, as in his first novel, The Accidental Woman, the protagonist Maria is also a passive, companionless and motionless woman. Robin in A Touch of Love also shares these characteristics. Michael appears to evolve though, as he manages to carry the role in the end, when he realises the truth.

 Although the novel is bursting with politics, the embedded satire suppresses the political anger as opposed to building it up and therefore the feeling released by the reader is laughter opposed to the reader substantially engaging with the real political state of affairs, which is ultimately what Coe is trying to do, although he subtly hides these ideas with the essence of laughter. Coe’s politics are authentic, detailed and not too obtrusive; his novel manages to attain the right level that is needed.

If you have enjoyed Coe before, you will certainly like this extended work– or if you are one to dabble in the thought of reading a politically satirical novel, then don’t hold back on this one.