sooky's review
4.0
Classic Will Carver. Not much happens in terms of plot or action, there are seemingly random scenes that eventually all tie in, we have some jumps in time, then all of a sudden there are no more words, book finished, and I don't know WTF I just read but it was good. *shrugs*
literarylatte's review
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
lewiscain's review
2.0
This really wasn’t for me. I didn’t get the point at all, found it boring and was really disappointed that nothing really happened. I didn’t care about the characters, and didn’t really get what was real and what wasn’t. Not great, but maybe just not to my tastes.
carolinerd's review
dark
funny
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Put simply, it's the story of Eli, a young man who hates his job but can't bring himself to quit it, doesn't really want to be with his girlfriend anymore but can't bring himself to dump her and, most importantly, wants to be a novelist but can't get beyond the first chapter. It's only when his best friend, Mike, commits suicide that Eli starts to realise that he maybe ought to either commit to something in his life or end the things that aren't working for him. A sort of a wake-up call, if you like.
As I say, that is putting it simply and there's nothing simple about this novel. I got utterly confused by this book almost from the start. I didn't know if what I was reading had really happened or if it was just the imagination of the main character. Maybe that's deliberate though, because Eli is someone who struggles to separate reality from fiction. You can't really rely on his narration. So, I found myself questioning everything I read and hoping that it would all become clearer as I went on. It didn't really. I even wondered at times if Mike really had killed himself. I didn't know whether all the characters (like the two guys called Ted who run the coffee shop) were real and whether what happened to them was real or just another of Eli's stories. I couldn't tell when he was just trying out ideas for another 1st chapter of a novel, or whether he was relating real events. Like I say, perhaps that is the whole point. Maybe Eli himself doesn't always know what's real and what he's made up.
To make it all the more confusing, the narrative skips about - the day of the suicide, 2 days before the suicide, the day after, etc. It added to my frustration.
In spite of these difficulties, I did find it strangely compelling. It is dark, surreal and at times very funny. Eli isn't a particularly nice character but I could relate to his cynical observations on life and his dark humour did make me laugh. It's also an interesting and quite disturbing look at how we react or fail to react to warning signs of depression and mental illness. Perhaps that was one of the most shocking things for me, that I never really understood why Mike was suicidal, how he could go from cheerfully polishing his living room floor one minute to wanting to die. Maybe we expect suicide to fit a pattern of behaviour, but in many cases it just doesn't. There is often a lot that seems inconsistent or remains hidden.
A bleak read and not really my cup of tea, but unusual and thought-provoking in a confusing way.
As I say, that is putting it simply and there's nothing simple about this novel. I got utterly confused by this book almost from the start. I didn't know if what I was reading had really happened or if it was just the imagination of the main character. Maybe that's deliberate though, because Eli is someone who struggles to separate reality from fiction. You can't really rely on his narration. So, I found myself questioning everything I read and hoping that it would all become clearer as I went on. It didn't really. I even wondered at times if Mike really had killed himself. I didn't know whether all the characters (like the two guys called Ted who run the coffee shop) were real and whether what happened to them was real or just another of Eli's stories. I couldn't tell when he was just trying out ideas for another 1st chapter of a novel, or whether he was relating real events. Like I say, perhaps that is the whole point. Maybe Eli himself doesn't always know what's real and what he's made up.
To make it all the more confusing, the narrative skips about - the day of the suicide, 2 days before the suicide, the day after, etc. It added to my frustration.
In spite of these difficulties, I did find it strangely compelling. It is dark, surreal and at times very funny. Eli isn't a particularly nice character but I could relate to his cynical observations on life and his dark humour did make me laugh. It's also an interesting and quite disturbing look at how we react or fail to react to warning signs of depression and mental illness. Perhaps that was one of the most shocking things for me, that I never really understood why Mike was suicidal, how he could go from cheerfully polishing his living room floor one minute to wanting to die. Maybe we expect suicide to fit a pattern of behaviour, but in many cases it just doesn't. There is often a lot that seems inconsistent or remains hidden.
A bleak read and not really my cup of tea, but unusual and thought-provoking in a confusing way.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide attempt
wiroju's review
dark
emotional
funny
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
ozias's review against another edition
dark
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
lotte_born13's review
challenging
dark
funny
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
charreads23's review
challenging
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
frombethanysbookshelf's review
4.0
For Eli, nothing ever ends.
Mostly because he can't finish anything. He can't quit his terrible job that he's never going to progress in, he can't finish his relationship even though he doesn't want to be with his girlfriend, he can't stop going to the same pub along the route home from work every day, and he can't finish writing a novel despite starting 733 first chapters.
