Scan barcode
juliwi's review
5.0
I absolutely loved this book. The writing style was such that I was unable to put it down. I was absolutely distraught when my Kindle broke halfway through and I had to wait for my new Kindle to arrive so I could continue reading. This book has laugh-out-loud moments which can lead to slightly embarrassing moments in public, but trust me, they're worth it.
This book is both hilarious and touching. Stone's writing style is almost poetic at places and he has a talent for coming up with the most amazing metaphors and descriptions. Look at the quote below:
'He has a boxer's nose that rests violently across his cheek and his old bald head is littered with dents and divots as if his favourite past time is rubbing his own face with a cheese grater then trying to iron out the grazes with a hot iron.'
It starts of quite normally, but then just turns into what would seem absurd wasn't it for the fact you can completely imagine how it looks. I loved reading these kind of descriptions because this is how I think. The awkwardness of some of the moments was very recognizable whereas other moments were simply aspirational.
The book has almost too much to offer. It is funny, emotional, slightly heart-breaking and enraging. It is like life. At the beginning the narrative structure, the switching back and forth between past and present, was a bit confusing, but halfway through I really started to appreciate it. In life, we always look back on our past experiences in the hope to find some kind of sense or reason for why we are where we are now. Perhaps a warning here is in place. If you object to recreational drug use, drinking or general life enjoyment, this might not be your book. In which case you should really question your own sense of reality. Missing out on a book like this would be an utter shame.
I haven't read 'The Squirrel That Dreamt of Madness', Craig Stone's first book, but am seriously considering buying it. I don't think I have ever read anything quite like Stone's writing. It is funny, witty and deeply insightful. Stone describes life itself beautifully and despite the depressing moments in the book, life is definitely winning. In a literary scene where a lot of books are written by formula and where authors use stereotypical expressions, it is amazing to find something this refreshing and authentic.
If you are looking for an intelligent, hilarious read this is your book. Colossus' story could be yours and Stone's writing style allows the reader to be very close to his life and create a truly enjoyable reading experience. I recommend this to...well, everyone really. I can't imagine who wouldn't want to read this.
This book is both hilarious and touching. Stone's writing style is almost poetic at places and he has a talent for coming up with the most amazing metaphors and descriptions. Look at the quote below:
'He has a boxer's nose that rests violently across his cheek and his old bald head is littered with dents and divots as if his favourite past time is rubbing his own face with a cheese grater then trying to iron out the grazes with a hot iron.'
It starts of quite normally, but then just turns into what would seem absurd wasn't it for the fact you can completely imagine how it looks. I loved reading these kind of descriptions because this is how I think. The awkwardness of some of the moments was very recognizable whereas other moments were simply aspirational.
The book has almost too much to offer. It is funny, emotional, slightly heart-breaking and enraging. It is like life. At the beginning the narrative structure, the switching back and forth between past and present, was a bit confusing, but halfway through I really started to appreciate it. In life, we always look back on our past experiences in the hope to find some kind of sense or reason for why we are where we are now. Perhaps a warning here is in place. If you object to recreational drug use, drinking or general life enjoyment, this might not be your book. In which case you should really question your own sense of reality. Missing out on a book like this would be an utter shame.
I haven't read 'The Squirrel That Dreamt of Madness', Craig Stone's first book, but am seriously considering buying it. I don't think I have ever read anything quite like Stone's writing. It is funny, witty and deeply insightful. Stone describes life itself beautifully and despite the depressing moments in the book, life is definitely winning. In a literary scene where a lot of books are written by formula and where authors use stereotypical expressions, it is amazing to find something this refreshing and authentic.
If you are looking for an intelligent, hilarious read this is your book. Colossus' story could be yours and Stone's writing style allows the reader to be very close to his life and create a truly enjoyable reading experience. I recommend this to...well, everyone really. I can't imagine who wouldn't want to read this.
cinta's review
4.0
I started reading this book with very high expectations, and it didn't disappoint me. The only "negative" thing about this book, and that's why I cannot give it 5 stars, is that it contains typos, misspellings, and even missing words. The positive things clearly outnumber the negative things, so I strongly recommend this book.
What makes this book even more interesting is the fact that the story is the real story of the author. It is one of the most honest books telling a real story that I have ever read. Ever. The story is very clever, told alternatively at different moments in the life of Colossus. In that way, we can see the process of falling in love, moving to Hawaii, falling out of love, almost becoming an alcoholic, a strange friendship with his crazy landlord, till finally getting a job and then deciding to leave it to go to live in a park (but that's another book, The Squirrel Who Dreamt of Madness; a brilliant book that you should read too).
It is a very enjoyable story of depression, love, and reflections about life. The story of how life knocks at certain point in our lives, and we just have to react to its knocking, and act accordingly. When life knocks, there is nothing else we can do. It has an ironic touch all over the book that makes it funny at times, even if the events that are being recalled are kind of dramatic. And the tone is a positive one, after all. Life can be hard, but there is always a silver lining. Craig Stone is a master of metaphors and images that are very easy to understand, since he uses very recognizable references.
A book that everybody who have felt a bit lost in life should read. Life is a rollercoaster, but we are not all the time at the bottom. Read this book.
What makes this book even more interesting is the fact that the story is the real story of the author. It is one of the most honest books telling a real story that I have ever read. Ever. The story is very clever, told alternatively at different moments in the life of Colossus. In that way, we can see the process of falling in love, moving to Hawaii, falling out of love, almost becoming an alcoholic, a strange friendship with his crazy landlord, till finally getting a job and then deciding to leave it to go to live in a park (but that's another book, The Squirrel Who Dreamt of Madness; a brilliant book that you should read too).
It is a very enjoyable story of depression, love, and reflections about life. The story of how life knocks at certain point in our lives, and we just have to react to its knocking, and act accordingly. When life knocks, there is nothing else we can do. It has an ironic touch all over the book that makes it funny at times, even if the events that are being recalled are kind of dramatic. And the tone is a positive one, after all. Life can be hard, but there is always a silver lining. Craig Stone is a master of metaphors and images that are very easy to understand, since he uses very recognizable references.
A book that everybody who have felt a bit lost in life should read. Life is a rollercoaster, but we are not all the time at the bottom. Read this book.
b00kr3vi3ws's review
4.0
It is the story of Collossus that is narrated through this story. We follow him through his numerous adventures – right from quitting his job to finding love to his depressions. From the highest point to the lowest of low point of his life, Collossus realizes that no matter what, one cannot stop life from moving on. This is a story of the highs and the lows, of love and of loneliness, of laughter and of tears and it will have you riding through all of it with a smile on your face – whether hysterical laughter or just a sad smile.
The book begins with Collossus’s letter to the ‘management’ informing them that he is quitting the job. And with that very letter I got hooked on. There’s been so many times in our lives that we have wished we could say a few choice of words to our bosses/colleagues but never could manage. Reading that letter just cracked me up. Then there is his love interest, Lily, who captured & trampled on his heart. But his dedication towards her is remarkable. His interaction with other characters in the book are also quite interesting. Then there’s also a segment about drug addiction/alcoholism. Though under the influence, he lands himself in quite a few predicaments – all of a sudden not everything was funny anymore – at least for me. Overall though, the message in the book was very optimistic.
The author’s style of writing is pretty simple yet indulging. By writing in first person, Craig Stone has managed to add a personal touch to the story. His sense of humour is really something. I have cracked up laughing at the most appropriate and inappropriate places. At the same time he managed to touch that sentimental & emotional chords of my heart with his portrayal of what ‘reality’ is like.
I love getting lost in mystery/thrillers and in the fantasy world of magic, faeries and werewolves. This book was a good change as it managed to bring me back right into the real world where disappointment, failure and heartache awaits everyone. When ‘life knocks’ & it invariably will, we can choose to hide or welcome with open arms. The important thing is how we deal with it. We just need to take the lemons and make a lemonade out of it.
The book begins with Collossus’s letter to the ‘management’ informing them that he is quitting the job. And with that very letter I got hooked on. There’s been so many times in our lives that we have wished we could say a few choice of words to our bosses/colleagues but never could manage. Reading that letter just cracked me up. Then there is his love interest, Lily, who captured & trampled on his heart. But his dedication towards her is remarkable. His interaction with other characters in the book are also quite interesting. Then there’s also a segment about drug addiction/alcoholism. Though under the influence, he lands himself in quite a few predicaments – all of a sudden not everything was funny anymore – at least for me. Overall though, the message in the book was very optimistic.
The author’s style of writing is pretty simple yet indulging. By writing in first person, Craig Stone has managed to add a personal touch to the story. His sense of humour is really something. I have cracked up laughing at the most appropriate and inappropriate places. At the same time he managed to touch that sentimental & emotional chords of my heart with his portrayal of what ‘reality’ is like.
I love getting lost in mystery/thrillers and in the fantasy world of magic, faeries and werewolves. This book was a good change as it managed to bring me back right into the real world where disappointment, failure and heartache awaits everyone. When ‘life knocks’ & it invariably will, we can choose to hide or welcome with open arms. The important thing is how we deal with it. We just need to take the lemons and make a lemonade out of it.
maree_k's review
4.0
I recently read and loved Craig Stones' The Squirrel that Dreamt of Madness, so was interested to read Life Knocks, which is essentially the prequel to Squirrel (although he wrote Life Knocks second).
Stone is a writer who completely ignores the "rules" of writing, usually to great effect. He has a distinctive writing style that shouldn't work, and yet it does. The main character and narrator, Colossus Sosloss, is a no hoper who can't get out of his own way. Theoretically, it's no fun to read about a man who continues to self sabotage in the most ridiculous ways, who spirals into drunkeness and drug abuse, and never really seems to find his way. But Colossus is such a sympathetic character, I felt myself wanting to read on in his story while simultaneously wanting to slap him for being such an idiot.
Life Knocks doesn't have the same insane energy of Squirrel, and personally I liked Squirrel more as a novel than Life Knocks, but there is no doubt that Stone is a talented writer who draws you into the messed up world of his anti-hero, and keeps you there, even when you're sure you should leave. Despite Colossus making the same stupid mistakes, I wanted to cheer him on to see if he could make some sense of the life he'd so well and truly screwed up. I think this is because Stone has true empathy for his characters, and his writing is direct and honest in a way that's rarely seen. It's not easy to pull off writing like this, but Stone does a great job. It sounds like a cliche, but his writing has heart: Stone is not afraid to play with lanaguage, twist words and phrases into forms that would confuse a yogi, and to put himself on the page warts and all.
There's no pretence, artifice, or cleverness for its own sake. Life Knocks just is, and it's pretty damn good.
Stone is a writer who completely ignores the "rules" of writing, usually to great effect. He has a distinctive writing style that shouldn't work, and yet it does. The main character and narrator, Colossus Sosloss, is a no hoper who can't get out of his own way. Theoretically, it's no fun to read about a man who continues to self sabotage in the most ridiculous ways, who spirals into drunkeness and drug abuse, and never really seems to find his way. But Colossus is such a sympathetic character, I felt myself wanting to read on in his story while simultaneously wanting to slap him for being such an idiot.
Life Knocks doesn't have the same insane energy of Squirrel, and personally I liked Squirrel more as a novel than Life Knocks, but there is no doubt that Stone is a talented writer who draws you into the messed up world of his anti-hero, and keeps you there, even when you're sure you should leave. Despite Colossus making the same stupid mistakes, I wanted to cheer him on to see if he could make some sense of the life he'd so well and truly screwed up. I think this is because Stone has true empathy for his characters, and his writing is direct and honest in a way that's rarely seen. It's not easy to pull off writing like this, but Stone does a great job. It sounds like a cliche, but his writing has heart: Stone is not afraid to play with lanaguage, twist words and phrases into forms that would confuse a yogi, and to put himself on the page warts and all.
There's no pretence, artifice, or cleverness for its own sake. Life Knocks just is, and it's pretty damn good.
karlou's review
5.0
There are some books that have me hooked from the first page, others take a while longer and I dip in and out for a bit until one day I realise the ten minute read before I start the dinner has turned into an hour and I've forgotten to feed the children. Life Knocks was that sort of book for me.
Craig Stone has a quirky style of writing with a particularly unique eye for an unusual metaphor; "Love is a bath of beans with a pig dressed as a clown and a naked farm girl; pretty much amazing when you get over the shock." This is a book that is far more than its metaphors though. With any character driven book it's vital that I engage with the main protagonist and I soon warmed to Colossus Sosloss (really!). There were times I wanted to shake him, to tell him to shut up or to speak up but throughout the book I cared about what happened to him. The other characters too were sympathetically written, even the racist, sexist, homophobic landlord, Mohammed has moments where I felt real warmth towards him.
The book swaps between the past and present (I seem to have read a few books like this recently) and sometimes with a switching narrative I find I'm more interested in one period than the other. Not so with Life Knocks, I was as captivated by Colossus' past as his present and following his journey to discover how one led to the other was a fascinating, hilarious, tear jerking yet uplifting rollercoaster of a read.
If you like contemporary fiction that doesn't pull any punches then I think you'll find Life Knocks a refreshing read. I know I did and am looking forward to reading the sequel, The Squirrel that Dreamt of Madness (actually published before Life Knocks) very soon.
Craig Stone has a quirky style of writing with a particularly unique eye for an unusual metaphor; "Love is a bath of beans with a pig dressed as a clown and a naked farm girl; pretty much amazing when you get over the shock." This is a book that is far more than its metaphors though. With any character driven book it's vital that I engage with the main protagonist and I soon warmed to Colossus Sosloss (really!). There were times I wanted to shake him, to tell him to shut up or to speak up but throughout the book I cared about what happened to him. The other characters too were sympathetically written, even the racist, sexist, homophobic landlord, Mohammed has moments where I felt real warmth towards him.
The book swaps between the past and present (I seem to have read a few books like this recently) and sometimes with a switching narrative I find I'm more interested in one period than the other. Not so with Life Knocks, I was as captivated by Colossus' past as his present and following his journey to discover how one led to the other was a fascinating, hilarious, tear jerking yet uplifting rollercoaster of a read.
If you like contemporary fiction that doesn't pull any punches then I think you'll find Life Knocks a refreshing read. I know I did and am looking forward to reading the sequel, The Squirrel that Dreamt of Madness (actually published before Life Knocks) very soon.
smcleish's review
3.0
This review was originally posted on my blog.
I wasn't sure whether I would like Life Knocks or not before starting to read it, and I am still not sure.
The narrator, named Colossus, is at a low point in his life. He is living in a low quality bedsit, unable to connect with anyone he meets, with the exception of his unpleasant landlord (who is a Muslim version of Riggsby from seventies sitcom Rising Damp, with even less charm and fewer redeeming qualities.
This life forms one of two interwoven narrative streams, being labelled Present whenever it occurs. The other, labelled Past, describes an idyllic affair with a woman named Lily, and how Colossus basically this part of his life away. Lily is the only truly sympathetic character in the novel. The separate narratives work very well, and make Life Knocks read rather like an Iain Banks novel, Dead Air being the one which sprang to mind,, though without some of his quirkiness.
It is clear, even only from the quotations on the cover image, that Life Knocks is a novel which many of its readers find extremely funny. The humour here did not really appeal to me (which is one reason why I am not sure I liked the novel as a whole). Basically, it consists of watching Colussus finding more and more ways to mess things up - something which I found more excruciating than funny. But tastes differ...
Perhaps I invested more in the character than other readers have done, and so found his mistakes unbearable, but the fact that I did so was a tribute to the quality of Stone's writing. It is really easy to enter into the world in which Colossus lives, in both phases of his life. That is part of the problem - I didn't want bad things to happen.
In the end, I would say that I admired Life Knocks a lot more than I enjoyed reading it. If this kind of humour is your kind of thing, you will love it; if not, you will probably react much as I did.
I wasn't sure whether I would like Life Knocks or not before starting to read it, and I am still not sure.
The narrator, named Colossus, is at a low point in his life. He is living in a low quality bedsit, unable to connect with anyone he meets, with the exception of his unpleasant landlord (who is a Muslim version of Riggsby from seventies sitcom Rising Damp, with even less charm and fewer redeeming qualities.
This life forms one of two interwoven narrative streams, being labelled Present whenever it occurs. The other, labelled Past, describes an idyllic affair with a woman named Lily, and how Colossus basically this part of his life away. Lily is the only truly sympathetic character in the novel. The separate narratives work very well, and make Life Knocks read rather like an Iain Banks novel, Dead Air being the one which sprang to mind,, though without some of his quirkiness.
It is clear, even only from the quotations on the cover image, that Life Knocks is a novel which many of its readers find extremely funny. The humour here did not really appeal to me (which is one reason why I am not sure I liked the novel as a whole). Basically, it consists of watching Colussus finding more and more ways to mess things up - something which I found more excruciating than funny. But tastes differ...
Perhaps I invested more in the character than other readers have done, and so found his mistakes unbearable, but the fact that I did so was a tribute to the quality of Stone's writing. It is really easy to enter into the world in which Colossus lives, in both phases of his life. That is part of the problem - I didn't want bad things to happen.
In the end, I would say that I admired Life Knocks a lot more than I enjoyed reading it. If this kind of humour is your kind of thing, you will love it; if not, you will probably react much as I did.
More...