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The Walthamstow Book Group

Members of The Walthamstow Book Group review The Boy with a Topknot by Sathnam Sanghera.

The Walthamstow Book Group meets every month, usually at The Old Nag’s Head in Walthamstow Village, a characteristic and friendly pub just minutes away from the town centre. The group has been running for just over two years. Our members are male and female, range in ages from late twenties to forties, and all live locally. The group was originally set up to provide a way of people, most of whom have moved to Walthamstow from other parts of London, with a way of meeting and networking with others like them. At each meeting we discuss the book, and then give it marks out of 10 with a mini review of why we gave it that score. That way, everyone has their say and we can put the books we read into a sort of Top 20 chart! There have been books that have made people’s blood boil with rage about how awful they are, and there have been books that have left us heady with delight. Many of us are reading books we would probably never had considered reading were it not for being in a book group, which I suppose is the beauty of a book group.

The boy with the Topknot is a memoir written by London based journalist Sathnam Sanghera. Sanghera's accidental discovery that his father and eldest sister have schizophrenia force him to confront the Midlands based, Punjabi life he has left behind for the secular, boom lifestyle of 20-somethings' London.

The journey that Sanghera take us on swings from laugh-out-loud funny to heartbreaking and all while the book is touching and personal. He seamlessly weaves together his family history with his own memories 1980's childhood in inner city Wolverhampton, which does not escape his affectionate mocking, to his current London life, whilst examining key issues of multicultural Britain.

Sathnam's story is told in a deceptively light hearted way that is amusing but also deeply moving. The book is a wonderful insight into multicultural Britain and what this really means for the individuals whose lives are shaped by its dynamics. The story is very easy to read and once started I found it difficult to put down. Sathnam narrates as if he were a detective piecing together a puzzle: how did his parents meet? what really happened when he was a child? what was the illness that struck his family? and what does his Sikh culture and family mean to him now that he has grown up? The climax of the story is Sathnam's reconciliation with his mother. Sathnam has uncovered the family secrets to learn just how much his mother has suffered to keep the family together, but he has one more favour to ask of her... a lovely finish.

Sanghera's style is self-deprecating and witty, his amusing anecdotes of growing up, being embarrassed by your family, the first uncertain days of 'big' school and awkward dates will resonate with everyone. His easy and friendly voice makes the tragedies of his subsequent discoveries all the more horrific and left me feeling all the more affected by them. However, despite Sanghera's frequent references to 'misery memoirs' The Boy with the Topknot ultimately left me with a smile on my face. It is a gripping, challenging and intelligent book that is full of tragedy and heartbreak but even more it is full of love. The book culminates in the author’s own choice between a relationship with a gori and an arranged marriage, and by this point I was desperate for a happy resolution, although I did feel in places that women were written about as types rather than as individuals. This may be to make them less easy to identify, but sections of the book read a little like lad’s mag journalism. This didn’t make it any less enjoyable though, and by the end I felt I wanted to read it again, it is entertaining, moving and informative.