But then, his best friend Mike ends something in the most final way possible - death. But instead of pain and grief, Eli finds a new sense of determination in the wake of Mikes suicide - the determination to finally finish everything he's been putting off. To see something through until the end.
So, he picks up a pen. He writes again. He will get to chapter two this time. But there's something about the stories on Eli's pages that don't seem quite right. They're somewhere between fact and fiction, between speculation and sinister. And as his own stories move forward, he might just find the truth about Mike- the truth that could have been plucked from the pages of a horror story.
Will Carver has a way with words that is difficult to describe and even harder to categorise into a genre or style. Much like Eli, Carver manages to balance on that razor-thin line between fact and fiction, creating situations so outrageously terrifying that feel uncomfortably realistic.
Eli is an enigma wrapped in a puzzle - soon after meeting him we discover there's more to him that the cold, methodical man who knows exactly the amount of steps between his office and his local pub. There's something under the surface - a man who lives in the real world but also one of his own creation, living in a blurry grey area between reality and imagination. We get to see the world through his convoluted, confusing gaze and are left to try and decipher the truth ourselves - but can you really trust anything you see through the eyes of someone like Eli?
We also get to see from the perspectives of Eli's other non-finished jobs - his girlfriend Jackie, and Mike. Their characters were carefully crafted to keep us at arms length, not quite letting us know their secrets so we're left to discover them along with Eli.
With rapidly changing perspectives, as well as written extracts of stories, mystery text exchanges and conversations with imaginary therapists - we get engrossed in a world that is dark and mysterious, getting glimpses of before and after everything changed. It's a fast-paced story that jumps erratically from time and place but everything is perfectly planned out so the reader doesn't get lost in the noise.
The atmosphere is suffocating throughout - tense, uncomfortable and dark. The way Carver uses the smallest details like the colour of a sofa or the texture of a floor almost feels like too much but instead completely traps you in a vivid setting.
Honestly, this book is freaking weird. It's confusing in the most compelling way. The narrators are untrustworthy and unreliable. You can't always tell what is happening - and I loved every chaotic moment of it.
Mostly because he can't finish anything. He can't quit his terrible job that he's never going to progress in, he can't finish his relationship even though he doesn't want to be with his girlfriend, he can't stop going to the same pub along the route home from work every day, and he can't finish writing a novel despite starting 733 first chapters.
But then, his best friend Mike ends something in the most final way possible - death. But instead of pain and grief, Eli finds a new sense of determination in the wake of Mikes suicide - the determination to finally finish everything he's been putting off. To see something through until the end.
So, he picks up a pen. He writes again. He will get to chapter two this time. But there's something about the stories on Eli's pages that don't seem quite right. They're somewhere between fact and fiction, between speculation and sinister. And as his own stories move forward, he might just find the truth about Mike- the truth that could have been plucked from the pages of a horror story.
Will Carver has a way with words that is difficult to describe and even harder to categorise into a genre or style. Much like Eli, Carver manages to balance on that razor-thin line between fact and fiction, creating situations so outrageously terrifying that feel uncomfortably realistic.
Eli is an enigma wrapped in a puzzle - soon after meeting him we discover there's more to him that the cold, methodical man who knows exactly the amount of steps between his office and his local pub. There's something under the surface - a man who lives in the real world but also one of his own creation, living in a blurry grey area between reality and imagination. We get to see the world through his convoluted, confusing gaze and are left to try and decipher the truth ourselves - but can you really trust anything you see through the eyes of someone like Eli?
We also get to see from the perspectives of Eli's other non-finished jobs - his girlfriend Jackie, and Mike. Their characters were carefully crafted to keep us at arms length, not quite letting us know their secrets so we're left to discover them along with Eli.
With rapidly changing perspectives, as well as written extracts of stories, mystery text exchanges and conversations with imaginary therapists - we get engrossed in a world that is dark and mysterious, getting glimpses of before and after everything changed. It's a fast-paced story that jumps erratically from time and place but everything is perfectly planned out so the reader doesn't get lost in the noise.
The atmosphere is suffocating throughout - tense, uncomfortable and dark. The way Carver uses the smallest details like the colour of a sofa or the texture of a floor almost feels like too much but instead completely traps you in a vivid setting.
Honestly, this book is freaking weird. It's confusing in the most compelling way. The narrators are untrustworthy and unreliable. You can't always tell what is happening - and I loved every chaotic moment of it.
danielafin's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt