connormills93's reviews
31 reviews

A stunningly written book about power abuse that throws you around like a rag doll, and with good reason, you the reader are also just a means to an end, along for the ride and how lucky we all are, to simply put, enjoy American Psycho for hot girls and gays.

I’d seen recently Charli XCX say in an interview that “Club Classics” was just a character study with a sly smile and it’s in this style of “inner circle” smirk that we can find Irina.

The power dynamics at play throughout are cruel and beautifully chewed over. I really enjoyed the scenes in which Irina entered into dangerous situations in which we classically imagine she’s at a disadvantage but how she’s always in control, above every situation, as we discover not as an act of survival but continually pushing the boundaries to try and feel what a boundary would even feel like at this point, her hunger grows in tandem with her separation from reality and we are once again reminded we are not in control as the reader, were no more important than the boys brought into the home photo studio.

Slick and filled with dark humour I devoured this book greedily, or maybe I’m just a bit more of a sub than I first thought. 

This is actually one of the few times I’m finding it hard to put into words my feelings on a book but trying my best this is a hilarious off-beat roll in to self destructive inner child healing.

Also that Piñon chapter nearly finished me off I near threw the book in disbelief and very quickly cradled it all within a couple of pages.

The story is captivating but this is very much a novel in which you pop on your seat belt and allow yourself to be carried along for the ride.

A lyrical and devastating tour de force of self loathing, yet I feel even this depth of emotion isn’t even within this main characters reach as his tirade of self destruction burns everyone in his path making the subtle nod towards Macbeth somewhat more apt as the book progresses.

I found the way the author describes the passing of time in the room dreamy and loved the quickening pace captured in the moments where anything was possible during Giovanni and David’s first encounter and could relate to the rejection of your culture to mirror the rejection in yourself, in all it was an amazing book and worth the read, it wasn’t perfect but for someone who struggles to enjoy “classics” it certainly kept me entertained and hungry for more.

One word to describe this collection of short stories is delicious. This book is perfect for anyone wanting to enter into horror at an entry level or as a long time veteran, it’s a snappy humorous look at the different facets of hunger which drive and destroy us, beautiful pacing with an immaculate standard of writing throughout. The title story being a personal favourite with a really clever writing technique that instantly transported me to the setting.

pandemonium simply put is a masterclass in catching a moment and while the poems themselves seem to capture a turbulent storm Andrew seems to be within the eye of its passing and able to give a collected nuanced view of grief, love and growing.

A personal favourite was swan but nothing will break me quite like the first stanza of the first poem, for me it sets up the collection beautifully.

Part memoir part essays I found the book to be quite informative and had a genuine intrigue throughout. That being said I felt the biggest should I say let down of this book was the writing style, especially during the section in which the author discusses cocktail recipes, at this point the writing had felt quite honest and to somewhat of a degree, raw, yet this section was littered with for lack of a better word "cringe" one shot musings which quite honestly left me rolling my eyes. It's at this point the book dropped dramatically in my expectations and found it hard to continue reading. Maybe just a personal gripe of mine but it then began to colour what I had read so far almost as if the author was to insecure to allow us to take our own conclusions on the work we were reading and then from this form our own connection to the work. I hate to say it as I wanted to move past it but more and more I felt the phrase "pity porn" come to the forefront of my interaction with the work and it just spoiled it to much for me. Maybe I'm being harsh and again I really did enjoy the first couple of sections but unfortunately it all just fell flat for me towards the end. 

A lyrical novella which feels closer to a poem than a story. Max Porter's writing style is captivating in the way he conjures up vivid images in this story. A stream of consciousness is the best way I can describe the way the plot progresses with a nod to tempo in the way the format of the book changes which I especially appreciated, given the interests of Shy, it felt authentic.  My only gripe being how I personally found it hard to follow at points and had to stop and re-read parts to understand where the story was moving but apart from that an empathetic and beautiful book.

On the way back from a trip I saw the cover of this book sitting amongst a bargain display at the airport and instantly felt a connection to the cover (the modern vintage version) without any research (turns out it’s the same author as Lapnova) I knew I had to read this and see why.

Part Chuck Palahuink’s Invisible Monsters and unashamedly self announced part Girl, Interrupted, this story is a narcissistic walk through trauma, deep seated sadness and a hunger that can never be filled.

Also don’t get me wrong the protagonist is quite possibly one of the worst people you can imagine. I’m still in two minds whether the casual cruelty, amongst many other severe character flaws, was a self defence mechanism to what seemed like an unloving childhood beautifully exaggerated from her relationship with Trevor, someone incapable of giving her any form of love and the self degradation she would enact to test this or if she was just fundamentally a cliched spoiled “brat” but her insight into her other relationships has me leaning towards the former. (I did have to physically scold myself at laughing at some of the retorts given to Reva at multiple parts though soooo there’s that)

I think what really connected in this book for me was a very real representation of someone slowly and assuredly completing suicide, whether this is to be taken in the form of a metaphysical one which based on the last chapters  is implied or on the bulk of the book it’s actually a very real representation of this that most times is given a Hollywood glamour as such. She starts sleeping too in her own words, avoid feeling. Craving this numbness her life revolves around this void, her lack of eating, caring about her appearance or personal hygiene, the active want to destroy personal relationships and her addition to her only release, willing to harm herself in anyway to achieve it. The way the writing becomes more frantic as she was in the throws of a not sleeping “episode” really worked to build tension and created a sense of panic in us the reader.

I think for all the nuanced ways this is eluded to in the book but never cemented is the biggest characteristic of the Girl, Interrupted comparison, the way Wyona Ryder casually compares her Aspirin Vodka chaser to a light headache cure echoed in my mind every time the protagonist felt “tired” eventually building to a severe tug on the heart strings after her last confession to her Doctor which of-course didn’t elicit sympathy but an understanding into her sadness which I felt gave the story a beautiful “ah-ha moment” but also again brought about panic and had me hurdling through the rest of the book.

I truly don’t think this book is for everyone and I definitely don’t think many would consider it 5 stars but for honestly and openly talking about some of the things discussed such as grief, abandonment, depression, discontent and degradation without the need to give us a glamorous hero to root for is something I can’t help but applaud. You won’t finish this book inspired with a new sense of self as the last few pages ensures but when reading it you will get to have a light chat with the darker parts of yourself and maybe an odd laugh here or there if you let yourself.