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2.08 AVERAGE
2.08 AVERAGE
Would’ve been better if it were a social commentary/ philosophical essay, instead of having an incoherent plot.
List of the Lost is a book that is admirable in how abrasive it is. It regularly takes a break from the plot to condemn humanity for its heartless treatment of animals or to describe the average person as loathsome. The main characters are held as exceptions to this. A sympathetic (yet ultimately vengeful) madman details a situation which illustrates the idea that victims of statutory rape may be, in fact, willing participants. It is a novel with an air of hopelessness. The characters were all doomed from the moment the main plot began. It respects nature and yet has none for humanity. Without getting into spoiler territory, the ending is particularly bleak as our hero Ezra is forced to face a life that has no meaning or companionship. Those who have read the book may realise that this statement is somewhat misrepresentative but that is indeed the best I can describe this ending. While this book is wonderfully unique, it is a tad over-written at points (although the prose does have its moments). Overall, this book is not devoid of awkward sentences but it will leave an impression. It has its fair share of challenging ideas, interesting if not particularly well-drawn characters (although some choice moments are very emotionally impactful) and a beautifully meandering plot.
It got more readable as the plot got worse. I can't recommend it.
I've read worse books. That said, Morrissey unfortunately used a novel set in the mid-1970s, Boston to espouse views he has far more eloquently shared in songs. Much of the book is written in exhaustive (and exhausting) diatribes that do little to further the plot. When they do, everything feels so stilted that it seems implausible.
There is, I think the shell of a story in here but you have to really cling on amongst the longest 118 pages I’ve ever read to have any sense of it amongst the most overwritten flowery nonsense prose. There is the occasional nice turn of phrase but it’s not enough to save an inexplicable ramble off into Morrissey’s favourite subjects - the Queen, vegetarianism, masculinity etc. Hard work, and for all my mixed feelings about latter day Morrissey, I did want this to be good
The Guardian review put it best: "Do not read this book; do not sully yourself with it, no matter how temptingly brief it seems. . . . It is an unpolished turd of a book, the stale excrement of Morrissey’s imagination.”
Moz on ihastuttava, mut fiktiota se ei kyllä osaa kirjottaa. Ihan kamala romaani näin ohuenakin. En suosittele kenellekään.
I love Morrissey but I really disliked this book. It was so disjointed and confusing. Here are my comments throughout the book:
Notes on List of the Lost:
- He deviates from the story/plot to spout his opinions on love, feelings, human nature (Though I wouldn't expect any less of him).
- Why are we talking about nature and animals now? I understand, these characters you've given little description to are in nature but come on!
- Normal people don't talk like this. Normal people don't act like this, either.
- Great, a random homeless man's miserable and homoerotic life story. Why should I care?
- Oh now he's dead. Okay.
- blah blah backstory of some guy no one cares about, war and politics
- Now this one kid's mom is dead? This is a dark book!
- And then said kid committed suicide, yikes! (though this was actually pretty sad and powerful.)
- So they run off and drink from the funeral. Okay.
- This lady who suddenly appeared (a wild woman appears!) who's son was murdered kind of intrigues me.
- The plot still deviates a hell of a lot for my taste. But "List of the Lost" it sure is. Halfway through!
- We know, Moz, you're a vegetarian.
- "Life's not fair, is it?" Also I feel like Morrissey must be an extremely miserable person, even though I still adore him.
- And Anne Sexton gets a mention, wahoo!
- Okay, get off your soapbox, Moz... I mean Eliza!
- I wonder if he fills the book with so much else than the plot (like the girls who tried to assassinate Ford) because a plot about track running teenage boys is really boring.
- Said name "Jehovah" aka God!
- Yay, badmouthing politics and America again... Broken record.
- The descriptions of sex are absolutely ridiculous.
- Really, more dead teenagers? And no justice against the wicked?
- Even more death, and no happy ending. Meh.
Notes on List of the Lost:
- He deviates from the story/plot to spout his opinions on love, feelings, human nature (Though I wouldn't expect any less of him).
- Why are we talking about nature and animals now? I understand, these characters you've given little description to are in nature but come on!
- Normal people don't talk like this. Normal people don't act like this, either.
- Great, a random homeless man's miserable and homoerotic life story. Why should I care?
- Oh now he's dead. Okay.
