Book Reviews 2_____________________
   
  Home | Links | Featured Review Archives |
| Back issues |
_______________________________________________________
   Recent Releases in English

Note: The BR encourages readers to buy books at their local independent booksellers, but not all UK books are available in the US and vice versa. For on-line book ordering of UK books Internet Bookshop carries all titles reviewed in the BR; all US releases carried by Amazon.

QUICK LIST - Click on the issue to save scrolling time

 

  This Page  Alan Warner These Demented Lands - Kirsten Bakis Lives of the Monster Dogs - Sarah Champion (editor) Disco Biscuits- Slavenka Drakulic The Taste of a Man - Mark Maxwell That Other Lifetime - Stewart O'Nan Speed Queen - David Madson Confessions of a Flesh-eater
 Page I Jason Starr Cold Caller - Patricia Duncker Hallucinating Foucault - Mick Jackson The Underground Man - Penelope Evans Freezing- May-Lee Chai My Lucky Face - Darcey Steinke Jesus Saves - -Bertie Marshall Psychoboys - Nicholas Blincoe Jello salad -- Christopher Fowler Disturbia - Jim Grimsley My Drowning - Rafi Zabor The Bear Comes Home - Poppy Z. Brite (editor)Love in Vein 11 - Lisa St. Aubin de Teván The Palace - Ric Alexander (editor)Cyber-Killers An anthology - Matthew Collin  Altered State: The Story of Ecstasy Culture and Acid House- Arundhati Roy The God of Small Things - Larry BakerFlamingo Rising - -Sandra Tsing Loh If You Lived Here, You'd Be Home By Now


____________

The following reviews appeared in issue 1, June 1, 1997

Lives of the Monster Dogs
by Kirsten Bakis, Farrar Straus Giroux
Sudden arrival in a future New York of large dogs with prosthetic hands and voice boxes goes along just fine until an important part of the story is told in the form of an operatic libretto. Downhill from then for me but worth a read. (My spellcheck queried Straus and suggested 'Strays.') M.G.S

Disco Biscuits Edited by Sarah Champion, Sceptre
Anthology of 'New Fiction from the Chemical Generation'. An interesting collection marking not just ten tears of Dance Culture since Acid House but also the rise of a whole new writing scene in Britain that has attracted a market that didn't know it wanted to read. Good, strong stories from Irvine Welsh, Alan Warner, Jeff Noon and Nicholas Blincoe among others, all having the techno/drugs/drink/sex/violence link at some point. Saved from being a BritFic collection by inclusion of American Douglas Rushkoff. Recommended. M.G.S

The Taste of a Man by Slavenka Drakulic, Abacus
Title, cover and author's name lead to obvious conclusion before reading even starts. This makes the first few coy chapters tedious. If it had begun "Last week I ate my boyfriend" then this tale of obsessive love would have worked much better. M.G.S

For cannibals who like a little more..er.. meat
Confessions of a Flesh-eater David Madson, Deadalus Press, should be to their liking, though it is recommended that in the rather interesting recipes other types of meat be used. There is also follow up cookbook which doesn't have a recipe for Spiced Girls. M.G.S

These Demented Lands by Alan Warner, Jonathan Cape
Marketed as a semi-sequel to the brilliant Morvern Callar , this follow up bears little resemblance to the first although Morvern's voice rings true and wiser with a few years. Set on an unnamed island off the coast of Scotland with an amazing and entertaining array of characters with names like Aircraft Investigator, Brotherhood, the Argonaut, the Devil's Advocate, Nam the Dam, Knifegrinder, Halley's Comet, and Chef Macbeth, the whole sick crew come together for an apocalyptic millennial rave. Not as accessible as MC , but an enticing and daring novel. J. A.

That Other Lifetime by Mark Maxwell, Secker
An engaging novel about an imaginary meeting between Raymond Carver and Richard Nixon at the end of their lives. Carver's cool calm and Nixon's gutter mouth make for laughs as their parallel histories offer real insight into their diverse personalities. Recommended for Carver fans. J. A.

Speed Queen by Stewart O'Nan. Doubleday
Hours before her execution for murder Marjorie answers 114 questions about her life for 'Stephen King'. A simple, compelling non-violent story about violence. M.G.S
____________

Contributors: Jill Adams, Michael Garry Smout

© The Barcelona Review