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March 17, 2006
yearning in anticipation . . .
Anyone who's a regular reader will know that T.J. Marshman is a regular commenter here. He's also an excellent dialogue writer -- intuitive enough to actually get inside the minds of al Qaida's leadership, and see through their recent, pre-9/11 level chatter. (This remarkable ability was noticed by Glenn Reynolds yesterday.) Anyway, if T.J. can get inside the top minds of al Qaida, imagine what he can do with the Seattle street! Regarding the old rule about never judging a book by its cover, I think it's safe to disregard in this case:  As I told TJ, when I took the book on a plane it scared the passenger next to me (at least I hope it was the book....) Once I got into it, I couldn't put it down, as it's a little creepy in the way a morbid soul like me likes creepy, and the narrator ("Clown") has a way of getting inside your head. The dark side of your head. And if your head doesn't have a dark side, I'd say you're either dishonest or you need a shrink. I don't want to spoil the book, but I'm going to try to improve on Lulu's book description: A frustrated poet decides he'll feel better about himself if he kills someone.It's not quite that simple. I think most of us have flirted with the idea of murdering someone. Our poet/narrator takes this a step further, and if you have any imagination at all, you'll be lulled into co-conspirator fantasies as he bounces back and forth from suicide (auto-erotic strangulation) to killing the innocent (out of a twisted sense of aiding righteousness) to zeroing in on What We All Like (which is to actually target and kill an awful sicko who just plain needs killing). Favorite line: The wonder of not fearing death is that you can do things you'd never consider when you really wanted to live.This rings true from my personal experience, and I wish I'd written it in a book. In fact, the whole thing makes me want to write a goddamned book. Read it and you might want to do the same thing. (An army of Clowns, perhaps?) Really, I was reminded of the novel I never wrote about some poor shmuck who just couldn't take being a victim anymore, so he decided to become a justifiable murderer. Of course, that wouldn't be murder, which is the whole point of the book I didn't write. (Move into a wretched high crime neighborhood, wait for the burglars, kill them in self defense, stick them in the deep freeze and wait for more....) But here I go, reviewing my own book which I never wrote and probably never will. I admire TJ for sticking to what I never stuck to, and following through. (Some Clown!) Highly recommended reading! Especially for those of us who are squeamish about our dark sides. Or our loser sides. (Which means most of us.)
posted by Eric on 03.17.06 at 08:51 AM
Comments
You're very welcome! (Anyone bothering to read these comments, please go buy it, and help a worthy author.) Eric Scheie · March 18, 2006 12:18 PM Wow. This is awesome. I love classical values and am a fan of Hark. Will Myers · March 20, 2006 04:12 PM |
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I'm so glad you liked it! Thanks so much for posting this review, too. I can't thank you enough!