Scan barcode
A review by jasminenoack
Duncan's Diary: Birth of a Serial Killer by Christopher C. Payne
4.0
well being that I am a book person I have plenty of friends who want me to read their book/play/short story/minor character sketch/history essay. And a bit back I came upon a moment like this in which a friend gave me two chapters of a book he was writing. My main criticism word for word: "You female introjects are fucked". Basically I told him to remove or make all the female characters in his book extremely minor because the fact was no women would read a book with those female characters. I think there is an inherent possibility Mr. payne has the same issue. I mean every women in this book is 5 feet tall and weighs a hundred pounds that doesn't seem physically possible. Clearly I'm just jealous because I am not 5 feet tall and I weight a lot more than a hundred pounds. although I have no desire to be shorter I would really REALLY like to weigh a hundred pounds. All the women are nasty. They are either pushovers who blame everything on you or unmoving bulwarks who constantly yell at you. I suppose there are the couple that are simply being murdered and don't have the time for personality. And Jason's wife who seems pleasant she is just asking way way too much. Given all that there are some issues with the female characters but none of them play a role other then nuisance so it is okay, but not great (I mean even that indicates a problem).
There are two really good things about the book. First, it is hilarious there are great pop culture references and at least one funny miss reference that I assume was on purpose. All the commentary on how people interact with the world was hilarious. Second, the book was insightful when it wasn't being horrible. Children see more than we think they do, the way that dogs love us. The best example being everyone has the capacity to do horrible things most people just have the time to talk themselves out of it. There was a study that if someone who wanted to kill themselves waited 72 hours they were a shitload less likely to do it (scientific I know). This may also relate to copycat suicides seeing that planning is a lot faster but that is another discussion all together.
Moving on. It's weird to say that murder is erotic right? I mean bataille was very insistent on the matter and Sade believed it, but if those are the only guys you can pull in to back you up, yeah you aren't expressing a common opinion. I realize that I am now going to alienate everyone that is currently my friend on here. But I think fantasy wise this kind of stuff holds a very strong erotic element. I think there is a level of arousal attached to the idea of murder and probably the actual act that probably isn't an easy thing to access through other channels. I'd like to say there is something wrong with this man and his graphic descriptions of rape and murder [which really aren't that graphic you people are just a bunch of babies he has nothing on either of my friends above](so that I can fit in with the goodreadsers), but I think he might be taping into something extremely carnal about human nature and I am honestly not completely against the idea.
I'm going to back up there are some serious editing issues. (as there are in my review also). This book is between a three and a four. I'm giving it a four because there feels like an ambivalence ranking to me and I am not ambivalent I am extremely glad not only that this book exists but that I got to read it.
I have decided after reading this review that duncan's diary is a less subtle, slightly less well written version of mr. peanut.
There are two really good things about the book. First, it is hilarious there are great pop culture references and at least one funny miss reference that I assume was on purpose. All the commentary on how people interact with the world was hilarious. Second, the book was insightful when it wasn't being horrible. Children see more than we think they do, the way that dogs love us. The best example being everyone has the capacity to do horrible things most people just have the time to talk themselves out of it. There was a study that if someone who wanted to kill themselves waited 72 hours they were a shitload less likely to do it (scientific I know). This may also relate to copycat suicides seeing that planning is a lot faster but that is another discussion all together.
Moving on. It's weird to say that murder is erotic right? I mean bataille was very insistent on the matter and Sade believed it, but if those are the only guys you can pull in to back you up, yeah you aren't expressing a common opinion. I realize that I am now going to alienate everyone that is currently my friend on here. But I think fantasy wise this kind of stuff holds a very strong erotic element. I think there is a level of arousal attached to the idea of murder and probably the actual act that probably isn't an easy thing to access through other channels. I'd like to say there is something wrong with this man and his graphic descriptions of rape and murder [which really aren't that graphic you people are just a bunch of babies he has nothing on either of my friends above](so that I can fit in with the goodreadsers), but I think he might be taping into something extremely carnal about human nature and I am honestly not completely against the idea.
I'm going to back up there are some serious editing issues. (as there are in my review also). This book is between a three and a four. I'm giving it a four because there feels like an ambivalence ranking to me and I am not ambivalent I am extremely glad not only that this book exists but that I got to read it.
I have decided after reading this review that duncan's diary is a less subtle, slightly less well written version of mr. peanut.