![]() ![]() Lest one think I’m hammering the book because of gratuitous sex, let me say that it’s not the sex that I find dismaying but a guy whose priorities are so askew of Maslow’s hierarchy as to make one wonder if he’s of the same species. ![]() The lead (and other characters) spends a lot of time in bed with prostitutes, but at the same time he’s sleeping on the couch of some acquaintance or grumbling that he can’t afford a sandwich. Like a shock-jock, Miller chooses the most vulgar term to stun rather than using descriptive language to arouse. This book is often classified as erotica, but many readers might not find it to be erotic. This will make more sense in the next paragraph. The book does illuminate the lead character, but the reaction that character evokes is neither love nor hate but more of an “ethink of Victor from “Choke”), but without out the quirky humor to make him amusing and interesting. There’s not much story-though a little one is packed in at the very end. This isn’t necessarily true today, but it seems to be the case with this 1934 novel. It’s often said that literary fiction downplays story in favor of character development. This, Henry Miller’s first novel, is about a young man living a bohemian life in Paris in the late 1920’s. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |