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xolotlll's review against another edition
3.0
I really enjoyed this. It felt like a golden-age Cronenberg film, with more modern tech. Videodrome would be the closest comparison, with its creepy techno-body-horror blending into paranoid political-industrial espionage. It's like Cronenberg wanted to make another film, but he didn't want to go through the trouble of actually doing that.
This book feels more personal and human than Cronenberg's other works, maybe in part because the prose allows for direct access to the characters' thoughts and feelings. Cronenberg also seems to show more of an interest in the personal, human element of storytelling; Consumed feels considerably less cold and clinical than his films. One of the major themes in this book is age, and how the body changes over the last few decades of life. There are some strangely touching and personal reflections on how relationships and sexuality change as we get older. It all feels informed by personal experience. At the same time, the basic outline is very similar to what he was doing over 30 years ago, in Videodrome.
This book feels more personal and human than Cronenberg's other works, maybe in part because the prose allows for direct access to the characters' thoughts and feelings. Cronenberg also seems to show more of an interest in the personal, human element of storytelling; Consumed feels considerably less cold and clinical than his films. One of the major themes in this book is age, and how the body changes over the last few decades of life. There are some strangely touching and personal reflections on how relationships and sexuality change as we get older. It all feels informed by personal experience. At the same time, the basic outline is very similar to what he was doing over 30 years ago, in Videodrome.
david_agranoff's review against another edition
3.0
It's a generally a mixed bag when filmmakers write novels or novelist directs a film but in the end, storytelling is story telling. When it comes to off-beat weird movies few do a better job than David Cronenberg. The Canadian one-time master of horror broke out of the genre ghetto with films like Spider, History of Violence, and Eastern Promises. I was not a huge fan of Dangerous Method but his last film Map to the Stars is very underrated. One thing you have to understand is he is a gifted writer. He has been writing films for a long long time. I was not surprised by the strength of Consumed.
I have heard some lament that it was not as weird as they had hoped for, not like A modern Videodrome as some had hoped. In many ways, it is a return to form, in the sense that classic DC themes are explored and mined. I am not sure why DC choose this to be a novel and not a film, but this story is pretty Cronenberg. I mean it is a super bizarro erotic thriller that involves violence and disease. How is that not Cronenberg enough for anyone? that I don't understand.
The story starts with a mystery, our Point of view character is a journalist Naomi who uses photos to investigate crimes investigates a murder. A famous French philosopher has murder and decapitated his wife. She heads to Japan where the man is hiding from the French government. There are reports that he actually cannibalized her body. Namoi's lover Nathan is also a photographer, who studies medicine and disease. Across the globe, he is studying a man ravaged by new and strange diseases. Over time they discover their cases are related.
It should also not be a surprise that this book is a slow burn. It was the sharp edges that Cronenberg told stories within his early years that made him a cult film icon. Those edges are there but you are in the hands of the storyteller that evolved into the man who made Spider. It is not as slow of a burn as that film. This is a carefully crafted novel that has many touches of DC's personality that come out in the descriptions of Technology and how we interface with it, and of course the bizarre sexuality.
It didn't blow me away and I am sure I would rather have more Cronenberg films than novels. None the less it is worth a read. If you are a serious Cronenbergian don't miss it.
I have heard some lament that it was not as weird as they had hoped for, not like A modern Videodrome as some had hoped. In many ways, it is a return to form, in the sense that classic DC themes are explored and mined. I am not sure why DC choose this to be a novel and not a film, but this story is pretty Cronenberg. I mean it is a super bizarro erotic thriller that involves violence and disease. How is that not Cronenberg enough for anyone? that I don't understand.
The story starts with a mystery, our Point of view character is a journalist Naomi who uses photos to investigate crimes investigates a murder. A famous French philosopher has murder and decapitated his wife. She heads to Japan where the man is hiding from the French government. There are reports that he actually cannibalized her body. Namoi's lover Nathan is also a photographer, who studies medicine and disease. Across the globe, he is studying a man ravaged by new and strange diseases. Over time they discover their cases are related.
It should also not be a surprise that this book is a slow burn. It was the sharp edges that Cronenberg told stories within his early years that made him a cult film icon. Those edges are there but you are in the hands of the storyteller that evolved into the man who made Spider. It is not as slow of a burn as that film. This is a carefully crafted novel that has many touches of DC's personality that come out in the descriptions of Technology and how we interface with it, and of course the bizarre sexuality.
It didn't blow me away and I am sure I would rather have more Cronenberg films than novels. None the less it is worth a read. If you are a serious Cronenbergian don't miss it.
down2decay's review against another edition
4.0
В своём литературном дебюте великий режиссёр собирает бинго из любимых тематик: телесные трансформации, пластическая хирургия, обсессия технологиями, заигрывания со снаффом и порно, баллардианская сексопатология, французская философия, ЧЁРТОВЫ НАСЕКОМЫЕ, здесь есть всё. По форме это тревожный триллер с крепкой шпионской интригой: в программе бонвояж по всему миру, включая Северную Корею. По содержанию — совершенно ебучий взгляд на консьюмеризм сквозь призму каннибализма: некоторые представители кроненбергского общества потребления чертовски буквальны в своих интенциях.
Иногда текст буксует. Кроненберг то чрезмерно упарывается по нишевой медицинской терминологии (апотемнофилия! мастэктомия!), то слишком углубляется в гибсоновский технофетишизм. Характеристики всевозможных диктофонов, фотоаппаратов и оптических линз прописаны особо детально. Да, это болдовая метафора глаз-ушей главных героев-журналистов, гоняющихся за своим эксклюзивом по всем континентам. Да, эти излишества раздражают, но они хотя бы сюжетно оправданы. Финал случается внезапно, но это тоже окей. Всё приключение было настолько девиантным, что здравый смысл к концу просто отключается.
Скучали по гротескному, избыточно графичному Кроненбергу, который так умело размывал грань между сном и явью? Всё норм, он просто перешёл в другой медиум. Никто, бляха, не умеет так виртуозно препарировать Самость: Кроненберг более сорока лет делал это в кино, теперь он делает это в литературе. Если же вы просто мимо проходили и впускать в себя такую ебанину совершенно не готовы — лучше и не надо, роман вас отвернёт и выбесит.
Иногда текст буксует. Кроненберг то чрезмерно упарывается по нишевой медицинской терминологии (апотемнофилия! мастэктомия!), то слишком углубляется в гибсоновский технофетишизм. Характеристики всевозможных диктофонов, фотоаппаратов и оптических линз прописаны особо детально. Да, это болдовая метафора глаз-ушей главных героев-журналистов, гоняющихся за своим эксклюзивом по всем континентам. Да, эти излишества раздражают, но они хотя бы сюжетно оправданы. Финал случается внезапно, но это тоже окей. Всё приключение было настолько девиантным, что здравый смысл к концу просто отключается.
Скучали по гротескному, избыточно графичному Кроненбергу, который так умело размывал грань между сном и явью? Всё норм, он просто перешёл в другой медиум. Никто, бляха, не умеет так виртуозно препарировать Самость: Кроненберг более сорока лет делал это в кино, теперь он делает это в литературе. Если же вы просто мимо проходили и впускать в себя такую ебанину совершенно не готовы — лучше и не надо, роман вас отвернёт и выбесит.
magpie_666's review against another edition
1.0
Wow, what an absolute mess. I give books until page 50 before I 'DNF' them, but this was a struggle getting that far.
I have enjoyed the Cronenberg films that I've seen and I thought this would be an interesting read, and I was wrong.
The first page didn't even make sense! I asked my other half to read it, just in case I was getting mixed up but he thought the same as me.
And I assume this book was sponsored by Nikon, and Photoshop? There are so many product placement pieces in the book that it becomes a distraction. I assume this is needed in film scripts so the director knows what things are needed, but it really doesn't work in a book.
I was going to attempt to skim read the rest of it, because I enjoy his films, but I just can't.
There are too many good books out there waiting for me to read them, so this one is on the DNF pile. If anyone wants my copy I'm happy to purge my house of it.
I have enjoyed the Cronenberg films that I've seen and I thought this would be an interesting read, and I was wrong.
The first page didn't even make sense! I asked my other half to read it, just in case I was getting mixed up but he thought the same as me.
And I assume this book was sponsored by Nikon, and Photoshop? There are so many product placement pieces in the book that it becomes a distraction. I assume this is needed in film scripts so the director knows what things are needed, but it really doesn't work in a book.
I was going to attempt to skim read the rest of it, because I enjoy his films, but I just can't.
There are too many good books out there waiting for me to read them, so this one is on the DNF pile. If anyone wants my copy I'm happy to purge my house of it.
littlebird92's review against another edition
2.0
This was a struggle and I wish I hadn't pushed myself to finish. Chapters 9 and 10 ruined it for me the most and the ending: abrupt.
srdaine's review against another edition
3.0
Cronenberg escribe muy bien, pero la historia se me va desinflando demasiado como para mantener mi interés en ella.
michelempls's review against another edition
5.0
As a review said elsewhere:
"Of course, one person's contagion is another person's inspiration.
This book is not for everyone, perhaps, but it is most *definitely for me.
It will take awhile for me to come down from reading "Consumed" - the book was that intense and engrossing. I really can't review it myself, right now. Note - I read the audiobook version of Consumed, narrated by William Hurt, who was the *perfect choice for this challenging novel.
Here's a review from Neuromancer on Amazon - sums up where I'm at right now.
"After reading several high profile reviews of "Consumed", I noted that they all seemed to be mimicking some altered, mutated aesthetic, as though the critic's individual ego had been cannibalized by a ravenous, trans-personal, subconscious entity. Was there a newly evolved psychic cancer that colonized the host and left him stuttering and subsumed within the towering shadow of an incarnate, alien force field? This stimulated my curiosity, along with my existential dread. Having now read the book, I find myself displaying similar symptoms: mental distortions, magnified perceptions, and the perplexing agitation of feelings and ideas that erupt psychogenically with the sudden, itching pulse of a rash. This is a disturbance, and the course of this "disease" is Cronenbergian, so therefore spreads rapidly and is highly contagious - the prognosis, for some, terminal. Of course, one person's contagion is another person's inspiration.
David Cronenberg gave me his disease, and now I'm totally "Consumed". The novel is brilliant, often hilarious, challenging and viscerally disturbing, but in the most imaginative, delightful way. If I had read this book without knowing the author, I would have been transfixed and would have nothing but praise, except with the single observation that the writer appeared to be rather influenced by the films of David Cronenberg (all periods - early, middle and contemporary). Since the Toronto Master is himself the purveyor of this almost three dimensional prose, my enthusiasm is complete. This book is from the same mind that gave us "Dead Ringers" and "eXistenz", but now, with uncanny skill and precision, infecting the world of literature - it's a probing and an original mind that evokes the creative and the destructive in us all. "Consumed" depicts a new world where, within the rapidly evolving digital environment, humans are adapting and mutating, like the first amphibians crawling on land, gulping for air, disoriented, struggling to survive as they transmogrify. The new reality is dangerous and thrilling and we'll never be the same again. Did I mention there's also lots of sex - of the exotic variety..."
"Of course, one person's contagion is another person's inspiration.
This book is not for everyone, perhaps, but it is most *definitely for me.
It will take awhile for me to come down from reading "Consumed" - the book was that intense and engrossing. I really can't review it myself, right now. Note - I read the audiobook version of Consumed, narrated by William Hurt, who was the *perfect choice for this challenging novel.
Here's a review from Neuromancer on Amazon - sums up where I'm at right now.
"After reading several high profile reviews of "Consumed", I noted that they all seemed to be mimicking some altered, mutated aesthetic, as though the critic's individual ego had been cannibalized by a ravenous, trans-personal, subconscious entity. Was there a newly evolved psychic cancer that colonized the host and left him stuttering and subsumed within the towering shadow of an incarnate, alien force field? This stimulated my curiosity, along with my existential dread. Having now read the book, I find myself displaying similar symptoms: mental distortions, magnified perceptions, and the perplexing agitation of feelings and ideas that erupt psychogenically with the sudden, itching pulse of a rash. This is a disturbance, and the course of this "disease" is Cronenbergian, so therefore spreads rapidly and is highly contagious - the prognosis, for some, terminal. Of course, one person's contagion is another person's inspiration.
David Cronenberg gave me his disease, and now I'm totally "Consumed". The novel is brilliant, often hilarious, challenging and viscerally disturbing, but in the most imaginative, delightful way. If I had read this book without knowing the author, I would have been transfixed and would have nothing but praise, except with the single observation that the writer appeared to be rather influenced by the films of David Cronenberg (all periods - early, middle and contemporary). Since the Toronto Master is himself the purveyor of this almost three dimensional prose, my enthusiasm is complete. This book is from the same mind that gave us "Dead Ringers" and "eXistenz", but now, with uncanny skill and precision, infecting the world of literature - it's a probing and an original mind that evokes the creative and the destructive in us all. "Consumed" depicts a new world where, within the rapidly evolving digital environment, humans are adapting and mutating, like the first amphibians crawling on land, gulping for air, disoriented, struggling to survive as they transmogrify. The new reality is dangerous and thrilling and we'll never be the same again. Did I mention there's also lots of sex - of the exotic variety..."
femto's review against another edition
5.0
Si tuviera que describir de una sola forma, esta seria la antitesis de fight club. si el libro de palahniuk es una lucha contra el cosumismo, este es sobre la aceptacion del consumismo como un estilo de vida, si el primero es la lucha llevada al extremo este es lo mismo pero al otro lado del espectro, la culminacion de la comsuncion, cuando lo normal ya no es suficiente y cada vez se busca algo mas, algo con mas sifnificado y trascendencia, cada vez mas complejo y retorcido.
