**** or The Anatomy of Melancholy
Matthew Selwyn
Sex – it’s the new currency. Men reign supreme. Women are simply boobs on sticks. Warning – this is a bad novel. I’m sure you think I didn’t finish this novel. But I persevered! I hoped for something redeeming. But there just wasn’t anything there worth saving.
The author has a fabulous grasp of inventive high profile vocabulary with a mix of swear and slang words spread in. It seems as if he’s taken the dictionary and swallowed it. That being said, I could see this style working in a more structured and focussed novel.
I just couldn’t get away from the confusing bubble of words being constantly spat at me. The characters were one dimensional, which was fine because they were supposed to be women in their place. The protagonist came through as a man stroking his own ego and penis and that was certainly some solid characterisation – but in the wrong way. Bombarded by constant reminders of his penis’ superiority, it was difficult to get beyond those thoughts.
I’m sure this novel is supposed to be a powerful social commentary on the present world. Instead it comes across as an insane babble of internal consciousness flow that adds nothing to current informed literature. The one thing I got out of this novel was on page 154 – ‘Napoleon’s penis was dismembered and sold to an American urologist’. Now, who ever knew that fact?
If you want something with sex and commentary – PLEASE DON’T CHOOSE THIS NOVEL. There are far better examples on the market, 2094 for example. If you even just want some titillating sex scenes, Mercedes Lackey writes better ones! I wouldn’t go so far to read Fifty Shades of Grey instead – that has its own problems with the depiction of sex. If lesbian sex is more your style, pick something with an actual storyline, like The Purveyor.
This novel request actually went though to my spam mail. I fished it out, I assumed it went there because most **** do by default, and I guess it had enough other trigger words in it. I almost wish I hadn’t fished it out, but other people deserve to be warned.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I can enjoy sex and swearing in the right context. But this novel didn’t leave me feeling anything other than dirty. If I could give negative eggs, I would. This makes Marked look like a literary piece of fiction.
