Review: How I became a Famous Novelist by Steve Hely

How I Became A Famous Novelist
by Steve Hely

Published in: 2009

Synopsis: In this blistering evisceration of celebrity culture and literary fame, a roguish loser sets out to write the bestsellingest bestseller of all time. When he actually pulls it off, he winds up tearing like a tornado across America's cultural landscape.



All Pete wanted was to check off four simple goals. He wanted fame (a realistic amount), financial comfort (i.e. never have a job again), a stately home by the ocean (or scenic lake) and to humiliate his college sweetheart at her wedding. Actually, if he's being honest, the only reason he wants to meet the first 3 points is so he can succeed in the final point. And by succeed, he really wishes that the first three points will make the ex regret every decision she's ever made since leaving him and just give up and live an unhappy existence in a garbage dump. Simple enough aim right? So how's he going to accomplish it? Well, he'll write a bestseller novel to beat all bestseller novels and tick all four boxes before the end of the year (hopefully).

How I Became A Famous Novelist is a funny and slightly absurd book about the book industry. Stuck in a shitty job (he writes college applications for rich kids), in a shitty apartment with nothing much going for him, Pete is kicked into action when he hears that his ex-girlfriend is getting married. As you can imagine he isn't quite over her. Not that he necessarily wants to get back with her, but he wants to be better than her, so since she's a successful lawyer about to get married, he's got to one up her by arriving to her wedding with a successful novel under his belt, and a film adaptation in development if he's lucky. What unfolds is the fictional autobiography of Pete's ascent from slacker to author and the many things he learned, made up, cheated through, and sullied along the way.

A couple of days before I started reading this I watched an episode of 'First Tuesday Book Club' which is a book review TV program here in Australia. As it so happens, the first book they were discussing was this book, and one of the regulars said she didn't like it because she felt like it was "cynical and mean" about the book industry. To be honest, if that's what she thought then she mustn't have gotten past the first half, because while that certainly is the case at the start when Pete is looking for a quick and easy way to become rich, famous and ruin his ex's wedding, it soon evolves to much more than that. He soon realises that even the dodgy bestsellers aren't simply some guy or girl looking for an easy way up in the world. Bad though the books may be, the authors are honest in telling their stories. The last two pages thoroughly, thoroughly demonstrate this. If anything, this book is a cynics rediscovery of the magic (cue soap opera music) of literature, and the possibility for any book, regardless of genre, to be brimming with honesty and make you race through the pages because the story captivates you so whole-heartedly. And it is this journey from his simple beginnings as a slacker, all the way through to the complicated process of publishing a book and onto the fame filled arena of book festivals and movie deals that provides the most interest in the novel.

It's a funny book, but at times the humour felt a little forced or contrived. Not enough for me to be totally turned off, but there were occasions when I wanted to skip ahead to whatever would happen next. I've read reviews where people have said it fails completely to be funny, but I think if you know the book industry (as a reader, you don't have to work in it) you're more likely to get the humour that centred around those shockingly bad books you see on the bestseller list (but can't understand why) and the authors who write them. It was hard not to see the authors that Hely was making fun of in his fictional creations of literary colleagues for Pete. In fact, that's part of the fun of the book, trying to work out exactly who the female mystery/crime writer who is past her physical prime but still oozes sex appeal and is hands on in the actual crime world (working alongside cops). In some cases, the fictional authors appear to be an amalgam of several bestselling authors, and in others they're a generic cardboard cut-out which can be replaced by the latest Stephenie Meyer or Dan Brown to hit the market place.

Cynical though his approach may be at face value, Hely neither favours literary or genre fiction. He takes a stab at each of them because neither are perfect and neither contain only good or only bad authors. As Pete demonstrates, it can be far easier to fill your word count with vapid prose than  research what type of food rations is typically provided to MI6 personnel when they search for the Easter bunny in Antarctica. Along with busting some of the "being a writer is romantic" myths surrounding being an author (there's an interesting segment where he lists quotes by famous authors saying how much they hate the writing process), Hely really rips into the commercialisation that inhabits the book world. I mean, you only have to take a look at all the Twilight clones on the shelves to realise how true that is, but I think perhaps most importantly, he shows that if the author is honest in their intention (i.e. not just trying to make a quick buck) then their writing has the ability to reach out and impact readers, regardless of the genre or writing style or whether it ends up a bestseller or not.

Overall, I thought this was a great novel that provided some interesting and somewhat harsh insights into one of the toughest and most bizarre industries in the world. As you'd imagine from a writer of 30 Rock, it's funny, and satirical and a little bizarre at times, but it also has a great deal of heart and guts to it.

Review: Pyongyang by Guy Delisle

Pyongyang: A journey in North Korea (graphic novel)
by Guy Delisle

Published: 2002

Synopsis:Famously referred to as one of the "Axis of Evil" countries, North Korea remains one of the most secretive and mysterious nations in the world today. In early 2001 cartoonist Guy Delisle became one of the few Westerners to be allowed access to the fortresslike country. While living in the nation's capital for two months on a work visa for a French film animation company, Delisle observed what he was allowed to see of the culture and lives of the few North Koreans he encountered; his findings form the basis of this remarkable graphic novel. Pyongyang is an informative, personal, and accessible look at a dangerous and enigmatic country.

Whenever I read a news article, journal piece or book about life somewhere like North Korea, all my complaints about Australia fade away. I end up feeling ashamed for my "first world problems," and thanking my lucky stars that I live in a country where I can rail against authority, and challenge the government and question what the media tries to shove down my throat. It really is true that you never realise how lucky you have it until you see how the "other half" live. This graphic novel once again made me cringe at my pathetic concerns, but it did so in a unique and interesting way.

