Buddha Da
by Anne Donovan
Canongate $128
What happens when a working-class Scotsman, who's never shown interest in anything but drinking pints and watching the telly, takes up Buddhism? Anne Donovan finds out in this brilliantly original comedy. It's written in a broad Glaswegian dialect: 'Ah'm just gaun doon the Buddhist Centre for a couple of hours, Liz, ah'll no be lang.' But don't be put off - after a few pages it's easy to read. There are three narrators: Jimmy, the wannabe Buddhist, his wife, Liz, and their 14-year-old daughter, Anne-Marie, who views her father's escapades with amusement and curiosity. Donovan's portrait of British Buddhism is spot on: everything at a retreat is designed to be calm and welcoming, yet the atmosphere is passive aggressive. In the end Jimmy finds a truth of sorts, but it's an answer he has to find within himself.