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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.
lilli_l_f's review against another edition
2.0
2.5/5 This book could have been.... so much better. Such a well though out world and plot but such boring and bland characters. Oh well.
robgruszecki's review against another edition
2.0
Wow. I’m so surprised and disappointed in how much I didn’t enjoy this. David Cronenberg is one of my absolute favourite filmmakers (Videodrome, The Fly, The Brood, Scanners, Existenz are all some of my favourite movies) and I was so excited for his first novel. He’s got some great prose throughout and the plot is very very ‘Cronenberg’ so in theory I should have loved it. But I sadly found it exhausting, relentless and interminably boring in parts. I found the characters hollow and dull and at about the halfway point I completely stopped caring about them at all. I found this to be such a slog to get through and it bums me out that this just didn’t click with me at all in the way every movie I’ve watched of his absolutely captivates me. Cronenberg is a brilliant artist but this one in particular just didn’t land for me.
gigiivid's review against another edition
3.0
The beginning half was so good, but the second half, particularly the last 50 pages, just felt indulgent and unfocused. It's very clear that he's a director through how beautifully cinematic his writing is, but also through his lack of follow through in the actual storytelling, with the novel more interested in quirky nuances and thematic show-offs. It was a super interesting idea though, and definitely the sort of stuff I love.
Plot rating: 7.5/10
Character rating: 5/10
Style of writing: 7.5/10
First 1/3: 8/10
Second 1/3: 7/10
Third 1/3: 4/10
Main Character rating: 6/10
Scenery rating: 8/10
Concept rating: 6/10
Emotional rating: 3/10
Overall: 62/100
Plot rating: 7.5/10
Character rating: 5/10
Style of writing: 7.5/10
First 1/3: 8/10
Second 1/3: 7/10
Third 1/3: 4/10
Main Character rating: 6/10
Scenery rating: 8/10
Concept rating: 6/10
Emotional rating: 3/10
Overall: 62/100
aksel_dadswell's review against another edition
2.0
I wanted to like this book so much. I really tried, if only out of service to my admiration for Cronenberg's incredible back-catalogue of films. I’m a big fan of the guy’s work and so it seemed a given that I’d equally enjoy his debut novel, but it was not to be. It's not that Consumed is an unmitigated piece of shit – there are some great ideas in there, some nice Cronenbergian body horror, and some hilarious, subversive moments. It's just that these things, for me, felt buried beneath the endless philosophical ramblings and itemised breakdowns of technology that seemed to make up most of the book. I almost stopped reading this so many times. I know the emotional disconnect of the characters here is probably part of the point, that I’m supposed to feel like I’m observing the narrative on a laptop screen or through a camera lens, but the whole experience left me floating in a void of frustration and indifference. Having finished the novel, I feel like maybe I missed the point, that my reaction to it is wrong somehow, that maybe the story doesn’t really flounder in its own self-aggrandising philosophical wank, but who knows? I guess I’m torn because of the potential the book had for me. For every dull, esoteric moment there are glimmers of intrigue and horror, but being caught in this good/bad see-saw isn’t exactly what I’d call a good time. Even the book’s final scene feels both absurdly abrupt and actually quite clever. In the end, though, I was left dissatisfied and underwhelmed for a book with so many supposedly shocking and weird moments.
dennisjacobrosenfeld's review against another edition
3.0
Too long. Unnecessary amount of tech descriptions. Somewhat fascinating. Body horror does not work as well in this shape as it does in Cronenberg's early films.
dargent94's review against another edition
2.0
Weird and excessive for the sake of weird excessiveness. So typical Cronenberg (I'm a big fan, honestly). Sort of like an uninspired cross between Videodrome and Naked Lunch except not even half as good as either of those. Only intermittently interesting and trying way to hard to be about everything at once and misses the mark almost every time.
witchybeach's review against another edition
2.0
interesting at first, then it all went downhill from there; although there were some good plot points