The graphic novel covers the two months that cartoonist Guy Delisle spent working in North Korea. We're all aware that N.K. isn't exactly a happy-go-lucky country that showers it's inhabitants with sugar and rainbows. While this graphic novel doesn't shy from revealing the extent of the propaganda machine and extreme nanny-state, it approaches it from a personal perspective and therefore we see the aspects that specifically effected his stay in N.K. Probably most present in the novel is the extreme boredom that he suffers as a result of there being literally nothing to do there that doesn't involve being followed by a guide and a translator and paying respect to the "great" leaders. Almost everything is off limits to foreigners, even, as he remarks towards the end of the book, the photocopying room on level 2. But that doesn't even come close to the restrictions placed upon the actual inhabitants of N.K, at least the foreigners are given extensive food rations and a casino for their enjoyment.

The tone of the book is rather dry and sarcastic and more reactionary and sardonic than I expected. Because this is his personal diary of sorts, what we experience is his growing frustration and exasperation of being stuck in this country when there is a whole world going on nearby that he can't touch. Much of the interaction with actual Koreans further demonstrates these emotions, because even as he arcs up and tries to rebel against their strict rules, or throws them harsh questions about "believing all the bullshit being pushed down their throats," they react in a surprised or naively cheerful manner that further exasperates him. It is much more of a personal account of a foreigners experience in N.K rather than a descriptive tale of life within the walled country, so readers should be aware that is what they're going to be reading. But personally I think this was a more successful way of telling the story because it's what we (or at least I) can relate to, life in a world completely different to my own, that I'm unlikely to be able to come completely to grips with. That being said, it does make some very pointed remarks on the way N.K is ruled and provides some insight into the methods used to brainwash the Koreans from a very early age.

The art is very simplistic. Black and white with little extraneous detail. Simple though it may be, I find it perfectly matched not only to dark point of view of Guy, but to the country and the propaganda efforts of the government as well. In many ways the methods used upon the Koreans are very simplistic in design, they're told that everything in N.K is the fault of the Americans (and anyone pro-America) and that their leaders are responsible for the little success there is in N.K. The fact that they can have a handful of rice a day is thanks to the "honourable leader" fighting back against the Americans who don't want a unified Korea and try to hurt N.Koreans at every turn. It's a uncomplicated method that seems extremely effective, at least regarding anyone Guy met upon his "travels".

It's a quick and unchallenging read, but a really interesting peek into a world we rarely glimpse. If you're wanting a more in-depth guide to life and politics in North Korea then this really isn't your book. But if you're interested in seeing how life exists there, especially regarding interaction between foreigners and Koreans, and you're more interested in a personal account then I think perhaps this is the book for you. Guy Delisle isn't a biographer or journalist or researcher, he's a cartoonist who spent two months in North Korea. This is his story as only he can tell it. Worth a read.

Review: The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger by Stephen King

The Gunslinger (Dark Tower 1)
Stephen King

Published: 1982

Synopsis:In The Gunslinger, King introduces his most enigmatic hero, Roland Deschain of Gilead, the Last Gunslinger. He is a haunting, solitary figure at first, on a mysterious quest through a desolate world that eerily mirrors our own. Pursuing the man in black, an evil being who can bring the dead back to life, Roland is a good man who seems to leave nothing but death in his wake.


I've been wanting to read this series for awhile now. I've heard some rave reviews, but for some reason I've never felt compelled to go down to the book store and buy myself a copy. So instead I wait until I happen across a second hand store and look for a cheap copy I can take home. Unfortunately, while many of the other books in the series pop up in my local book haunts, people seem to hold onto this first book and make it that much harder for me to get started on it. Then, last week while I was looking through my bookcase for some books to read for the "books I should have read" challenge I found a copy alongside my other Stephen King books. I have no idea where it came from, or how long it's been there. Perhaps the book fairy dropped it in when s/he realised my search was going no where. Regardless of where it came from, I now have a copy and have finally been able to read it!

This'll be a short review because the way the "universe" is being created makes me think that I can't really impart anything without knowing what comes next (which I don't), so instead this'll be succinct and I'll revisit the review once I've completed the series. What I do want to discuss is Stephen King's mastery as an author. One problem I have with fantasy novels is when the author spends a good 100 pages outlining the world and history and loses track of the narrative. King manages to solve this problem by slowly seeping out details of the world, but painting enough of a world for you to understand what is happening as it happens, even if you don't know the full complexity of the world. In fact I think art is a perfect analogy for the way the fantasy world is created. The original sketch and base colours are firmly in place, we know this is a desolate and dying land where people are hard done by and evil plays a firm hand. But we can't yet see the details that will slowly be added a layer at a time, adding depth, detail and substance to the picture.

If you've read the series you'll possibly laugh at my inability to piece to world together with the clues given in this first book, but I'm still not exactly sure what this world is. Is it a future Earth? The reference to The Beatles and machines long unused suggest this is the case, but the discussion  and demonstration of demons suggests it isn't quite that clean cut. Are there parallel worlds with "doors" linking them that seeps bits of each world into one another? Is it a Planet of the Apes type situation? There are so many possibilities yet I have absolutely no idea, not yet, but I have faith that King will continue to tantalise and intrigue me with his leaking of details. The release of details may be slow, but at no time was I exasperated.   I want to know more about the world, but the journey of the protagonist Roland is captured with such detail, and captured my focus so completely that the details of the world aren't necessary until they impact upon Roland and his quest.

