Booksellers and everyday shoppers alike have been taking part in a quiet act of rebellion to ensure that Boris Johnson’s latest book, Unleashed, is more ‘unseen’ than anything else.
Across the UK, Johnson’s ‘magnum opus’ has been the subject of what could be called ‘Britain’s most literary camouflage’. Instead of protesting with fiery speeches and placards, people have opted for more subtle expressions of their feelings, burying the former PM’s musings beneath cookbooks, autobiographies, and, in some cases, children’s books on bookshelves around the country.
But perhaps the most hilarious aspect of this is the creative ways the great British public have found of rearranging the bookshelves completely. In bookshops from Edinburgh to Swansea and as far south as Gatwick airport, no-one seems immune from this craze. In Corby, Unleashed found itself next to Ripley’s Believe it or Not in what some are describing as an act of poetic justice.
Where Farage et al had their riots, the woke have their bookshelves and they aren’t afraid to use them.
Unleashed: the bookshop revolt
To the untrained eye, this may seem like a quirky rearrangement of stock. But behind each carefully placed The Psychology of Stupidity and every strategically stacked Miranda Hart, there is a distinctly British, non-confrontational defiance.
In a particularly creative twist, some bookstore patrons have taken to surrounding Unleashed with titles that offer, shall we say, additional commentary on its contents.
Johnson’s book has been strategically flanked by Ian Martin’s Unhinged: A Parody, providing readers with a tongue-in-cheek alternative that many feel is a more accurate depiction of his musings.
It may be found alongside Surrounded By Liars and How They Broke Britain, carefully placed to create a tableau that some feel reflects the book’s substance more accurately, trolling on a level not seen since a lettuce outlasted Liz Truss’s tenure as PM.
The protestors insist that the act of covering Johnson’s opus isn’t simply about his politics, but about preventing any more trees from suffering the indignity of being turned into recycled copies of Unleashed when they could serve more fulfilling roles as, say, a set of Ikea Billy bookshelves.
The supermarket rebellion
It’s in the great British supermarkets where this act of literary reordering has truly reached dizzying heights. Reports have flooded in of Unleashed being spotted in unexpected corners of Sainsbury’s, Tesco’s and Waitrose, resting among household cleaning products, lavatory roll and, rather appropriately, lurking in front of the cat litter.
The humour of this is not lost on anyone; with people finding more and more creative places to leave the book. Even shop staff have become co-conspirators, knowingly turning a blind eye to the disappearing stacks of Unleashed. In one Waterstones, a copy was spotted alongside How Westminster Works and Why it Doesn’t which raised some eyebrows for its placement (or, depending on one’s view) its poetic accuracy.
Is Johnson a publisher’s worst nightmare?
In the opening week that can only be described as epic for all the wrong reasons, Unleashed gained the unfortunate distinction of being outsold by Julia Donaldson’s latest children’s book and a popular guide to gut health. For those keeping count, that’s a £10 children’s picture book about a penguin selling faster than the musings of the nation’s former emperor of bluster. It’s the sort of failure that proves one thing: there is indeed nothing worse than when your johnson flops.
The publishers must be concerned. After paying a £2 million advance for the book, it’s becoming increasingly apparent that instead of a blockbuster, they’ve got a resounding anti-climax. It could arguably be called the most catastrophic literary investment since Truss, a comparison that must sting for the former PM, who no doubt had hoped to be Britain’s next big literary statesman.
A viral sensation
If 21st-century social media was invented for anything, this is it. It has been flooded with pictures of the creative ways the great British public have found to show their utter disdain.
Self-described ‘woke activists’ on X (formerly Twitter) are sharing photographs of Unleashed appearing in absurd spots: in the fridge, next to the frozen peas, in the baby aisle, and somewhere between the nappies and the rash cream.
The protest has garnered thousands of likes, reposts and comments. For some, it’s about making a statement; for others, it’s simply about not seeing Johnson’s face peering out from yet another row of history books.
This, of course, isn’t Johnson’s first foray into the realm of the farcical. Who can forget the infamous zip-lining incident, where he got stuck halfway, swinging piñata-style from a rope waving Union Jack flags like a deranged superhero. Or the unforgettable moment he ducked into a fridge to avoid an uncomfortable interview, demonstrating, as some noted, a political strategy that involves hiding in literal cold storage?
The shameful reality of how Johnson will really be remembered
Whilst many have been having fun with rearranging bookshelves in bookshops and on supermarket shelves, the harsh reality of the way Johnson and co behaved during lockdown with countless parties and even on the eve of Prince Philip’s funeral where the Queen buried him alone, are summed up by this heart-wrenching Tweet by BedlingtonBunty whose husband died alone in hospital.
While the ex-PM himself may have titled his work Unleashed, Britain has treated it with its own special form of contempt. So, here’s to the unsung heroes of the British bookstore – and here’s hoping that the next chapter of Boris’s career doesn’t come with a sequel. Or, if it does, that it’s safely buried in the next issue of Where’s Wally?
