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600bars's review
4.0
OK i finished the second one.... my god these books are so insane. I relayed the entire plot to my housemates who were losing their shit the entire time. One of them said "the last time I heard a story this fucked up was when I watched Salo". So that may give you an idea of what we are dealing with here. The other one was like this is outsider art but a book. And they were very impressed when I explained that the whole book references back to Patti Smith's land with lines from the song dispersed throughout. Everyone has been wanting to know what happens next, I feel like I'm in some old timey world where oral tradition reigns and I have to update them on the next installment in the story as I read.
I felt similarly toward this one as the last one, where I learned more than I expected to, typos abound, unable to stop reading, etc. I learned more about music in this one. I always hear about how black music specifically gospel created the foundation of rock and roll but there was a section in the book that laid it out really well and also explained the ways in which sexuality is wrapped up in both christian music and secular music. This time around I was more careful to listen to all the songs mentioned to get the full experience, including the christian ones. My youtube algorithm is pretty messed up now but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ .
However I will say that the violence and abuse in this one got to be.... pornographic. Hence the Salo comparisons lol. I mean it was really outlandish by the end. I will say (spoilers) I was a bit dissappointed with the fact that Tyler was the main villain. I'm unsure still how I feel about the ultimate goals of the Phoenix family being a fictional native american tribe wanting revenge. I am also confused why they only slaughtered the red lake citizens, wouldn't they have wanted as large of an audience as possible? I thought the haunted house portion was simply taking things too far, but then after I finished reading I looked it up and found out that these Hell Houses are actually a real thing that some evangelical churches do, and they are actually that traumatizing! (minus the very end portion ofc)
I also looked up the DC talk band and saw that one of the members is part of the #exvangelical movement.
I still have so many questions like what the mom's role was and what the ultimate plan was etc, and I need the update on the phoenix family + some more of their backstory, so I hope the other installments are eventually written.
I looked up the author and this book is published thru the publisher he works for and it is definitely semi-autobiographical in terms of his parents being hippies turned jesus freaks and also dealing with his own queerness in the context of an evangelical upbringing. It is so random that I found this book and read both of them I feel like i stumbled upon a very personal project someone made
Anyway yeah this one became almost a bit too much in terms of depravity but I guess what else did I really think I was getting into? more of a 3.5
I felt similarly toward this one as the last one, where I learned more than I expected to, typos abound, unable to stop reading, etc. I learned more about music in this one. I always hear about how black music specifically gospel created the foundation of rock and roll but there was a section in the book that laid it out really well and also explained the ways in which sexuality is wrapped up in both christian music and secular music. This time around I was more careful to listen to all the songs mentioned to get the full experience, including the christian ones. My youtube algorithm is pretty messed up now but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ .
However I will say that the violence and abuse in this one got to be.... pornographic. Hence the Salo comparisons lol. I mean it was really outlandish by the end. I will say (spoilers) I was a bit dissappointed with the fact that Tyler was the main villain. I'm unsure still how I feel about the ultimate goals of the Phoenix family being a fictional native american tribe wanting revenge. I am also confused why they only slaughtered the red lake citizens, wouldn't they have wanted as large of an audience as possible? I thought the haunted house portion was simply taking things too far, but then after I finished reading I looked it up and found out that these Hell Houses are actually a real thing that some evangelical churches do, and they are actually that traumatizing! (minus the very end portion ofc)
I also looked up the DC talk band and saw that one of the members is part of the #exvangelical movement.
I still have so many questions like what the mom's role was and what the ultimate plan was etc, and I need the update on the phoenix family + some more of their backstory, so I hope the other installments are eventually written.
I looked up the author and this book is published thru the publisher he works for and it is definitely semi-autobiographical in terms of his parents being hippies turned jesus freaks and also dealing with his own queerness in the context of an evangelical upbringing. It is so random that I found this book and read both of them I feel like i stumbled upon a very personal project someone made
Anyway yeah this one became almost a bit too much in terms of depravity but I guess what else did I really think I was getting into? more of a 3.5
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