Roland is a fantastic protagonist. He's tall, dark and handsome (well I'm adding the handsome bit), haunted by his past, individualistic, solitary, quiet, broody, tough, determined and so many other things. He actually reminds me a lot of the Doctor from Doctor Who, both are the last of their kind, haunted by their past, take on new companions who never last long, and keep their personal story close to their chest. Both are touched by sadness and on many occasions seem to have lost hope in their crusade, yet fight with every inch of their being for it. Roland is a complex character and I can't wait to learn more about his past, and continue on his adventure with him.

So to sum up my teeny review, this book is a compelling start to a series I can see myself getting quite addicted to. I didn't blitz through it quite as fast as I did with Game of Thrones but it held my attention enough to determine that this time I'll go right to the book store to find the next book in the series, no book fairy needed!

My Rating: 4/5

Review: Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby

Juliet, Naked
By Nick Hornby

Published in: 2009

Synopsis: Annie loves Duncan — or thinks she does. Duncan loves Annie, but then, all of a sudden, he doesn't. Duncan really loves Tucker Crowe, a reclusive Dylanish singer-songwriter who stopped making music twenty years ago. Annie stops loving Duncan, and starts getting her own life.

Juliet, Naked is about the nature of creativity and obsession, and how two lonely people can gradually find each other. 
__________________________________________________________________________

Juliet, Naked tells the tale of three intertwined characters. Duncan is  a 40-something college professor with a devout love of popular culture to the point of obsession. At the top of his obsession list is the musician Tucker Crowe, an American singer-songwriter from the 1980s who faded into obscurity after his massively popular break-up album, Juliet. Annie is Duncan's partner. She's a museum curator in their tiny English seaside town, and has constant thoughts about the pointlessness of her relationship with Duncan, and the wasted years she's spent with him. Finally we have Tucker Crowe himself, living a rather simple life with his wife Cat and young son, Jackson, while trying to make this relationship work unlike all his previous attempts.

The story begins in America, where Duncan and Annie are taking a pilgrimage across the country visiting the many locations that have some sort of Tucker-relevance. While Duncan revels in taking photos of the toilet where Tucker apparently made his life-changing decision to quit music, Annie is sick of it. It is immediately clear that this isn't a monogamous relationship, it's a menage trois with a fictional (well, essentially) man and Annie isn't a willing participant. 

When they return home Duncan receives a gift in his inbox, an advance copy of the early rough recordings of the famous Juliet album, now titled Juliet Naked. Duncan loves it, he writes a slobbering sycophantic review about how it exceeds anything every created in the history of music. Annie, however, hates it. She sees it as a poor reflection of a fantastic album, and writes a review that conflicts with everything Duncan said. This proves the catalyst for the rest of the novel's events. Duncan sees the review as Annie's shallow understanding of music and as a poor attempt to strike him where it hurts, while Annie finally realises how wrong their relationship is. As tension mounts between them Duncan finds himself in bed with another woman, and Annie finds herself emailing the man himself, Tucker Crowe. 

Ultimately this is a tale about love, about all kinds of different love. The love between father and son, the obsessive love of a fan who has devoted his life and work to a musician, the hopeful love of a 39 year old woman looking for a new start, and the platonic love that exists where romantic love used to be. It's also about the lack of love, where love should or used to be. The love that's absent between a father and his estranged kids, the love and fulfilment absent from a musician who hasn't created music in 20 years, and the love that should exist between a man and a woman who have created a life together, but perhaps never actually existed.

It's a fun and light book but it also made me a little sad. These aren't old people, Tucker is the oldest at 55, yet their lives are all so sad and empty and unfulfilled. I can't imagine being stuck in a job or a relationship for 15+ years because I'm too afraid or too comfortable (yet unhappy) to do something about it. Even after Duncan and Annie break up they both find themselves drawn back to one another because it is the easy, comfortable option, even though they fully accept that neither would actually be happy in their reunion. Light though the book may seem, there is a real stab of melancholy and nostalgia playing through the whole book that you don't really recognise until you stop and actually think about it. It's something Nick Hornby does often, and does well, and this is no exception.

So should you read it? Well, it was a quick read, and an enjoyable one, perfect for those days where you want nothing more than to curl up with a book and just read and read and read. The characters are interesting and realistic and the writing is well-crafted. It's an absolute joy to read Nick Hornby write about music again, he obviously loves it greatly and his passion coming through the writing is intoxicating. If you like Nick Hornby's other books you'll like Juliet, Naked. 

Review: Zombie, Spaceship, Wasteland by Patton Oswalt

Zombie, Spaceship, Wasteland
By Patton Oswalt

Published: 2011

Synopsis (via goodreads): Oswalt combines memoir with uproarious humor, from snow forts to Dungeons & Dragons to gifts from Grandma that had to be explained. He remem­bers his teen summers spent working in a movie Cineplex and his early years doing stand-up. Readers are also treated to several graphic elements, includ­ing a vampire tale for the rest of us and some greeting cards with a special touch. Then there’s the book’s centerpiece, which posits that before all young creative minds have anything to write about, they will home in on one of three story lines: zom­bies, spaceships, or wastelands. 



Zombie, Spaceship, Wasteland is a book by the amazing comedian Patton Oswalt. It's part memoir, part creative writing exercise and has a variety of story techniques within, including a graphic novella and an epic poem about Dungeons and Dragons. It's only short, about 190 pages, and it races by but it's a thoroughly enjoyable read and I'm glad I finally got around to taking it off my bookshelf.