- blah blah backstory of some guy no one cares about, war and politics
- Now this one kid's mom is dead? This is a dark book!
- And then said kid committed suicide, yikes! (though this was actually pretty sad and powerful.)
- So they run off and drink from the funeral. Okay.
- This lady who suddenly appeared (a wild woman appears!) who's son was murdered kind of intrigues me.
- The plot still deviates a hell of a lot for my taste. But "List of the Lost" it sure is. Halfway through!
- We know, Moz, you're a vegetarian.
- "Life's not fair, is it?" Also I feel like Morrissey must be an extremely miserable person, even though I still adore him.
- And Anne Sexton gets a mention, wahoo!
- Okay, get off your soapbox, Moz... I mean Eliza!
- I wonder if he fills the book with so much else than the plot (like the girls who tried to assassinate Ford) because a plot about track running teenage boys is really boring.
- Said name "Jehovah" aka God!
- Yay, badmouthing politics and America again... Broken record.
- The descriptions of sex are absolutely ridiculous.
- Really, more dead teenagers? And no justice against the wicked?
- Even more death, and no happy ending. Meh.
I love Morrissey but this was truly awful. Please stick to songwriting and singing because novels are just not your thing.
I was umm'ing and aw'ing until about page 100 - Do I give it two stars or three? Two seems too little, three too much. But the end solidified for me feelings I'd had throughout - mainly that Morrissey has a lot to learn about writing a novel.
I finished it though, and there's something to be said for that. Despite the abundance of internal rhymes within sentences and using alliteration seemingly every-chance-he-got, something compelled me to keep reading. And I had no particular wish that Morrissey shouldn't be good at writing fiction. But mistakes of the inexperienced writer learning their craft (what a strange thing to say of a lyricist whose songs I've been drawn to for decades) kept creeping in again and again. The voice of the narrator being the most glaring. I would've been fine reading something where Morrissey set out 'this is what I think about this (Thatcher, Reagan, the justice system) and this is what I think about these things (sexuality, animal welfare, religion)....' and so on, without him needing to create characters to voice these ideas. And although the story nominally takes place in 1975, the narrator is telling it from the point-of-view of today. There is absolutely no need - it did nothing for the (all-important) story - for him to start analyzing 'Bonanza' then jumping to Ronald Reagan and then Laura Bush. What do they - lurking in the (in her case, distant) future - have to do with a track team facing mortalities in 1975? A friend of mine commented 'at least it's only 118 pages', but if you took out all the irrelevant digressions, it'd probably be about 60. There were also anachronisms that were too close to call, but I highly doubt the homeless man in the woods would have used an analogy about a microwave oven.
It was the end that really knocked it down to that one star for me. People, at least no one I've ever met (or read, for that matter) don't talk like that. Our author was cramming opinions into their mouths whilst attempting an elegance that does not jibe with the spoken word.
I finished it though, and there's something to be said for that. Despite the abundance of internal rhymes within sentences and using alliteration seemingly every-chance-he-got, something compelled me to keep reading. And I had no particular wish that Morrissey shouldn't be good at writing fiction. But mistakes of the inexperienced writer learning their craft (what a strange thing to say of a lyricist whose songs I've been drawn to for decades) kept creeping in again and again. The voice of the narrator being the most glaring. I would've been fine reading something where Morrissey set out 'this is what I think about this (Thatcher, Reagan, the justice system) and this is what I think about these things (sexuality, animal welfare, religion)....' and so on, without him needing to create characters to voice these ideas. And although the story nominally takes place in 1975, the narrator is telling it from the point-of-view of today. There is absolutely no need - it did nothing for the (all-important) story - for him to start analyzing 'Bonanza' then jumping to Ronald Reagan and then Laura Bush. What do they - lurking in the (in her case, distant) future - have to do with a track team facing mortalities in 1975? A friend of mine commented 'at least it's only 118 pages', but if you took out all the irrelevant digressions, it'd probably be about 60. There were also anachronisms that were too close to call, but I highly doubt the homeless man in the woods would have used an analogy about a microwave oven.
It was the end that really knocked it down to that one star for me. People, at least no one I've ever met (or read, for that matter) don't talk like that. Our author was cramming opinions into their mouths whilst attempting an elegance that does not jibe with the spoken word.