zefrog's review
3.0
Although ostensibly presented as a novel, The Divine Comedy is not your common garden piece of fiction.
There is a indeed some sort of story, threaded through the book, that focuses on the relationships of two couples. A mere device, however, for there is much else besides.
The book is a collection of recollections and ruminations that owe more to the scrapbook and the memoir than the novel. As if the reader were invited by Raine to partake in a well-oiled dinner party during which a voluble raconteur would digress and reminisce freely, from literary gossip to pathology. These were to me the more entertaining, interesting, and yes, informative moments in the book.
On page 171, Raine informs us that "[...] good writing is bound to give offence - by saying inconveniently unconventional things, by disagreeing. And therefore will often seem disagreeable."
This is quite possibly the mission-statement for Raine's present effort. Some readers may certainly feel inclined to ascribe to Raine an aspiration to "good writing" as defined by him. While the prose is wittily poetic (Raines is best known as a poet, as I discovered) yet conversational, that fluent language is harnessed to describe rather earthy matters.
Penises, vaginas, their woes and tribulations feature predominantly and unflinchingly throughout. Raine has not qualms with being explicit but somehow he manages to avoid vulgarity and pruriency, and his openness adds up to something that is rather fresh and engaging.
The divine comedy of the title is I think to be understood as a god-given curse whereby sexuality and its feeble and ridiculous instruments take such a central and dominating place in people's myopic lives. A glib and pessimistic diagnosis on the human condition that is delivered with a smile and more than one pirouette.
This unorthodox text will by no means be to everyone's taste, some will indeed find this "disagreeable", but those who dare let Raine be their guide and embark on that journey will, I think, find it rewarding.
There is a indeed some sort of story, threaded through the book, that focuses on the relationships of two couples. A mere device, however, for there is much else besides.
The book is a collection of recollections and ruminations that owe more to the scrapbook and the memoir than the novel. As if the reader were invited by Raine to partake in a well-oiled dinner party during which a voluble raconteur would digress and reminisce freely, from literary gossip to pathology. These were to me the more entertaining, interesting, and yes, informative moments in the book.
On page 171, Raine informs us that "[...] good writing is bound to give offence - by saying inconveniently unconventional things, by disagreeing. And therefore will often seem disagreeable."
This is quite possibly the mission-statement for Raine's present effort. Some readers may certainly feel inclined to ascribe to Raine an aspiration to "good writing" as defined by him. While the prose is wittily poetic (Raines is best known as a poet, as I discovered) yet conversational, that fluent language is harnessed to describe rather earthy matters.
Penises, vaginas, their woes and tribulations feature predominantly and unflinchingly throughout. Raine has not qualms with being explicit but somehow he manages to avoid vulgarity and pruriency, and his openness adds up to something that is rather fresh and engaging.
The divine comedy of the title is I think to be understood as a god-given curse whereby sexuality and its feeble and ridiculous instruments take such a central and dominating place in people's myopic lives. A glib and pessimistic diagnosis on the human condition that is delivered with a smile and more than one pirouette.
This unorthodox text will by no means be to everyone's taste, some will indeed find this "disagreeable", but those who dare let Raine be their guide and embark on that journey will, I think, find it rewarding.
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