Through 17 chapters...or 17 essays...or 17 aspects of Oswaltian genius... Patton Oswalt recounts some of the defining aspects of his young life, the highs and lows of performing comedy, and the general issues and complexities that faced gen X as they grew up. Even the tales which are fiction rather than non-fiction still tie in with the general attitudes he puts down in the stories. So for instance, Punch-Up Notes, which is a creative piece written as notes for a script (Oswalt has worked as a script editor before) is a critique on the rubbish films cycling through the cinemas by writing about an absurd film as though it were simply in the need of a few (perfectly adequate) tune ups, like "page 44 Fat triplets is funnier than fat twins." and "Page 60 Put roller skates on the dad, a sombrero on the mom, and add an incontinent pug".

It is an incredibly easy book to read, Oswalt is a fantastic writer. Much of the book centres around the impact books and writing had on him growing up, and he writes with such love for the craft that it's really, really pleasant. He has a wonderful way with words that I imagine comes from a youth spent reading a wide variety of books and years spent writing comedy, films, television and comics. Unlike my earlier review on comedian Bob Franklin's book Under Stones where I felt like the writing had the potential to be quite good but was a little laboured, Oswalt's writing feels comfortable. He's found his voice and his writing, while funny, is quite profound and beautiful without being too literary-esque.

Although the book is definitely comedic, I was actually surprised how melancholy it seemed at times, especially in the stories We're Playing Snow Fort and Peter Runfola. These two stories are both about aspects of his life growing up, the first about the time he built a snow fort with some friends when he was around 10. He combines his adult voice and the knowledge that hindsight and adult understanding it contains with the youthful innocence of a ten year old. So he starts off by describing how one side of the fort was "50 feet tall" because he couldn't jump over it, and at that age anything he couldn't easily jump over had to be at least 50 feet tall. From there you see things through both sets of eyes, the older boys walking up the path with paper bags pretending to be cyborgs with silver paint around their mouths (i.e huffing paint fumes) or one of his friends' dads sneaking into the house of the married blonde woman across the street. So at the same time that you're reading Oswalt recollect the simple pleasure of building a snow fort with friends you're realising all the less than perfect things going on which would come to effect him later on.

Even if you haven't ever heard of Patton Oswalt, or even if you don't like his stand up I highly recommend this book. It's beautifully written, funny, a little off-beat and really, just a great read. Is there anything better?

My rating: 5/5

Review: Under Stones by Bob Franklin

Under Stones
By Bob Franklin

Published: 2010

Synopsis: Dip into the world of Bob Franklin‘s fiction at your own risk. The calm surface belies a swift undertow and snags galore. These are not horror stories in the traditional sense; they are more unsettling than that. Under Stones are uneasy tales, set in familiar surrounds. They are journeys into the human psyche and powerful critiques of contemporary Australian society. Bob Franklin pokes and prods at human fears and foibles, revealing with forensic glee truths that you might prefer were, well, left under stones.


Bob Franklin is a Welsh comedian who has been based over here in Australia since the late 1980s. I've never seen his stand-up but I've long been a fan of his work on the Shaun Micallef show (if you've never seen it, seriously, look it up. Quality off-beat humour) and have always enjoyed when he popped up in other TV shows and films. Under Stones is his first attempt at writing fiction (at least first published attempt) and what he delivers is an odd collection of short stories sure to leave you feel a little...off.

The synopsis really does a great job of summarising these stories, they're not horror in the sense that vampires, zombies or men with chainsaws chase down unsuspecting men and women. Instead they look at real world horrors that people face...with a twist. While the crux of a story may be the ravaging effects of consumerism, or the crippling fear a beaten wife feels it tackles these stories by introducing a mild supernatural element to emphasise it. Most of the stories are written in a way that suggests that the supernatural manifestation may simply be a psychological effect of the character's break-down but others are driven by the supernatural element but contain a real life concern as well.

The length of the stories really vary. Some are quite long, at around 25 pages, while some are a mere page and a half. Personally I find this method extremely effective. I'm not a huge reader of short stories and I find that the variety this provides kept my interest for longer than it perhaps would have been if they were all longer or all shorter. After reading a particularly long and grueling story, it was nice to have a couple of teeny stories that whacked a punch of absurd horror and refreshed my 'palate' after the previous read.

A common complaint I've had with short story collections is that the quality can fluctuate a fair bit. I'd say this is probably true with this book. Some stories were really great but some just felt lacking. If I had to summarise my complaints for this book it'd be a lack of editing. Not in the sense that there were a lot of spelling or grammar errors but that I felt like a few more sessions rewriting could have tightened up some of the prose and perhaps developed a couple of the stories a little better. I mentioned that I enjoyed the variety in story lengths, and while I did for the most part I also felt like some of the short stories were thrown in to add content at the last minute. The writing style was very 'literary' and at some points it felt like reading the prose of a third year creative writing student. Which isn't to criticise either the author or student writers but to try and give you an idea of what I mean. From the young writing I've read in our uni magazines I feel like sometimes a student puts pen to paper, writes what's haunting their head and then, once finished, leaves it. I feel like if another few months was put into this book it could have been phenomenal because the way Franklin writes, when done to his full potential, is quite haunting and his stories lend an interesting eye to areas that concern most people at some time or another.

So I thought I'd list a couple of my favourite stories:

Plans - In a town of perfectly coiffed men and women, home made jams and clean streets a young misfit computer virus creator (does that make her a hacker?) sets the wheels in motion to take down the centre of the town's organisation team. (12 pages)

Traitors Bay - A battered wife retreats to a small town with her husband and son after an indiscretion by her husband puts them at risk. She starts to see enemies on every corner. A really interesting and psychologically driven story. (26 pages)

Take the Free Tour - A less than desirable journalist decides to take the 'free tour' of a porn site and begins to obsess over the naughty site until things take a twist for the worse. A kooky and bizarre look at porn addiction. (32 pages)

Children's Story - Told from the perspective of a five year old this story looks at a holiday taken by his family and some family friends. Turns gruesome, but stupendously done. (5 pages)

Hell Hath No Fury - A husband and wife quarrel over whether or not they should have kids. The wife takes revenge. Wacky-that's truly the best word I can think to describe it! My favourite short, short story. (2 pages)

The Snow Globe - Lee was always second best. His brother was clearly his parent's favourite and far exceeded Lee's more modest career and life but not he's dead from a tumour in his brain. Lee takes up residence in his brother's house but on his way there he keeps seeing something out of the corner of his eye. (14 pages)

The Rock Lobster Club - Joel wants to be one of the rich and famous. When he met Beth he thought he'd found his way there. The best twist ending, absolutely hilarious! (9 pages)

So as the synopsis says, this isn't your typical horror story. Many of the stories seem bizarre, funny or even absurd, and some have extremely ambiguous endings. This isn't the sort of book that smacks you in the face with it's content, instead it sneaks in under the guise of humour or familiarity and only then starts to let the horror sink in. At it's best it's a scathing and poetic view of our world and society, and at it's worst it falls short of being anything other than strange. Not always the most engaging, but an interesting read nonetheless.

My rating: 3.5/5

Review: Kingdom Come by J.G Ballard

Kingdom Come
by J.G. Ballard

Published: 2006

Synopsis (via The Ballardian): Richard Pearson, a 42-year-old advertising executive is driving from central London to Brooklands, a town near the M25 on the western edge of the city. A few weeks earlier Richard’s father, a retired airline pilot, was fatally wounded during a shooting incident in the Metro-Centre – a vast shopping mall and sports complex, in the centre of Brooklands – when a deranged mental patient opened fire on a crowd of shoppers. It soon becomes clear to Richard that there was more to the incident than meets the eye. He senses that people are covering up what really happened. His suspicions are confirmed when the local mental patient arrested by police is released. Pillars of the community, among them Dr Julia Goodwin a young doctor who treated his father after the shooting, testify that the patient was with them and could not have committed the crime. Richard resolves to track down the real killer.


My god this novel packs a punch! I picked up my copy of this at a book sale because the $3 price tag was one I couldn't balk at and I've always heard such great things about Ballard, even though I've rarely picked up any of his books. All the reviews I've read of this book suggest it's vintage Ballard but since I can't vouch for that I'm going to do my best to explain why this book left me with my mouth hanging open days later.

As the synopsis describes Richard has headed back to the scene of his father's death in order to try and get some answers. I was actually a little confused at the start, when you join Richard he's struggling to find his way around the labyrinth of roads that tangle around the Heathrow suburbs and I felt as though the book had actually started two chapters earlier and somehow my edition was missing those crucial introductory pages. I was jarred by Richard's character, his motivation, the death of his father, the bizarre restaurant that he stops at, the old couple making out on the street. It was like I was one step behind or I was missing that final piece of the jigsaw that would allow me to see the picture clearly. It became pretty obvious that this is what Ballard wants you to feel. He wants you to be uncomfortable and confused and reading closely because what happens next will require your full attention.

The England he sets his story in, the suburbs surrounding the major highways and Heathrow airport are on the fringe of 'normal' society. They're the suburbs that you drive right by without giving a second glance or thought. Though they're relatively close to the action of London they're left to their own devices and left out of the major activity. They're near enough to the action and hubbub of London that they need stimulation but too far away to attain it with ease. Basically they're bored. They're bored and they have nothing better to do than go shopping or to the sports club to watch the latest soccer/rugby/hockey game.

They don't realise it but the people of Brooklands are spiraling out of control. The sports events have become a front for the "St Georgers," men and women wearing the St George cross, and going on rampages through the street terrorising anyone of ethnic or class difference. When Richard arrives at Brooklands he sees an Indian shop owner bar up his windows when someone in a St George shirt walks past, he sees a group of muslims escorted out of their mosque by the police as men and women with shopping bags around their wrists scream abuse and hurl rocks and punches in their direction. The air in Brooklands is tense and the only respite seems to be the astronomically large shopping centre that glows invitingly no matter where you are. But is it respite?

One review comment on the cover of my edition described this book as a dystopian novel. I'd have to disagree...sort of. In my mind this is event that leads to the dystopia. This is the build up of frustration, anger, hatred, stupidity and violence that ends society as we know it and plunges the world into a right load of shit. I haven't read too many books where I think "yep, this is what the world will look like when the world is on the precipice of the apocalypse". This book absolutely nailed it. The boredom, the rampant consumerism and the dangerous advertisements and inappropriate leaders/false idols. This is our world today dialled up a couple of notches.

