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2.8 AVERAGE
2.8 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
(Please note that this is an extremely violent book with detailed descriptions of murder, sexual violence, and mutilation. I also wouldn’t advise reading it if you’re not in a good headspace because it might ruin your day/life.)
This book actually has overwhelmingly negative reviews on the internet, and while I can see where they’re coming from… nah.
Paul Curran’s Left Hand is definitely an experimental novel. It’s honestly only a novel in that it’s composed of sentences. A good chunk of the content is made up of bulleted sentences written in a second person perspective.
I feel like the love-hate division stems from each individual’s tolerance level to violence. At some point, everyone will reach their limit—after which they will become blind to a book’s philosophical value. Yes, this book is gratuitous with the gore and sexual violence, but I kind of want to try and explain why.
Many authors and philosophers like to play around the connection between sex and death. I think Georges Bataille is most notable for his published contributions about eroticism and the macabre. When it comes to Paul Curran’s Left Hand, the focus is more on the body as a useless shell. The author does things to bodies, not to people. Our “protagonist,” Paul, is constantly feeling out of control of his body. There are moments when he is convinced that his actions are being controlled by his left hand (the “bad” hand), or even a motel room. He gives a security guard a fake name (Robert). At some point, he imagines his body changing into that of a schoolgirl named Lucy. And all of this is tied to the repeated mention of death—the death of Paul’s father, multiple young boys, and even the leader of a therapy group. Throughout the book, Paul dies many physical deaths that seem inconsequential. Paul (author or character?) is driven by a novel that he is writing. It makes him feel ashamed, but he wants it to influence the lives of others. This is the only hope he has in gaining control over anyone. Within that novel, we see Lucy as a rag doll that has things done to her. After that, the story takes a turn in which she begins to rebel against authority. In the final section of the book, Paul is still not his own master, as he is emotionally enslaved by Robert and Lucy.
So is Left Hand masturbatory? Is it nihilistic trash? Does this give off the vibe of a child screaming to be heard in an empty room? Yeah, I guess. It is a pretty dramatic way of making a statement about complacency. But all I know is that it definitely made me feel something.
Content Warnings
ALL OF THE CONTENT WARNINGS PLEASE BEWARE
challenging
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I thought the second person sections were really interesting, and the third person section was quite successful. however, the first person section was just... a lot, very difficult to read for no real payoff.
acknowledging a text is masturbatory in the text itself does not make it less so.
acknowledging a text is masturbatory in the text itself does not make it less so.
dark
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Drug use, Stalking
Minor: Animal cruelty, Vomit, Trafficking, Car accident
I think maybe 12 years ago I would have been really into this book. When I was making art videos that were every violent scene of films edited together into an abstract rhythmic painting. When I was wanting to commit violence onto narrative itself, and was on a mission against the propaganda of the linear narrative. Since then I have found use of linear narrative and mythical/magical story telling to subvert it. I find this work to be even more nihilistic and unproductive in it's deconstruction of the linear narrative. What we are left with a cataclysmic cloud of random sexual transgression. I like the many moments of breaking the fourth wall, where the author seems to realize they are doing nothing more than making a pretentious transgressive action. Some of the tears and manipulation of form and transgression towards the narrative itself was interesting, but that vast majority of the content being simply horrific sexual confusion and violence towards the body felt a little cliche. I did find some of the broken thought cycles of self-impending doom too relatable. I would give this 2.8786 if goodreads could go past neolithic nuance. Not sure if I could or would recommend this book to any one. Unless they said to me "I want to read some nihilist transgressive garbage that puts me in even worse of a mood" which is the only reason I read it myself.
paul curran should be put in a mental ward.
not because his writing is just that groundbreaking or that it is “metal” as put by Gabino Iglesias of Entropy; simply because this man is batshit insane in the worst ways possible. This ‘novel’ jumps from one rape fantasy to the next all while using pretentious metaphors for what i assume is is ‘edgy messed up mind so unlike anyone else’s’. There’s no connection of plot and this character that he’s mad makes no sense. he has no motives nor any understanding of what the fuck he means. I’m not sure if he could even tell time from a digital clock with the way he presents timelines and dark web porn ‘plot’. Curran acknowledges that this book is an odd thing to write several times before page 52, but he brushes of the criticism because he thinks his stupid ass writing is the new face of literature and that his obscure rape fantasies are needed, that he’s a fucking prophet or something. Paul curran is a weirdo who decided to publish the most pretentious version of the worst thoughts a person could utter; if that’s what you want to spend 100 pages reading, be my guest. the warnings below are all the ones i could remember seeing
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, Excrement, Cannibalism, Murder
don’t read this, it’s a waste of time.
This book will disassemble you into large undigested chunks of desire.
This book has no true enemy and no natural predator.
This book will make you want to encase your hands in iron and never write again.
This book will bore a hole into your cerebrum via the amygdala and seize up your creative process.
This book was never meant for this world.
This book is a breath that you never knew you needed, and now, can't live without.
This book has no true enemy and no natural predator.
This book will make you want to encase your hands in iron and never write again.
This book will bore a hole into your cerebrum via the amygdala and seize up your creative process.
This book was never meant for this world.
This book is a breath that you never knew you needed, and now, can't live without.
DO NOT READ THIS. i was fine with all the gratuitous violence (tho most people wont be), but it gets so wrapped up in being poetic or something that it loses all meaning. read the first few pages and be shocked. THEN DROP IT.
dark
reflective
medium-paced