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3.35 AVERAGE
3.35 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
yeahhh i’m rocking with this crazy style
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
this review is for book club.
"I hesitated at finding myself wrestling with this ugly golden creature, made beautiful by its scars and wounds. I moved my mouth across the scars on his lips, feeling with my tongue for those familiar elements of long-vanished dashboards and windshields. Vaughan loosened his leather jacket, exposing the re-opened wounds that marked his chest and abdomen, a deranged drag queen revealing the leaking scars of an unsuccessful transexual surgery."
on paper, the premise of this book is so up my alley. off-putting weirdos getting their rocks off to car crashes? sounds awesome. but the entire time i was reading this, i didn't expect it to be so boring? maybe it's because ballard uses the same ten words to describe every bloody crash or scarred women's body (if i have to read the word "pubis" again i will die). but i think a lot of it has to do with the fact that the sexual desire here feels like its meant to be something otherworldly and intense, when in reality just ends up kind of pathetic. from the beginning, it seemed like ballard just really wanted to fuck vaughan and then goes on all this shenanigan just to achieve that. just have sex with him!!! i was pretty worried ballard wouldn't even end up having sex with him, but then when they finally achieved that sexual desire it fell flat for me. there's clearly a homoerotic presence throughout the book, so why does it still feel born from a heterosexual need? i guess it's nice that the ladies get to have fun too. i mean, i couldn't tell you one personality trait catherine has, but then again i don't think i could about ballard.
i'm very interested in how this story could've been different if it took place in america. american identity is so closely linked with the automobile that it surprised me when i found out this story takes place in london. i think there could be some interesting commentary but i guess that's my own fantasy version of the story.
apparently cronenberg himself initially couldn't finish this book, and when he finally did found it extraordinary but still unlikeable. i haven't seen the movie but i'm curious if doing so would altar my opinions, i can imagine actually seeing some of these scenes enacted can make for a more engaging experience. anyways. time to read christine.
"I hesitated at finding myself wrestling with this ugly golden creature, made beautiful by its scars and wounds. I moved my mouth across the scars on his lips, feeling with my tongue for those familiar elements of long-vanished dashboards and windshields. Vaughan loosened his leather jacket, exposing the re-opened wounds that marked his chest and abdomen, a deranged drag queen revealing the leaking scars of an unsuccessful transexual surgery."
on paper, the premise of this book is so up my alley. off-putting weirdos getting their rocks off to car crashes? sounds awesome. but the entire time i was reading this, i didn't expect it to be so boring? maybe it's because ballard uses the same ten words to describe every bloody crash or scarred women's body (if i have to read the word "pubis" again i will die). but i think a lot of it has to do with the fact that the sexual desire here feels like its meant to be something otherworldly and intense, when in reality just ends up kind of pathetic. from the beginning, it seemed like ballard just really wanted to fuck vaughan and then goes on all this shenanigan just to achieve that. just have sex with him!!! i was pretty worried ballard wouldn't even end up having sex with him, but then when they finally achieved that sexual desire it fell flat for me. there's clearly a homoerotic presence throughout the book, so why does it still feel born from a heterosexual need? i guess it's nice that the ladies get to have fun too. i mean, i couldn't tell you one personality trait catherine has, but then again i don't think i could about ballard.
i'm very interested in how this story could've been different if it took place in america. american identity is so closely linked with the automobile that it surprised me when i found out this story takes place in london. i think there could be some interesting commentary but i guess that's my own fantasy version of the story.
apparently cronenberg himself initially couldn't finish this book, and when he finally did found it extraordinary but still unlikeable. i haven't seen the movie but i'm curious if doing so would altar my opinions, i can imagine actually seeing some of these scenes enacted can make for a more engaging experience. anyways. time to read christine.
Crash - 3.5/5
Cryin tis as ah 'hallucinatory novel' as the blur ah ma copie states is as accurate ah descriptor of tis beuk as probably exists. It wurks beest (As I've learnd tae me dismay) if you gae through it quick, unlik wit ah ended up daeing (as yeh kin see fae how lang I wis readin tis fir). It'll flow a fair bit beeter readin it aw close the gether n how a teuk it in probably hurt ma enjoyment ah the wurk o'erall.