The thing that sparked my interest was how real yet unreal this book was. It was almost like walking through a fun-house looking at yourself in all those crazy mirrors. You can recognise yourself but you're...different. The Metro Centre sounds like so many shopping centres I've walked through. The bright lights, soothing music, plastic shiny things adorning the walls and floors and ceilings. But then you take a closer look and you see the animatronic bears that are the shopping centres mascots. Nothing too strange about that, but then you notice the pots of honey and get well cards laid out in front of them to wish them well after the shooting that recently took place and claimed Richard's dad's life. You notice the slightly crazed fervour that the PR rep speaks with when he gives Richard a tour of the centre. You realise that people always seem to be either going to or from the shopping centre regardless of what time of day or night it happens to be.

Similarly the crowds at the sports games are recognisable, and not. You recognise the atmosphere that permeates the air post-game when the crowds move through the streets towards home, cars or buses. You recognise the team shirts, the singing the beer cans in hand. Then you notice the Pakistani family cowering behind a wall waiting for the crowd to pass, or the fact that the crowd doesn't actually seem to be heading home but pushing towards an area of town that's marked by broken windows, overturned cars and ominously dark houses.

The book manages to create this real build of unease as Richard spends more time in the town and realises it isn't quite the quaint suburban town he thought it was. Everyone seems to have hidden agendas and switch from trustworthy to questionable at best. The quest to get to the bottom of Richard's father's dead gains more importance then drops then gains more prominence. There is this faint whiff of absurdism, hilarity on the verge or hysteria throughout the novel. It's intoxicating and you find yourself swept up in it from time to time.

The book has three parts and covers the space of several months and like the start sometimes seems to black out chunks of information. It's such a weird book because in some ways it's like any murder mystery but in so many other ways it is anything but. All I can really say is that J.G. Ballard is amazing and has completely won my heart and mind with this book. I am a convert to the J.G Ballard way of life! His writing style is easy to read but holds landmines of truth and commentary just ready to explode out at you.

This book makes you feel ashamed for your consumerist behaviour but it never preaches. Instead it opens your eyes to the dangers of rampant advertising and unrestricted consumerism and the disgusting nature of sports hooliganism. It connects the two is such a complex and yet simple manner that it astounds and revolts. A must-read for anyone who wants a dystopian novel with a twist, a sci-fi a little closer to home and a mystery that's impossible to crack even though you know the answer from the start.

My rating: 4/5

Review: Confessions of an English Opium Eater by Thomas De Quincey

 Confessions of an English Opium Eater
By Thomas De Quincey

Published: 1821

Synopsis (via Goodreads): Describing the surreal hallucinations, insomnia and nightmarish visions, he experienced while consuming daily large amounts of laudanum, Thomas De Quincey's legendary account of the pleasures and pains of opium forged a link between artistic self-expression and addiction, and paved the way for later generations of literary drug-takers from Baudelaire to Burroughs.


I picked up this book one day while I was passing time in a bookstore because it was cheap and I was intrigued by the title. It's taken me a good year and a half to pull it down off my book and even then it was only the "Books I should have read by now" challenge that finally rekindled my interest in the short 100+ paged "confession".

I'd like to say I really enjoyed this one but unfortunately I really didn't. Theoretically it has everything I need, a non-fiction account of some deeply personal experience, insight into the life of someone caught in an addiction, an intelligent author and it's short. Unfortunately these aspects were only here in the vaguest forms and the writing style far out-weighed any positive glimmers there may have been hidden away under there.

I suppose there were two things that really bugged me about this book. First was the writing style. I'm always a bit iffy about reading texts from the 19th century because while some of my favourite books hail from that era all to often authors fall into that awkward and awful situation where they over-intellectualise and use 20 words where 5 would have done. De Quincey unfortunately fell into that category. His voice is beautiful and every now and then a quote of such perfection would dance across the page, but far too often it'd be clouded by buzz words (well as close to a buzz word as they had in in the 1800s) and intellectual self-promotion.

Not only did he use more words than necessary but he rambled on and off the path incessantly and it often became difficult to recognise why a particular anecdote was included in a text about a man and his drug addiction. The entire first fifty pages perfectly represent this issue. He states that he needs to establish a situation from his youth in order to best educate the reader as to how he became an addict. So for fifty-odd pages he tells of a troubled time in his youth when he ran away from school and lived (sort of) on the streets suffering from crippling hunger and the pains and illnesses that go with such a situation. When he moves on this past seems almost forgotten until he mentions that his dosage of opium increased when he began to suffer from stomach pains similar to those he felt when he was hungry as a teenager. That was it, that was as much of a link as there was between his troubled youth and his drug addiction at least that I could recognise within the convoluted writing.

This leads into criticism point two. I don't know the history of De Quincey and the nature of his drug addiction in the public sphere but the book read to me as though he was trying to clear his name after it'd been smeared by a link with drugs. Perhaps that is me reading too far into it but rather than really detail his drug taking experiences and the effects of the drug on him, which is what he stated the book was about in his introduction, he focused on the fact that he had taken far more than anyone else he'd ever known yet all the medical opinions of the side effects to mental and physical capacity had never troubled him, for the most part.

The beauty of books like Junkie by William S. Burroughs is that they provide insight into the life of a drug addict that you'd never come across in medical texts or psychology reports. It's dark, desperate and real. This was what I was expecting from this book but I received nothing of the sort. Towards the end De Quincey mentioned that after 18 or so years as an addict he had been clean for a few months so perhaps he didn't have the distance to objectively look at his position or perhaps he was too far away to provide those insights that Burroughs, Thompson and others provided when writing mid-addiction.

