In the last year of having no internet, no cable and no home phone, I got into a quaint little habit of periodically buying a random book. Just something that looks interesting. Preferrably one Ive never heard of, or maybe buy an author Ive heard the name of, but never read. Sometimes its a classic Ive obviously heard of but never read.
Theres been an unsettling theme frequenting all the books I ended up picking up that always seemed to have the main character as some loner on a slow descent into madness after some personal tragedy and the primary focus of the plot is to recount his first person experiences quite often only inside his head on his way down.
7 types of ambiguity Great book, amazing writer (Elliot Perlman) Fucked up drunk main character loses his mind over losing a woman 10 years prior.
Fight Club nuff said.
Catcher in the Rye ok, so maybe the guy didnt drink that much but hey, guess what? Crazy loner.
(or IS he?)
Most recently I picked up one called Famous after death when Id run across the street from the Morrisey one Sunday afternoon. Surprise surprise, crazy loner.
Its not like I read the back story and search for the words crazy and loner before deciding on grabbing the thing, itd be more like psychological thriller and a literary adventure of breathtaking scope would be written there and Id buy it.
Now if the cover would have said something like psychological thriller based on the experiences of a crazy alcoholic loner I would have left the book at the shop. Its not until I start reading the new book that I discover the same old thread:
1. Real nice guy main character.
2. Must want good things.
3. Must work feverishly towards said goal of good things at the expense of all else.
4. Said good things must go terribly awry
5. he goes back to the top of the slide where he stops and he turns and he goes for a ride then he gets to the bottom and he does it agaiiiiin.
Fuckit. This time Im buying something totally different I told myself, and I found Mary Shelleys Frankenstein.
Perfect.
Good ol fashioned monsters, that should be at bit more uplifting.
I had no idea that it was written in this style, and Im only about 1/3 of the way into it. Just getting to the part where Dr. Frankenstein has finally created what he meant to be the most beautiful thing, the ending to all of lifes pain and sorrow, the cure for death.
Hes now realized that hes created a monster, hes run away and is turning into a crazed loner
Thus not the tenderness of friendship, nor the beauty of the Earth, nor of Heaven, could redeem my soul from woe; the very accents of love were ineffectual. I was encompassed by a cloud which no beneficial influence could penetrate. The wounded deer dragging its fainting limbs to some untrodden brake, there to gaze upon the arrow which had pierced it, and to die, was but a type of me.
Oh yeah, a much better choice in books there mr. pica. Much more uplifting.
Theres been an unsettling theme frequenting all the books I ended up picking up that always seemed to have the main character as some loner on a slow descent into madness after some personal tragedy and the primary focus of the plot is to recount his first person experiences quite often only inside his head on his way down.
7 types of ambiguity Great book, amazing writer (Elliot Perlman) Fucked up drunk main character loses his mind over losing a woman 10 years prior.
Fight Club nuff said.
Catcher in the Rye ok, so maybe the guy didnt drink that much but hey, guess what? Crazy loner.
(or IS he?)
Most recently I picked up one called Famous after death when Id run across the street from the Morrisey one Sunday afternoon. Surprise surprise, crazy loner.
Its not like I read the back story and search for the words crazy and loner before deciding on grabbing the thing, itd be more like psychological thriller and a literary adventure of breathtaking scope would be written there and Id buy it.
Now if the cover would have said something like psychological thriller based on the experiences of a crazy alcoholic loner I would have left the book at the shop. Its not until I start reading the new book that I discover the same old thread:
1. Real nice guy main character.
2. Must want good things.
3. Must work feverishly towards said goal of good things at the expense of all else.
4. Said good things must go terribly awry
5. he goes back to the top of the slide where he stops and he turns and he goes for a ride then he gets to the bottom and he does it agaiiiiin.
Fuckit. This time Im buying something totally different I told myself, and I found Mary Shelleys Frankenstein.
Perfect.
Good ol fashioned monsters, that should be at bit more uplifting.
I had no idea that it was written in this style, and Im only about 1/3 of the way into it. Just getting to the part where Dr. Frankenstein has finally created what he meant to be the most beautiful thing, the ending to all of lifes pain and sorrow, the cure for death.
Hes now realized that hes created a monster, hes run away and is turning into a crazed loner
Thus not the tenderness of friendship, nor the beauty of the Earth, nor of Heaven, could redeem my soul from woe; the very accents of love were ineffectual. I was encompassed by a cloud which no beneficial influence could penetrate. The wounded deer dragging its fainting limbs to some untrodden brake, there to gaze upon the arrow which had pierced it, and to die, was but a type of me.
Oh yeah, a much better choice in books there mr. pica. Much more uplifting.
VIEW 5 of 5 COMMENTS
malloreigh:
fucking amazing. we took a cab. it was the cab driver's responsibility to figure out where the hell it was. but it was epic. except for all the 15 year olds and the lack of merch or booze. i drank anyway.
5lave:
WTF is a bookmark!?