Como se dice, en gustos, colores. este libro no es para cualquiera, es de esos libros que amas u odias. En muchas reseñas lei que este libro solo era un ensayo sobre los gustos especificos del autor, lo cual no considero que sea asi, ya que el tema era el consumismo en la edad moderna, por cual tenia que mostrarse en nuestra obsesion con distintos temas y objetos de la actualidad , nuestros protagonistas y de hecho todos lo demas personajes estan en esta constante busqueda de "algo", no lo ponen con palabras pero cada cosa que hacen esta fuera de los canones de lo que se considera comun, ya que el camino comun no los proporcionaba lo que buscaban, asi que en cierta manera mas que de consumisno como la manera coloquial en que se le conoce, el libro trata de la trascendencia del consumismo, como puede convertirnos en algo aberrante si la llevamos mas alla de lo que se supone hace, por lo cual me hubiera gustado que lo hubieran contrastado mas con otros tipos de personas.
Realmente si tuviera que ponerle nota esto seria un 3,5 por que si bien consumi cada palabra del libro, no es como si hubiera frases que fueran recordables, me gusto porque me gusta cada tema del que hablaba, la filosofia, los distintos gadgets tecnologicos, canibalismo, medicina ilegal, cada concepto era un tema que me interesaba en particular, y por eso digo, si no tubiera interes en alguno de esos temas seguramente no me habria gustado el libro.
Ademas opino que le falto profundidad, tenia un monton de puntos pero ninguna forma de conectarlos, no sabia que hacer con ellos, y practicamente esto no tiene final. y la unica razon que le pongo 5 estrellas, bueno son dos razones, una me senti completamente identificado con la premisa del libro y segundo, porque tiene nota muy baja, no es un libro que pueda ser juzgado de forma colectiva, pero no me gusta que sea tan mal visto.
Como acotacion final, siempre me han gustado ese tipo de relaciones reciclables, pegadas con cualquier material a mano, no son relaciones puras de hecho so exactamente lo contrario, pero se mantienen, lo cual demuestra que de alguna forma son mas fuerte, ya que estan hechas a partir de cosas rotas, y despues de eso, que puede ser peor.
Como se dice, en gustos, colores. este libro no es para cualquiera, es de esos libros que amas u odias. En muchas reseñas lei que este libro solo era un ensayo sobre los gustos especificos del autor, lo cual no considero que sea asi, ya que el tema era el consumismo en la edad moderna, por cual tenia que mostrarse en nuestra obsesion con distintos temas y objetos de la actualidad , nuestros protagonistas y de hecho todos lo demas personajes estan en esta constante busqueda de "algo", no lo ponen con palabras pero cada cosa que hacen esta fuera de los canones de lo que se considera comun, ya que el camino comun no los proporcionaba lo que buscaban, asi que en cierta manera mas que de consumisno como la manera coloquial en que se le conoce, el libro trata de la trascendencia del consumismo, como puede convertirnos en algo aberrante si la llevamos mas alla de lo que se supone hace, por lo cual me hubiera gustado que lo hubieran contrastado mas con otros tipos de personas.
Realmente si tuviera que ponerle nota esto seria un 3,5 por que si bien consumi cada palabra del libro, no es como si hubiera frases que fueran recordables, me gusto porque me gusta cada tema del que hablaba, la filosofia, los distintos gadgets tecnologicos, canibalismo, medicina ilegal, cada concepto era un tema que me interesaba en particular, y por eso digo, si no tubiera interes en alguno de esos temas seguramente no me habria gustado el libro.
Ademas opino que le falto profundidad, tenia un monton de puntos pero ninguna forma de conectarlos, no sabia que hacer con ellos, y practicamente esto no tiene final. y la unica razon que le pongo 5 estrellas, bueno son dos razones, una me senti completamente identificado con la premisa del libro y segundo, porque tiene nota muy baja, no es un libro que pueda ser juzgado de forma colectiva, pero no me gusta que sea tan mal visto.
Como acotacion final, siempre me han gustado ese tipo de relaciones reciclables, pegadas con cualquier material a mano, no son relaciones puras de hecho so exactamente lo contrario, pero se mantienen, lo cual demuestra que de alguna forma son mas fuerte, ya que estan hechas a partir de cosas rotas, y despues de eso, que puede ser peor.