So I suppose to sum up my main critique is that while the focus of the story should have been fairly straight forward "I was a drug addict, this is what happened" it was far more convoluted, confusing and obtuse than that. And unfortunately the confusing language and lack of focus meant that the obvious brilliance that this man has is overshadowed and it becomes a chore to wade through in the hopes of a few well-tarnished gems. But they were there. From astute observations on the effects of drugs or alcohol on men (It is most absurdly said, in popular language, of any man, that he is disguised in liquor; for, on the contrary, most men are disguised by sobriety), to witty rebukes against men of Oxford (intelligent but coarse, clumsy and inelegant) and downright beautiful prose on the mazes that he meandered through under the haze of opium, they are all there under the the mess and confusion of De Quincey's story. I'll end this review with one of my favourite quotes from the books. It came towards the end where he spoke of the dreams that haunted him during the thickest part of his addiction and it's simplicity and evocative imagery is everything I had hoped for in this book but failed, for the most part, to receive.

I was the idol; I was the priest; I was worshipped; I was sacrificed. I fled from thr wrath of Brama through the forests of Asia: Vishnu hated me: Seeva laid wait for me. I came suddenly upon Isis and Osiris: I had done a deed, they said, when the ibis and crocodile trembled at. I was buried, for a thousand years, in stone coffins, with mummies and sphynxes, in narrow chambers at the heart of eternal pyramids. I was kissed with cancerous kisses, by crocodiles; and laid, confounded with all unutterable slimy things, amongst reeds and Nilotic mud.

My Rating: 2.5/5

Review: Dolores Claiborne by Stephen King

Dolores Claiborne
By Stephen King

published: 1992

Synopsis (via goodreads): For thirty years, folks on Little Tall Island have been waiting to find out just what happened on the eerie dark day Dolores Claiborne's husband died--the day of the total eclipse. Now, the police want to know what happened yesterday when her rich, bedridden employer died suddenly in her care. With no choice but to talk, Dolores gives her compelling confession...of the strange and terrible links forged by hidden intimacies...of the fierceness of a mother's love and its dreadful consequences...of the silent rage that can turn a woman's heart to hate.

When I was studying literature at uni I used to debate (read: argue) with classmates about authors like Stephen King. Their argument was basically that since he has made lots of money from his books, they can’t possibly be of any substantial quality. I’m not going to go on about the stupidity of that kind of thinking, but I wish I’d had a copy of this book with me at the time because I wouldn’t have needed any words to refute their claim, this book would have said it all for me.

Delores Claiborne was a book I came to knowing nothing about it. I hadn’t seen the film, I hadn’t read reviews or articles on the book and the back cover barely gave any information into the story. I picked it up at a sale purely because it was a Stephen King book and I’ve always had a good relationship with his books. I loved going in to the book that way because I feel like I came out the other side with so much more.

I've always loved Stephen King's ability to create real people in his books, not just characters, and Dolores Claiborne is perhaps the most successful of his books in this regard. Narrated in a stream of consciousness ramblings the story is told in the colloquial voice of 65 year old Dolores Claiborne and the success of it really does hinge on the whether King can successful adapt his writing to that voice. There is no clear beginning, middle or end, instead it weaves back and forward through her life focusing on one thing then skipping forward twenty years, or scurrying back to a childhood memory.

This narration is Dolores' sworn statement at the Little Tall Island police station where she is trying to prove that she did no kill her elderly employer Vera Donovan. In order to prove that she couldn't possibly have been responsible she has to tell the full story of the two women's relationship, and the events that lead to her murdering her husband twenty-odd years earlier. While there had been whisperings that the death of her husband was of her doing, she'd covered the 'accident' well and it is only during this interview that she lifts the lid of the sordid and dark tin of memories that she's kept hidden for all these years.

Because the narration is in a stream of conscious style it is very unique in terms of voice. While she's recounting some of the most awkward, upsetting or terrifying experiences of her life it remains quite conversational. She pokes fun at her age or at herself when recounting a moment of stupidity that happened 30 years earlier and she frequently interrupts her story to ask the police officers if they remember ol' so-and-so, or if they're keeping up, or if she can perhaps have a swig from the Jim Beam bottle she knows is hidden in the detective's desk drawer. The language is light and dotted with delightful little colloquialisms that are unique to people of that age, from that era and from that part of the world.

Dolores' voice is so rich and warm and nuanced that I kept forgetting that I was reading a book by a man who would have been pretty young at the time of writing. There is no hint of King in the book at all, instead there is a sassy, quick-witted woman with no capacity for nonsense or stupidity who sweeps you up with her unfortunate life story. Like I said before, this book is one of the most successful, in my opinion, examples of King creating people not characters and it's probably one of the most experimental for many of the same reasons. It differs greatly from most King books in terms of style and content but it retains that inimitable ability to create characters that walk right off the page, sit down next to you and tell the story to you first hand.

I'm not going to talk about the story at all because I'd like to give you guys the opportunity to come to this book with as clean a slate as I did because I really think it had something to do with why I enjoyed this book so much. All I will say is that this book does a great job of showcasing the difference between outside and inside views as Dolores calls them. As Dolores begins to recount some aspect of the past she'll usually mention what the people on the tiny island thought or gossiped about on the subject, before peeling back the layers and giving you a far more detailed and complex issue than you'd ever guess from an outside perspective. I'll also add that the 'surprise' towards the end of the book really did surprise me, I never saw it coming but it pulled the entire story together and gave such an amazing feeling of completion.



Overall I was really happy that I found this book and I'll now have to look for Gerald's Game which is this book's companion piece (the two women are linked very briefly during a solar eclipse) and I assume is written in a similar style. While I really enjoyed it I doubt I'll be reading it a second time, I think part of the appeal of this book is learning everything as you go along and I'm just not sure it'd be worth a second read. That said I'd definitely recommend this book to everyone to read, especially if you're one of those Stephen King skeptics I dealt with at uni!

