American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

 

"She isn't wearing the Karl Lagerfeld suit I expected, but she looks pretty decent anyway: a silk gazar blouse with rhinestone cuff links by Louis Dell'Olio and a pair of embroidered velvet pants from Saks, crystal earrings from Wendy Gell for Anne Klein and gold sling back pumps."

 

This novel has been in my to-read pile for quite some time and I admit I've been reticent to dive in. I remember the huge furore when it first came out and when it was first sold in plastic wrappers. The sex and violence is of the highly graphic variety - as you might expect from Easton Ellis and let's face it cannibalism is really an unappetising subject.

 

Despite the icky stuff this book is amazing. It perfectly encapsulates the coke fuelled arrogance and detachment of a man who has everything that anyone is supposed to want in the world and is moved to extremes to end the monotony. Yes, the extremes are ridiculously extreme and Patrick Bateman is a horrific character, yet his annoyingly superficial yuppie friends are, it could be argued, just as horrible, albeit slightly more banal.

 

I have to say, the novel was probably not the most appropriate reading material at the hairdressers today. It did feel weird reading quite depraved depictions of grotesque violence while going blonder- Patrick would probably describe my do as newsreader coiffed perfection, but would baulk at the lack of recognised labels on my person.

 

The discussions on Huey Lewis and the News and Phil Collins are epic, as is the conversation with Tom Cruise ..."bartender".... oh I laughed.

 

5 out of 5, gruesome, grotesque but good.

 



Louis Theroux - The Call Of The Weird

 

"In my conversations with the women, I was aware that I, as a man, was in a small way being hustled, and in none more so than with Hayley."

I have always enjoyed the documentaries of Louis Theroux. Is it his boyish good looks, his awkwardness, or his foot in mouth style approach to interviewing that makes him so appealing? I wondered this as I explored this book, basically the written version of his travels to re-visit former interview subjects.

 

I really wanted to love this as much as the TV version, however, there was something missing. I queried whether my response to Louis was perhaps a littler too superficial? On reflection it seems that my lack of affinity for this written incarnation stemmed from the fact that the weird characters - in print - lose some of their weirdness.

 

 

It is still rather an interesting exploration of how people in out there sub cultures end up modifying their behaviour - in the most part - to get along with the rest of the world.

 

 4 out of 5 - I'd prefer to see you on the screen Louis, but I still think you are great.

 

 

 

 

 



The Son by Philipp Meyer

 

 

"The Comanche had no ceremony for ending boyhood - no vision quests or hooks through the nipples- when you felt like it you started going on raids, watching the horses until gradually you were allowed to fight."

 

When I heard Philipp Meyer had a new book out I was eager to get my hands on a copy. I was, partially put off by the cover and the subject matter, hardly believing I would be drawn into an epic family saga across 3 generations, commencing in with some rather horrific scenes as young Eli is abducted by a Comanche tribe after the gruesome rape and murder of his mother and sister. I was wrong!

 

It is Eli's story that really held my attention the most - not that the others aren't compelling, his voice just seems more immediate. Perhaps it has something to do with how foreign he initially finds life amongst the Comanche, much like the modern reader, or perhaps it is his path to adulthood and feeling of alienation within his own society.

 

 

I literally devoured this book, completing it in 2 nights and I would need an arsenal of superlatives to describe how good I think it is. Scalping, oil rigs, an expansive time frame and a whole lotta drama, I recommend this if you want to read some fabulous writing or just want to experience a cracking tale.

 

5 out of 5 ...superb - get yourself a copy - or it might just make the perfect Father's day gift ( then you can borrow it later).

 

 

 



Love and Monsters: The Doctor Who Experience, 1979 to the Present by Miles Booy

"You can, if  you're so inclined, follow Doctor Who's  same journey back to the centre of national culture not through public events but through academic criticism."

 

I am a sucker for all things whovian and was enthusiastic at the prospect of delving into this treatise with the catchy name. For a speed reader like myself this particular work took what seemed like an age to finish. Perhaps there was a hole in the space time continuum? Perhaps I needed a longer coloured scarf? More likely, this book read like an exhaustive university essay, dull and colourless and completely unlike the addictive program it discusses.

 

 

The book seems to take a comprehensive view of the impact that fanzines and the like had on the development and re-birth of the show, and interesting concept but lacking something in delivery. Despite the funky Warhol like cover, this book put me to sleep on a number of occasions.

