There is a very deliberate sort of chaos in Perdido Street Station. Everything about it is designed to force square pegs into the rounder, well-worn holes of our expectations for fantasy and horror. Its pages are occupied by fantastical races, but their separation from humanity is stark and marked. There are no beautiful elves or noble dwarves found in New Crobuzon, but there are frog-like vodyanoi and beetle-headed khepri and culturally alien bird-folk and inconveniently spiny cactus people and…and…and… There is a very deliberate […]
Just Stay Home
There are no doubt piles upon piles of books that make you want to travel, and there’s probably no shortage of books that make you want to visit Venice in particular. Then there’s Ian McEwan’s The Comfort of Strangers, the book that makes you dread just the thought of Venice. Or really any travelling. After finishing this book, you will want to stay home forever, and lock all the doors to keep the outside world and its evils at bay. Mary and Colin encounter those […]
A thoroughly enjoyable disturbing novel!
Fifty-first book reviewed as part of the 130 Challenge. This book is not for the faint-hearted. It isn’t for those who can’t stand gore and animal cruelty and the death of children. But in its own way, this is one of the best books I have ever read. This is the story of Frank, a 16 year old living with his Father on an island. His brother, Eric, has just escaped from a mental asylum and for the major part of the book, Frank is […]
Hauntingly Beautiful!
Fiftieth book reviewed as part of the 130 Challenge. Oh! Is there anything even close to an Oscar Wilde novel? If there is something that is horrifying and disgusting, yet somehow most reassuring and beautiful, this is it. A novel that shook up the world into which it was born. So ahead of its times! So exquisitely written with such a rich language and splendid narrative! I honestly don’t find myself capable of reviewing such a book. I write this only because I had decided that I […]