All Consuming : SuicideAlly

A review of "Valley of the Dolls"

nobody@allconsuming.net (SuicideAlly) — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 10:06:05 GMT

Valley of the Dolls

by Jacqueline Susann

This is trashy and dated – I liked it ;)

A story about "Haunted: A Novel"

nobody@allconsuming.net (SuicideAlly) — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 11:05:08 GMT

Haunted: A Novel

by Chuck Palahniuk

The problem with reading Palahniuk is that you spend such a lot of time feeling sick – doesn’t make ideal reading on the morning commute! I think this is why it’s taking me so long to read.

A review of "The Hippopotamus" (rated 3 stars)

nobody@allconsuming.net (SuicideAlly) — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 11:03:00 GMT

The Hippopotamus

by Stephen Fry

This follows the Fry formula which is by now familiar to me (having previously read The Liar (his first and still his best IMO) and The Stars Tennis Balls) of introducing a strongly-drawn soundbitey character and eventually getting him drawn into a mystery, but it was amusing enough (with very well-written prose) as usual.

A review of "Phenomenology of Spirit (Galaxy Books)"

nobody@allconsuming.net (SuicideAlly) — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 14:10:38 GMT

Phenomenology of Spirit (Galaxy Books)

by G. W. F. Hegel

This book helped me think in an entirely new way, but the text is very (unfortunately necessarily) obscure and dry.

A review of "Prep: A Novel"

nobody@allconsuming.net (SuicideAlly) — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 18:49:22 GMT

Prep: A Novel

by Curtis Sittenfeld

This wasn’t bad – it was well-written and sharply observed, with excellent character development. But the lack of plot grated after a while.

A story about "I Heart Huckabees"

nobody@allconsuming.net (SuicideAlly) — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 11:46:44 GMT

I Heart Huckabees

by David O. Russell

It’s a philosophy comedy. This makes Chris & I geekily happy :)

A review of "The Proposition"

nobody@allconsuming.net (SuicideAlly) — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 20:27:47 GMT

The Proposition

by John Hillcoat

Bleak, stylish western.

Screenplay and soundtrack are by Nick Cave – and it shows.

A review of "A Year in the Life of the Man Who Fell Asleep"

nobody@allconsuming.net (SuicideAlly) — Sun, 20 Aug 2006 20:35:13 GMT

A Year in the Life of the Man Who Fell Asleep

by Greg Stekelman

I suppose I am biased, as this was written by an acquaintance of mine.
He has an interesting and amusing perspective which more than makes up for the lack of narrative.

A review of "Lanzarote" (rated 3 stars)

nobody@allconsuming.net (SuicideAlly) — Sun, 20 Aug 2006 19:02:54 GMT

Lanzarote

by Michel Houellebecq

It’s an interesting little study in travel and location and mild modern alienation. It’s very short, less than a novella even – but for me this is a plus as I have a short attention span!
Wasn’t as philosophical as Whatever, or as evocative as Atomised.

A review of "Sympathy for Lady Vengeance"

nobody@allconsuming.net (SuicideAlly) — Fri, 28 Jul 2006 09:55:04 GMT

Sympathy for Lady Vengeance

I enjoyed this film, but it peters out towards the end a bit. It’s one of those films that spends a long time setting the scene, but the narrative isn’t up to it, and you aren’t quite sure whether it’s ended or not.
It is still very worth watching because it is stunningly beautiful and blackly funny.

A review of "Lunar Park"

nobody@allconsuming.net (SuicideAlly) — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 10:14:04 GMT

Lunar Park

by Bret Easton Ellis

This is a book that is perhaps more interesting than good…

It’s a metafictional novel written from the perspective of “Bret Easton Ellis”, who may or may not correlate to Bret Easton Ellis. It puts you in an odd position, not wanting to be drawn into a nit-picking examination of what’s true and what isn’t, but making that not entirely irrelevant either. You aren’t quite sure if he’s cheating you or not. The separation is eventually formalised as a split between the narrator and The Writer. It also has the possibility of an unreliable narrator, echoing Patrick Bateman in American Psycho.

It requires a knowledge of his previous work, American Psycho at the very least, to fully appreciate the intertextual dimension of this book.

As well as an autobiography (or “autobiography”) it’s also a ghost story. It was, apparently, written to be essentially a “Stephen King genre novel”. It is genuinely frightening and creepy. Ellis has always been excellent at mixing the everyday creepy and the outrageously horrifying (which actually comes off as less horrific in comparison), and can easily write a “proper” ghost story like this.

The prose style is a bit of a mish-mash of his usual flat, glossy, cold style and a more tender voice, of a writer having a mid-life crisis. He’s never acheived this kind of tenderness before (it is theorised that the unexpected death of his best friend/lover during the writing affected the direction of the book, but it seems a bit presumptuous to assume anything about Ellis himself as he really reveals very little considering), but sometimes the switch between the voices is a bit messy. It’s much more sprawling and less tight than most of his previous work, though it does have a proper narrative, like Glamorama, unlike The Rules of Attraction or Less Than Zero. It’s sharply observational as always, but much of the sharp cruelty is directed either at himself or at a straw man of himself.

Anyway… I’m rambling. I really enjoyed this, though it’s very sprawling and imperfect and a bit different from his other work.

A story about "The Diary of a Manhattan Call Girl"

nobody@allconsuming.net (SuicideAlly) — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 19:30:47 GMT

The Diary of a Manhattan Call Girl

by Tracy Quan

I have got to stop reading the trashy novels they give away free with magazines. But they’re so easy. As I spend a lot of my time reading difficult philosophy texts it’s quite a relief to read something trashy, junk-food for the brain.

(By the by, the book about hooking that is actually good is ‘Belle de Jour: Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl’)

A story about "Lunar Park"

nobody@allconsuming.net (SuicideAlly) — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 19:17:52 GMT

Lunar Park

by Bret Easton Ellis

Now, I like postmodernism, even though it is a total swindle.

A story about "How to Read Marx (How to Read)"

nobody@allconsuming.net (SuicideAlly) — Mon, 26 Jun 2006 19:30:35 GMT

How to Read Marx (How to Read)

by Peter Osborne

I am reading this in preparation for next term’s ‘Hegel and Marx’ module, which is taught by the author.

Satsuma, London

nobody@allconsuming.net (SuicideAlly) — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 21:00:41 GMT

Satsuma, London

A very cute little dining-hall style Japanese cafe, in Soho. You can sit by the window and watch the people go by. Delicious, plentiful, fresh food. We had edamame, amazing vegetarian sushi with a variety of fillings in one roll, stir fry with rice, miso soup, salad with a delish and unusual miso dressing. Apparently they also do really nice fresh fruit juice blends (kiwi + strawberry, for instance). Highly recommended.

Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk

nobody@allconsuming.net (SuicideAlly) — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 17:53:44 GMT

Invisible Monsters

by Chuck Palahniuk

This is an amazing book. It am very sad to have finished it.

The prose style is detached, and reads a bit like Bret Easton Ellis (a favourite of mine) except it’s much more warm and funny. The story is gradually revealed, twisting as it goes, but without any clumsiness or irritation.

It’s the first Palahniuk I’ve read (though I’ve seen the movie of Fight Club), but I will certainly be investigating further