 

2 out of 5 "I'm gonna wipe every last stinking Dalek out of the sky!"

 

 

 



The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien

"I must have come back sufficiently from death to enter a healthy tiredness again for I did not hear the policeman coming out of the bedroom again and crossing the kitchen with his unbeholdable and brain-destroying bicycle."

Murder, mayhem, death, academia and bicycles make for a strange and fantastical journey in this at times almost incomprehensible novel. That is not to detract from the delight it may deliver.
There is something of the shaggy dog tale, a nod, a wink, an Irish lilt that will have you turning the pages and muttering to yourself repeatedly "what now... what is going on... Who's a bicycle"?

Having completed this while rather tired, I feel I need to re-read in one uninterrupted session to get a better perspective of the tale as a whole. I have read some reviewers who reference Laurence Stern's Tristram Shandy in the same breath and  they do share that comical, non-linear and completely absurd perspective - although I prefer Stern if truth be told.

Much of the novel is made up of footnotes detailing the works of De Selby - the subject of the narrator's fixation and his reason for committing murder. The unnamed narrator kills a man with the intention to rob adequate funds to finance the ultimate study of De Selby. A man (De Selby) who at times cannot tell the difference between genders, is obsessed with mirrors and walking backwards and whose reasoning is " difficult to get to grips with".

If this book were a song it would probably be a re-mix between the Beatles' Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds , the Prodigy's Firestarter, with some traditional Irish refrain thrown in for good measure. There are moments that will make you laugh, do a double take and finally settle down and just enjoy a rather different experience.


4 out of 5 half human bicycles might get the odd puncture.

The Juliette Society - by Sasha Grey

"Because there's no point in banging hard on the accelerator if you don't know how to apply the brakes, turn the wheel or shift gears."

This is a far better product than the immensely popular trite that is Fifty Shades of Crapola. It's easy conversational tone is compelling - albeit overly peppered with the same words over and over again.  If you did a word count on "pussy" or "wet" I'm fairly sure the results returned would be a large percentage of the total volume.

I first heard about the author when  Stephen Soderberg's The Girlfriend Experience  (photo below) provoked copious amounts of press coverage  for the cross over career of its star, but other readers may have a broader knowledge of her earlier, more salacious works.

Banking on the infamy of its author - the rather stunning Sasha Grey -the novel veers firmly in the one handed read territory that you might expect from an ex adult film performer.
Having said that, the plot is engaging and the film student heroine references some classic films that I love. The rosebud story was not news to me - I thought everyone knew that one.

Catherine is a heroine who finds her self initially in circumstances most women could relate to - things have gone off the boil with her boyfriend and she's feeling a little neglected and fantasises about her good looking college professor. Things take a turn into far  seedier territory when she befriends the gorgeous and mysterious Anna.

A whole new underworld opens its doors to Catherine including interactions with a creepy pornographer, eyes wide shut style parties and even a horny midget. Things will never be dull, but is all this lunacy leading somewhere? Her sexual liberation carves a path to potential ruin and blackmail for survival. Wow, this sounds like a morality tale.

The author is at her best when referencing Belle de Jour - I love that movie and Catherine Deneuve - and this book draws consistent parallels with Séverine's secret other life and the destructive impact  that surrendering to it provokes.

4 out of 5 - a promising start for a first-timer, not so sure about the climax.

Birthday Letters by Ted Hughes

"I was the gnat in the ear of the wounded Elephant of my own Incomprehension."

 

I would love to share with you some intelligent musings on reflection of this book of poetry. That being said, I had a rather busy weekend and am struggling to engage the cogs of the brain. Warm summer days where the sun shines, the bird sings and the world seems like a gorgeous place to live in are ill suited to the discussion of poetry.

 

I wanted to read this because I had never previously read anything by Ted Hughes, although I'd studied the poetry of Sylvia Plath - really something not suited to a sunny day.

 I had read the usual stuff about him being a bit of a lousy husband and jealous of her success and a contributing factor in her self destruction, so naturally I was a little curious.

 

I don't know why, but I got the distinct impression that here was a man that would chronicle your life in a dispassionate fashion. The overwhelming feeling that the majority of works within the collection brought out was a sense that I would really not want to be part of his world.

 

3 out of 5, well formed but threatening to kill my good mood.