My Policeman. Book Review (with a movie review update).

I had never even heard of the book My Policeman until I found out it was becoming a movie with Harry Styles (playing Tom, the policeman), who is apparently going to get quite naked. The movie was just recently rated R. Okay, I’m all in to see the movie. So I bought and read the book first because reading is something I’m always doing.

As you can imagine this book is selling wildly simply because Harry Styles is in the movie and it almost felt as if the book was written with him in mind (released in 2012). But the book itself was not one of my favorites — but I’m guessing the movie is going to be far better. (Update below Feb. 2023: It wasn't. More on this at the end.)

From the book cover — It is 1950’s Brighton that Marion first catches sight of Tom. He teaches her to swim in the shadow if the pier and Marion is smitten — determined her love will be enough for them both. A few years later in Brighton Museum Patrick meets Tom. Patrick quickly becomes infatuated with the gorgeous Tom and opens his eyes to the sophisticated world of art, travel, and beauty. Tom is their policeman, and in the 1950s it’s safer for him to marry Marion and meet Patrick in secret. The two lovers must share Tom until one of them breaks and three lives are destroyed.

After reading the blurb, I was expecting to feel something between these two men — a passionate love — a tragic story. I wanted heartbreak and tears. I wanted to feel something between all of them but that’s not what happened. But don’t get me wrong. The book is well written. Bethan Roberts shows us what life was like in the 1950’s if you were a homosexual, but it was told in a way that I felt was clunky and difficult to read. The book is written from two points of view — that of Marion and of Patrick.

Marion’s narrative (most of the book) was overindulgent and too long. Did we really need so much information about her being a schoolteacher? How did that affect the outcome of the story? Schoolteacher cliché perhaps, but still too much — too boring. Sometimes at least, I felt sorry for her because she lingered in a loveless marriage thinking she could somehow win Tom’s heart, but why so long? I only felt a true connection with Patrick. He seemed the only one with the passion I wanted to feel. Marion was simply obsessive, and that’s okay as her character, but to me it seemed shallow — I wanted to either hate her or understand her, but I felt nothing not even her attempt at redemption in the end.

I didn’t feel enough depth from Tom. We hear little from his POV. He was mostly silent and expressed only in the eyes of the other two. It makes sense that he was quiet because of his position as a policeman, but I didn’t feel any emotion from him particularly in the end when I wanted him to breakdown — be heartbroken. In the end I didn’t feel the connection Tom had to Patrick — he seemed to be barely interested. Although I get that the author was trying to propose that Tom was overcome with grief, that didn’t come across to me.

Finally, there was not enough intimacy shown between the two men (although I’m sure that will change radically in the movie). For a book released or written only 10 years ago it seemed to be sadly lacking in at least a few intimate details. It was released in 2012 not 1912!

I’m sure I’ll be pleasantly surprised by the movie.

Update Feb 2023

I was not pleasantly surprised by the movie. My reaction to the movie was the same as my reaction to the book, only worse because of the acting. My Policeman is just not a good movie. The script is a mess, clunky and cold. That's not to say Harry Styles can't carry a gay sex scene. Clearly he can, but that was the end of the good part of the movie. Good acting requires a lot more than that. You have to know how to carry every scene, use vocal inflection, show deep emotion (outside of a sex scene). It's all in the small actions and emotional complexities expressed through facial expressions and timing. 

And the plot. They obviously tried to stay true to the book. That's too bad.

Marion thinks Patrick is just their friend and is inviting him into their home. (I guess this is the naive school teacher part but I'm sad for her lack of common sense.) All the while, Patrick couldn’t care less about her. When Tom wants to leave Patrick to get married and have children, Patrick throws him against a wall and starts touching him and literally says “I’m not gonna stop.” Then, to get Tom to go to Venice he pays him! Patrick's abuse of Tom leads to Tom emotionally abusing Marion, who then abuses Patrick by sending him to jail where he gets beat up. But it doesn't end there. She continues the abuse and when they're all old and their lives have been wasted she finally leaves Tom. 

I get the 'wasted time' aspect but it's also about abusive toxic relationships. Sexual love plays a component here but not true love. The movie highlighted the intersection of desire, hatred, and violence in the context of a homophobic culture, and how this is exacerbated by toxic masculinity. I did a review about The English Patient and this is kind of like that. 

This isn't love, it's lust, it's obsession and revenge. But this kind of movie will get romanticized just like The English Patient without recognizing how this is actually abuse and that's a fault of the movie itself, the script. Again, I'm okay with obsession and revenge movies, but just call it like it is. Don't tell me this is a love story.