Read in one sitting across the Atlantic, this is classic Coe. His loathing for the more extreme politics of the Conservative Party is well known. Thatcher and Brexit have been previous targets. Here the subject is Liz Truss, an obvious source for satire. Coe clearly portrays himself as one of the good guys, using fiction to highlight the obnoxiousness of politics that disregards society. Some critics found the satire too heavy-handed, but this is not to read Coe properly, since his approach has always been to meld it with comedy. Set pieces are his forte. The large cast of characters never feels invasive or contrived. The Proof of My Innocence is also very clever. Beyond its more obvious targets for criticism, Coe expands on the theme of what makes for a good novel. The Proof of My Innocence is postmodern metafiction. It can be read as a whodunit, a confessional, or a piece of automatic writing (autofiction). I guess Coe's point is that words in prose can be as infinitely mutable as premises in politics.
By Jonathan Coe