Caledonian Road by Andrew O’Hagan — Lonely Reader

“Caledonian Road” is a dramatic and epic novel about modern London. It presents snapshots of many different layers of society, mainly set in this area of ​​the city northeast of King’s Cross. It gradually builds up into a grand portrait of how people and the problems they face are interconnected. There is a sense that economic inequality in this particular area persists despite decades of reform and that this is representative of imbalances across the country. From the plight of immigrants, the dangers of criminal gangs, the workings of media/politics and the immorality of the elite/super-rich, Andrew O’Hagan uses his journalistic experience to harness many of the most pressing news stories of our time and distills them into a Dickensian narrative filled with virtuous and comically repulsive characters.

Although the point of view often switches between many different characters, the most central figure is art historian Campbell Flynn. He is going through an artistic and financial crisis after publishing a respectable biography of Vermeer, but has now written a self-help book about men that is expected to become a huge bestseller. He comes from a modest Scottish background but now moves into the upper echelons of society. Various deals have made him desperate for money, and have led him to risk his integrity and talents to take on lucrative jobs ranging from articles on the fashion industry to an inspirational podcast series. He is also an academic who has recently formed a strong bond with his student Milo, whose vociferous cultural critique Campbell finds in something real and modern. Milo, however, has his own plans to use his hacking skills to become a whistleblower reminiscent of Julian Assange (O’Hagan once attempted to ghostwrite an autobiography for the activist.)

Despite his privilege, Campbell is surrounded by a number of people who view him with disdain, from some of his academic colleagues to the sitting tenant of his building’s apartment. Campbell’s close friend Sir William also goes through a crisis, as his financial and sexual affairs come under scrutiny. His prosecution and several other dramatic events reveal the secrets and corruption that underlie many of the lives of this large cast of characters—so large that there is a list of the dramatis personae at the beginning of the novel (a handy reference that I often flipped back to to keep track of who’s who). While many of the characters are arrogant, corrupt, and tasteless (particularly among the upper class), I liked how O’Hagan exposes their flaws through scenes that show how self-righteous they feel in their opinions and positions. They are well aware of what others think of them, but they stick to their positions because they believe they are right. There is a lot of humor in this, and the story remains upbeat as Campbell moves among the cast. I am impressed by O’Hagan’s ambition to not only present the many layers of society and a broad social landscape of contemporary London, but also to actually inhabit a number of these different characters through dialogue and their mental processes. It is brave of him and I could not attest to the authenticity of the many different people he portrays, but it is handled with confidence. At times it feels as if characters embody certain issues and communities that O’Hagan wants to discuss in a way that makes them feel more representative than authentic. Nevertheless, there are scenes where a psychological complexity and emotional levels develop with certain characters that I came to care about several of them and was intrigued to follow their storylines.

I know some readers will have felt slightly alienated by the book, unfamiliar with London as a city or British politics, but O’Hagan’s evocative descriptions give a strong sense of the setting, the people and the issues at stake. I find it difficult to judge how effective this is, as I’ve lived in the city for over twenty years, so I’ve seen how it’s changed and am more familiar with what’s being depicted. I’ve even met a few people who are very reminiscent of some of the characters in the novel. I’m also pleased to recognise aspects of the cityscape in the story, even if it’s something as mundane as Byron Burger (a once-major food chain that’s declined significantly in the wake of the pandemic) or the huge new Google building still being built at King’s Cross. Many of the characters’ journeys can be physically traced and followed through the city. I also liked how O’Hagan connected some of the characters’ experiences in the Capitol through various imagery (like swans) and their own interpretations of these reference points.

The many individual stories of these characters feed into a larger, complex narrative of criminal activity, exploitation, and economic inequality. It makes sense that Caledonian Road is often described as a state of the nation novel, as much of the story questions how the character and politics of the country are shaped by greed and a desire to maintain the appearance of power/dominance/a first world nation. One character remarks at one point that the English will do anything for £1 million, and it’s well-reported how much London real estate is held as an investment by international tycoons, making the city more of a shell than a living metropolis. It feels effective how the overarching narrative points to these larger issues and their complexity.

Overall, I found the story to be consistently engaging, though I found myself more interested in some characters than others (Elizabeth, Moira, and Jakub were among the most sympathetic characters for me). Others, however, were intriguingly monstrous, such as Yuri, Jake, and Antonia. Still others were fascinating in their denial of the truth of what is happening because they are so fixated on their version of reality, such as Mrs. Krupa, Candy, and Mrs. Voyles. Milo is one of the most controversial characters in the novel. To a large extent, he just feels like a foil to Campbell. A morally righteous computer genius driven by the loss of his mother/friends, he is intent on disrupting the system and exposing corruption. Rather than engaging with his storyline itself, I was more interested in how he is one of the few characters who is unwilling to compromise his values ​​in any way. Many characters (gang members, truck drivers, models, pot growers, politicians, writers) suspend their moral sense for the time being, expecting that they will soon be financially independent enough or socially powerful enough to live by their own code, but the day when that happens keeps getting pushed further into the future until their actions catch up with them. Campbell seems to be the ultimate example of this, as his underlying financial crisis/substance abuse dependency means that the more he tries to dig himself out of this mess, the more entangled he becomes in it until it reaches an absolute crisis point.

I think O’Hagan is effective in showing how difficult it is to fully live up to certain moral standards in this day and age, as we are often shielded from how we are involved in a much larger system. The actions of the characters show how many of us want to maintain our own personal comfort as a priority. Maintaining the status quo is also very appealing. There are certain characters, such as a Russian oligarch, whose status and actions feel like something lifted straight from a news report – as do many of the plotlines in this novel. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as the novel uses satire to paint a broad canvas of what the English sensibility of this period was like. However, it does contribute to the feeling that some of the characters come across as more tokens or stereotypes, and this feels more problematic for those individuals who come from other countries: the wealthy/criminal Russians, the Polish immigrants, the Irish chauffeurs. Nevertheless, there are moments where I felt emotionally invested in them, so I continue to go back and forth on how I feel about this novel as a whole. It’s a book I’d like to return to in the future, as I think I’ll be able to pick up on the nuances better now that I know the characters and the story as a whole better.