Like Father, Like Son'
by Tony Bradman (Editor)
Tony Bradman has collected together twelve stories from different authors that focus on the often fragile and troubled relationships between a father and son.
The authors, all male, are from a variety of cultural backgrounds and locations including Andrew Daddo - Australia, Farrukh Dhondy - India (now Britain), Daniel Ehrenhaft - USA, and Terrence Blacker - Britain.
Tony Bradman provides an insightful introduction to the collection of stories and sheds some light on to his interest in the subject: the relationship with his own father and thoughts of what kind of father he would or should be to his own son.
As would be expected from a well-rounded collection, the stories are spread across a variety of backdrops and genres. Simon Cheshire's 'Later' is set in the future where work is scarce and life seems hard. Sam''s father is part of a work-hunting band forced to travel away from home for long periods of time to find work. There just doesn''t seem to be time for a close father- son relationship. 'Later' his dad says. Then Sam thinks of something he can do that will give his dad a bit more time to spend with him.
Terrence Blacker's 'Cut Me and I Bleed Khaki' and Alan Gibbons'' 'Street Corner Dad' are both set during the second world war but approach the father-son relationship and the effect of the war from completely different angles. Blacker's story starts with the opening line, "You can kill almost anything when you are at war but you can't kill a ghost." The son is desperate for his father's approval and has trouble understanding the distance between them. When the father is killed in action the son later joins the army and both he and the reader discover there is more than one meaning to that opening line.
The son in Alan Gibbons' story is much younger. He is left at home with a harsh Nan who forbids any contact between father and son, but it takes more than her and the war to keep them apart. "In this world or any other." There are stories about embarrassing Dad's like 'My Dad's a Punk' (incidentally, the title given to the collection for its release in the US) and 'The Wordwatcher' as well as stories that inevitably deal with absent dads and divorce, but each tale tackles the communication problems between father and son and each one provides some sort of resolution, hope or at least good food for thought for the reader.
Strongly recommended for all fathers and sons who will undoubtedly see many of their own concerns mirrored within.
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