When the Wind Blows by Raymond Briggs 10 out of 10

When the Wind Blows by Raymond Briggs

10 out of 10

At the time of the worldwide calamity – well, except for China, which pretends to have it under control, a statement that may mean that they lie about the numbers and whatever happens is just buried, literally and figuratively, by the official propaganda of a tyranny that cares most about holding to power, the image of competent, if eternal leadership, horrified at the idea that this was called the Chinese virus, which it really is, originating from exotic animals markets, where these beings are horribly abused, markets which have now opened so that they bless the planet with another Corona, perhaps that time strong enough to wipe us all out – you could do no better that read the resplendent When the Wind Blows…but be careful to read the fantastic – also both literally and in terms of value – work of Raymond Briggs.

At only forty eight (48!) pages, this is surely the shortest book, never mind a memorable, unique work, I have read since childhood, but it is a magic achievement, included for all the perfect reasons on The Guardian’s more than respectable 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read list - https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/jan/23/bestbooks-fiction - in The War and Travel Section, for it deals with Armageddon, so it comes in useful, as we are trapped in our homes – come to think of it, many do not really care about this, for we live here in a gated community, just like in other places, and we see around what looks like morbid celebrations of the ‘official lockdown’, with neighbors engaged in hosting guests – true, this is an absolute idiot and perfect asshole, who brought in two permanently barking dogs and to top it off, placed a basketball ring in his courtyard, after he has made go through investigations by the local police, some years back, when I was the president of the homeowners association and thus, pressed by the other parents, had a playground near my place and thus the idiot that is daily assaulting our tranquility made a written, official, serious, if he could he would have made a murder report…

The protagonists of When the Wind Blows are just as simple as present day members of the Cult of Trump, though the fictional James and Hilda Bloggs are much more charming and attract a great degree of empathy – maybe pity is the better word, as suggested by Milan Kundera in his chef d’oeuvre The Unbearable Lightness of Being, where he says that pity is for a feeling we have for someone we consider to be somewhat or totally inferior, while empathy is for those we hold at the same level with us…more or less, he said it very differently but this is a note by someone with a fading memory .

There are quite a few similarities we have to feel between their Nuclear Fallout and the Armageddon we may be going through – yes, we have to be optimistic and positive, this is one of the secrets of not only a happy, but longer life…studies have demonstrated that those who are optimistic, live longer, happier lives and are more successful, personally and professionally  - because experts warn that this will come back, perhaps in waves, and I for one am terrified of the financial calamity…our company, like myriads elsewhere has stopped working and I only have a small stake in it and can’t say that this many will be placed on hold or take other measures, so we may contemplate starvation, if not death by the goddamn virus

Just like in this wretched present, in When the Wind Blows – that is a nuclear wind, in case you were wondering  - there is panic buying and the old couple see that there is no more bread and they have to do with some strange supplies, such as ginger nuts, cream sponge while their water supplies would be diminished, once the calamity does arrive, the water from rainfall is surely contaminated, although the simple, uneducated husband and wife do not get this, as well as many other things, making their ingenuity, ignorance a reason for some morbid amusement, such as when Mrs. Bloggs, after the fall out, is very concerned with soaking her curtains, bringing the washing in, so that it is not dirtied by the effects of the Atomic Bomb – of which she seems to know much less than her better informed husband, quite in the dark as he is too…what happens in this little house in the country side reminds me of the drama taking place at the summit of American and Soviet power in Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb - http://realini.blogspot.com/2020/01/dr-strangelove-or-how-i-learned-to-stop.html

something else that happens in the marvelous book and recalls the contemporaneous events would be the confusion surrounding the requested measures for the Nuclear attack, just like the response, better said lack thereof, from ‘leaders’ like the mascalzoni BolsoNero and the Jester in the White House, thus James Bloggs takes off doors, in this way facilitating the access of the heat wave, the radiation and everything else the nuclear attack would bring, paints the windows white – upsetting the wife that does not want paint on her cherished curtains – wants a white shirt, but she is again against the idea of using good clothes…good clothes would before after The Bomb, during it, he  must use old ones…

there are other differences with ‘Ducks’ – that is what he calls her, we only find the name towards the End, near the Long Journey – such as the ones over the use of the toilet, which according to official stipulation should not be used during for about 2 days, but she would not have any of that ‘put in plastic bags the feces’ nonsense, though she would be really scared when a rat is seen in the bathroom…the attitude is bizarre, explained as it is by the lack of education and probably quite simple minds, for they share a nostalgia for…the days of the war – that would be WWII – with the blackouts, the transmissions on the wireless, the Spitfires in the blue sky, Churchill with his moustache – here they probably have a point, when they do not remark upon the present – for them it was early eighties, but it will do for 2020 – with unremarkable leaders, for qualities, on the matter of negative traits, this reader keeps referring to the fool leading the free world as the epitome of the Vile character, the embodiment of all that is wrong with democracy, lack of education, large segments of America…even if we must look at Brazil, The Philippines and other lands and see that majorities identify with absolute crooks, idiots, sometimes they are both…

the alarm is sounded and they have to take to the refuge James Bloggs has arranged in the house, out of doors placed against a wall, which sounds as ridiculous as many of the suggestions or rules circulating today – and flaunted by multitudes around me and elsewhere – but the couple may be blessed in that they do not appear to realize the extent of the Armageddon that has hit them, proving that we adapt to almost anything, though in their case, it could be a combination of endurance built during a world war that they have seen, a quite positive attitude – we will get milk tomorrow, emergency services will get here, you will be alright, even if hair is falling, we both have blue spots all over, etc. – and ignorance…to quote Oscar Wilde”

“Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone.”

You can borrow this and a multitude of other Magnum opera at The Internet Archive: https://archive.org/