-
Hardboiled grand guignol May 4, 2009 (2 of 2 found this helpful)
In Brian Evenson's LAST DAYS, Kline is a mutilated detective (lost his hand in a shadowy, never explained previous case) recruited/kidnapped by an underground religious cult of self-mutilators to solve a murder. Hardbioled meets grand guignol. Religious cults are easy targets, of course, but Evenson knows this and goes so over the top with the detailed descriptions of the cult's fetish and the violence (the mind-numbing casework detail of a detective novel becomes cold, detached passages of amputations and cauterizations) that it becomes, in an odd way, personally affecting. Kline as an everyman slowly going to pieces at the seams (and not at the seams). LAST DAYS is fast, funny, and disturbing.
-
Once More Down the Rabbit Hole Oct 22, 2009
Last night I did something I rarely ever do: I decided to read before I went to bed. This backfired, of course, when I decided to stay up until I finished the book and then talk about it with a friend, which then put me to bed a few short hours before I had to be up for work. This is why I do not read before bed. The book was Last Days by Brian Evenson, which is actually two novellas placed together to form a book. This is important, because though they have a lot of similarities, they differ in quality.
The Brotherhood of Mutilation (henceforth referred to merely as Brotherhood because I don't want to type that out over and over again) is the first novella and it also the weakest. The beginning starts out fine, fine enough that I bought the book based on the excerpt. From there it gets a bit wonky.
I am not the biggest fan of third person limited, which is what both novellas are written in, mostly because I feel that first person works just as fine-and for a while I thought that first person probably would have served it better, but I gave that up because it would not have made much of a difference. The problem I had was how the novel jumped around a lot, which can be attributed to just how often the main character, Kline, was drugged or knocked out. It had a disorienting affect on me and left me confused at points, but that also may have something to do with me reading it so late in the evening when I am about to drift off to sleep.
I have no major complaint for Brotherhood other than that, but I do have a minor one and the book is not to blame for it. Reading reviews for Last Days, most have one thing in common: they talk about how disturbing and disconcerting the book is, especially Brotherhood. This is actually one of the things that brought the book to my attention in the first place. Unfortunately, Brotherhood, which deals with self-mutilation and dismemberment, was lacking. To me at least. I just felt it tame. Not fault at all to the book or author, but I would give a dirty look to those reviews and their weak stomachs.
Last Days, the second novella (huzzah, confusion!), actually has not a single complaint from my direction. I felt it was the strongest of the two, taking elements found in the first novella and basically doing it better. I bitched about third person limited in Brotherhood and I can admit that I was wrong to have thought it would have been just as well in first person. I feel that Brotherhood did not pull it off all that well, but I can happily proclaim that Last Days went above and beyond with it.
There are few books that pull me in as well as Last Days did and it was because of Evenson's wonderful use of the limited perspective that it was accomplished. I could feel the frantic pacing and Kline's frustration and that is what made it great. Last Days is also the disturbing novella, I quickly found out, but not in the same way as you would expect from a novel that features self-mutilation. In the end, Last Days is a descent into madness and chaos and it presents it so well that even when I knew I should be bothered by actions taken, I was still cheering. Anything more would, of course, be too close to spoiling it.
When I look at both novellas as a running whole, since Last Days continues from the end of Brotherhood, I find the characterization to be a bit obvious. Kline is depressed, dead to the world, and wallowing in self-pity at the beginning of the novel. This changes as we go along, with him accepting his loss to a degree, but as people start to push and pull at him from various angles, there are only so many paths that a character can take.
When both novellas come together to create Last Days, you can be guaranteed that at the very least, even if you do not like the book, it is a very interesting story. If you are, like me, willing to give the book credit where it is due, then it is easy to say that the book
-
Twisted, but cool! Sep 19, 2009
Creepy. Dark. Twisted. Insane. Those are some words I would use to describe Brian Evenson's macabre detective novel. There are other words I would use, but unfortunately such terms are not appropriate for a review. Don't misunderstand me, though; I mean these terms in the most complimentary of ways. Evenson was sure as hell striving for a creepy, dark, twisted, insane, and macabre detective novel. And he succeeded, practically from page one.
Last Days is about a fellow named Kline, a brutally dismembered detective who is unwittingly drafted into a bizarre cult of amputees to solve a murder. The more involved he becomes in the investigation, and the crazed cult of amputation-revering individuals, the more lies, deceptions, and threats are thrown his way. Soon he realizes that the only way he can escape this bizarre world and get his life back on track is to do something that will rely on sheer will...something drastic and possibly just as insane as the cult that has forced him into their service...
Does that description paint a good picture of how creepy and twisted this novel is? I hope so. Last Days is one of the most twisted books I have ever read, and yet it is strangely addictive, almost infectious--much like a cult, actually. Each chapter progresses the plot at a rapid pace. This novel is not one that takes the time to slow down and let you settle it. It wants you to be on the edge of your seat, wondering what will happen next, who will come popping out of the wood works to screw things up for Kline. The fast-paced feel of the novel is precisely what makes it so infectious; each chapter made me want to know what would happen next, and how Kline would manage to get himself out of whatever new pickle had come his way.
The only problem I have with Last Days is that it could have been somewhat longer to give Kline a bit more space to develop as a character. While I certainly rooted for Kline, I wanted to know more about who he was and where he had come from. Thankfully this flaw does not ruin the overall entertainment of the novel.
If you're into the macabre or need a twisted detective novel, then this is certainly for you. Or, if you just want something weird and twisted to read, then start with Last Days. It's short, sweet, and does a fine job of making sure you're uncomfortable, like going to a horror movie and knowing that the bad guy with the butcher knife is right around the corner and the main character doesn't realize it...
-
If your into the strange and unusual, You'll like this Sep 1, 2009
This story was anything but ordinary. At times it seems to be trying too hard to be weird, but it will peak your interest. If your into the strange and unusual, you'll like it. If you like Edgar Allen Poe, you'll probably like it as well.
-
Great Book Jul 1, 2009
I had a great time reading this book. For a short read the characters are rich and the story itches you to read on. Not for everyone but I'm a huge fan.