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A review by bumbledragonb
Consumed by David Cronenberg
2.0
Consumed is the debut novel by director David Cronenberg. Once crowned King of Venereal Horror, Cronenberg seems to return to the roots of his early film career with this novel. This is not the current Cronenberg who has directed The Map to The Stars, but the Cronenberg of The Fly, Videodrome, eXistenZ and Scanners. The novel is not only about being consumed in the most literal sense, but also about being consumers. With gadgets being an object of fetish and obsession; iPhones being part of sex play. Photos of patients on the operating table decorating the walls of a restaurant. Cronenberg’s thesis is made quite clear throughout the book, with a couple of French philosopher characters acting as spokespeople.
Cronenberg delights in descriptions of deviant behaviours. His world is filled with an abundance of sexual encounters, self-mutilation, sexual diseases, psychopathology and cannibalism and the characters who inhabit it seem perfectly at home in it. Naomi and Nathan, writers, photographers, journalists and filmmakers (it is made quite clear that it is necessary to adapt and be a multimedia professional to thrive, a sentiment the might echo Cronenberg’s own experiences in the film industry) do not have any boundaries when it comes to getting emotionally and sexually involved with their subjects. There is no such thing as objective reporting and research and they are willing to offer their bodies in exchange for gaining trust and intimacy and having access to their research subjects.
For full review, please go to The Ballycumbers Review
Cronenberg delights in descriptions of deviant behaviours. His world is filled with an abundance of sexual encounters, self-mutilation, sexual diseases, psychopathology and cannibalism and the characters who inhabit it seem perfectly at home in it. Naomi and Nathan, writers, photographers, journalists and filmmakers (it is made quite clear that it is necessary to adapt and be a multimedia professional to thrive, a sentiment the might echo Cronenberg’s own experiences in the film industry) do not have any boundaries when it comes to getting emotionally and sexually involved with their subjects. There is no such thing as objective reporting and research and they are willing to offer their bodies in exchange for gaining trust and intimacy and having access to their research subjects.
For full review, please go to The Ballycumbers Review