Joseph Markovitch has left London only once to go to the seaside with his mother. He loves Nicolas Cage, has five sugars in his tea, would have married a six foot two Hispanic woman but in the end had bad chest catarrh and never had a girlfriend.
” A hugely endearing, touching and ultimately humorous point of view of the East End from one of its longest-term residents.
As Usborne writes in the introduction about his first impression of Joseph: “My intentions were selfish, I thought he was amusing, I thought he was drunk” and readers might be forgiven for initially feeling the same. But Martin learned, and we learn that Joseph is a marginalised man with a unique take on the modern world.
From its cover you could be fooled into thinking it was just another selection of portraits of “old and interesting” people, but what’s inside is a fantastic photographic documentation of one of Hoxton’s most interesting residents, intercut with conversational quotes from Joseph which read like poetry.
Dealing with quintessential subject matter such as childhood, art and religion in a playful and comical way, Joseph unknowingly provides a thought-provoking commentary on the state of the world.
The book serves to show the side of Hoxton and east London that isn’t uber-trendy but is genuine and in many respects unaffected by east London’s ever-changing identity.
Although the text in the book is pretty profound, the photography is faultless and never tries too hard. Each photograph is as refreshing and poignant as the last and every page gives pause for reflection.
In all, the book as a whole is a moving experience starring an original ‘Eastender’ who at no point fails to make you think, laugh or just simply appreciate how first impressions aren’t gospel. Martin and Joseph have made a pretty delightful book and half the profits will go to the subject.”
- It’s nice that
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