My Rating: 3.5/5

June Wrap-up

I don't usually do these but since a couple of challenges began this month I thought I'd start so that I can document my progress and all of that fun stuff. So I'll be listing all my challenges and progress and a mini-mini review and links back to the original reviews should you choose to check them out.

So!

Hosted by Two Bibliomaniacs

Aim: 8 books and 8 films.

Progress: 1 book and film so far. I'm thoroughly enjoying making my (slow) progress through this challenge.

Books Read:
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro - A fantastic read and a wonderful way to kick off the challenge. This book is one of my favourite reads of 2011, and is up there with my favourite books of all time.
Read the review here.

Films watched:
Never Let Me Go, starring Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightly and Andrew Garfield -A great movie but lacking some of the oomph of the book.
Read the review here.

Next to read:
True Grit by Charles Portis

Next to watch:
True Grit (2010) starring Matt Damon, Jeff Bridges and Josh Brolin.

Hosted by GabrielReads

Aim: Casual Reader   (1 book per month)

Progress: I am actually trundling on at a better rate than I'd expected, and if I continue like this I might end up aiming for Avid Reader.

Books read:
The Doctor is Sick by Anthony Burgess - A bit slow to start but by the end I really enjoyed it. Not quite A Clockwork Orange but it's left me hungry for more of his books.
Read review here

Pet Sematary by Stephen King - Terrifyingly fantastic. This was the first horror film I saw as a kid and I was glad to see the book was even more horrifying and insomniac-creating than the film!
Read review here.

Next to read:
TBA

Aim: 75

Progress: According to Goodreads, at 39 books read so far, I'm 3 books ahead. Let's see if I can keep it up!

Books read:
A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin - Fantastic! Full of intrigue, characters that spring off the page and a world that is so detailed, chaotic and beautiful.
Read review here.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman - Superb. An amazing mythical adventure. Can't even say how much I love it.
Read Review here.

Crooked Little Vein by Warren Ellis- Outrageous, hilarious and wonderful. Not for everyone, but if you can handle a bit of blood, sex, and foul language this book will knock your socks off!
Read Review here.

Aim: A new Harry Potter post every week until the final film comes out.

Progress: This little challenge is coming to a close, which makes me a little sad. It's been fun though, and it's always amazing when others take part!

Most recent post:
My favourite conspiracy theories that circulated the series.
Read it here.

Next post:
The most shocking or unexpected deaths in Harry Potter.
Read it on Wednesday the 6th of July.


Anything New:
In August I'm taking part in a month long reading challenge to raise money for MS Australia. They work tirelessly funding research into multiple sclerosis and trying to make MS sufferers lives a little easier, so I'm aiming to make as much money as I can to help them with their cause. So if you have some spare change jangling in your wallet or bank account maybe think about sending it to  a deserving charity. You can check out my progress and/or make a donation here. 
 
I'm on Tumblr now, you can find me at Nylon Admiral, Illustrated, and basically it is a companion blog to this one filled with all the photos, videos and bits and pieces that I don't feel right flooding this blog with. It isn't all book related though, more a mish-mash of the many things that inspire me and make me laugh.

I'm after some requests for my Fanart Friday feature. Each week I choose a book/author/character theme and then showcase several artists who have drawn, painted or sculpted around that theme. If you have a favourite book or character that you think would be perfect for this, or perhaps know an artist who creates bookish things then let me know in the comments section, via twitter (@Murphy_Kayleigh) or by email, kayleigh(.)f(.)murphy@gmail(.)com.


So there you have it, my June wrap-up. I'll continue to do this at the end of each month to keep you all up to date with my progress, but if you want to see my progress mid-month, or want links to my challenge reviews or posts you'll find them under the 'challenges' tab.

New Challenge! Books I should have read but haven't

I have a terrible habit of picking up books at book stores, garage sales, library sales and buying them, taking them home and then never getting around to reading them. Whenever I pick up a book to reread, or glance at those unread beauties on my shelf I feel a pang of guilt but I usually just forget about them all over again. Luckily for me Gabe over at GabrielReads has created a challenge that will kick me into gear and start reading through all the books of mine that really should be read.

It begins on June 1st and is open until the end of the year and there are three challenge levels to choose from. Because of my increasing uni workload, movie to book challenge and general reading commitments I'm only going to aim at Casual reader (1 book per month) but hopefully I'll end up closer to Avid Reader (2 books per month), I'll just see how I go.

"The books you choose don't have to be classics, but they do have to be books that you own that you should have read by now. Any of those tomes that are collecting dust on your shelf are free game."

I'm not going to choose classics (although some will be on the list), instead I'm going to select the books that have been sitting on my shelf the longest. So it is more than likely that you'll see;

A Man in Full by Tom Wolfe
A Burnt-Out Case by Graham Greene
The Doctor is Sick by Anthony Burgess
The Brothers Karmazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Rabbit Redux by John Updike
Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallade
Huckleberry Finn by Samuel L. Clemens
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The High Window by Raymond Chandler
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Seeing by José Saramago
Lions and Shadows by Christopher Isherwood
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol


There are dozens more on my shelves that I'm yet to read but these are some of the books that I've been meaning to get to for some time now, so any reading I undertake for this challenge will most likely come from this list. If you want to join in this challenge fun for yourself, or just learn a bit more about it head over to GabrielReads right now!