A little off topic - but I have just read Joe Abercrombie’s scrape with yoof violence. An open and frank description of his encounter with a group of youngsters and the pack mentality they display and the bewildering reactions one man can take at provocation.
So many things must have been going through his head as he turned around to confront the group - and I won’t try to pretend what must have been uppermost in his mind. Joe had a touch of ‘Mr Nine Fingers’ and turned to confront a group of teens who had at first tried to steal his bag and then followed him with calls of abuse as he walked to the bus-stop to meet his wife and kid.
The encounter that followed was shockingly scary, bloody, and with a nice touch of black humour. The incident ended with the gang running off and Joe with a bit of claret (and a brush with the emergency services to boot). Brave and stupid in equal measure.
I enjoy reading a good book with splashes of brilliant violence (of which the First Law trilogy gives us plenty) and enjoy a good movie with dashes of balletic action. Bods doing the right thing just at the right time. But in real life? No one knows what they will do in any circumstances until faced with those very particular circumstances. No one can know.
I suspect Joe’s particular blog will find some internet legs and run. It was an honest piece that thankfully ended well (no knives! phew) and with a certain amount of empowerment reclaimed. Youngling culture seems to be particularly jackal-like at the mo. Perhaps writers may listen to this clarion call and write this particularly nasty trait of teen-terrorism out of society.
Bravo, fella.
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