Oonywae, tae the beuk itsel. The protagonsist (the author himsel it seems) becomes increasinly sexually fixated on car crashes n their victims affer bein personally involved in a deadly heid-on collision. He spirals further n further intae ah new world of technological sexuality, joining it followers in praise of it.
Tis is a beau of a novel, in yeh can see the author desendin doon his pathway tae becomin lik his 'mentor' (fir lack oh a beeter word) Vaughn. The imagery of the growin technological world and how is changin thems living waein it is a sight worth the readin. However, aside fae ma own slapdash readin ah the beuk, I had me own problems.
Furst, the writin aw the sex itsel, whilst intentionally sorta clinical wae a hint of discust fae the scribbler wis a bitty hard tae get through, there is only some much semen spraying ontae dashboards ah kin tak. Secondly, homosexuality seemed to be treated as the ultimate 'perversity' in the tale, which rubbed me the wrang wae somewit. Both a these points, alonwae ma slow readin ah the storie brought the wurk doon fir me personally.
O'erall - 3.5/5
Cryin tis as ah 'hallucinatory novel' as the blur ah ma copie states is as accurate ah descriptor of tis beuk as probably exists. It wurks beest (As I've learnd tae me dismay) if you gae through it quick, unlik wit ah ended up daeing (as yeh kin see fae how lang I wis readin tis fir). It'll flow a fair bit beeter readin it aw close the gether n how a teuk it in probably hurt ma enjoyment ah the wurk o'erall.
Oonywae, tae the beuk itsel. The protagonsist (the author himsel it seems) becomes increasinly sexually fixated on car crashes n their victims affer bein personally involved in a deadly heid-on collision. He spirals further n further intae ah new world of technological sexuality, joining it followers in praise of it.
Tis is a beau of a novel, in yeh can see the author desendin doon his pathway tae becomin lik his 'mentor' (fir lack oh a beeter word) Vaughn. The imagery of the growin technological world and how is changin thems living waein it is a sight worth the readin. However, aside fae ma own slapdash readin ah the beuk, I had me own problems.
Furst, the writin aw the sex itsel, whilst intentionally sorta clinical wae a hint of discust fae the scribbler wis a bitty hard tae get through, there is only some much semen spraying ontae dashboards ah kin tak. Secondly, homosexuality seemed to be treated as the ultimate 'perversity' in the tale, which rubbed me the wrang wae somewit. Both a these points, alonwae ma slow readin ah the storie brought the wurk doon fir me personally.
O'erall - 3.5/5
challenging
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
“Ka,“ Lightning McQueen bit his bottom lip, “-chow”
challenging
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
An armada of angelic creatures, each surrounded by an immense corona of light, was landing on the motorway on either side of us, sweeping down in opposite directions. ... I realized that all these roads and expressways had been built by us unknowingly for their reception.
Crash is a book that I'd find difficult to recommend to anyone. It didn't grip me, but I did keep returning back to it. Like the Cronenberg film, the book oscillates been car crashes and sexual encounters, sometimes both at the same time. Semen, blood, and mucus seem to be expelled constantly. Our main character's disaffected tone leaves the reader skipping over the passing moments of incest, pedophilia, transphobia, misogyny, and racism. Crash is a book about wealthy white people in the film industry, and their obsessions with cars and themselves.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Drug use, Gore, Blood, Excrement, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Infidelity, Pedophilia
Minor: Child abuse, Incest, Transphobia, Alcohol
I’d heard this compared to William S. Burroughs, but this has more in common with “Twins” (the book “Dead Ringers” is based on, not the Schwarzenegger movie) than with something like “Naked Lunch”. What little Burroughs I’ve read has an appreciably sick sense of humor, whereas this is detached and self-serious. The love triangle (well, love multisided geometrical figure) is fine, I guess, but the elliptical and freewheeling presentation gets tiresome by the end. I can only read mechanized, emotionless sex scenes filled with descriptions of bodily fluids and scar tissue before the novelty wears off. I’m interested to see how the movie plays out.