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A review by raiuga
Consumed by David Cronenberg
2.0
Cronenberg is the master of body horror. This, we already know. Does that change in Consumed? No. In fact, Cronenberg only establishes himself further as a master; the way in which he writes the horror, etching it into your mind and casting a shadow at the back of your eyeballs, is fascinating. With Consumed, he has shown true adaptability. He can concoct body horror without images.
But there are extreme issues with this novel that, as much as it pains me to say, really stopped it from being a great debut book from the esteemed director. Cronenberg writes as though this is a screenplay, often getting caught up in the smallest of details when the story itself is crying for an acceleration of pace.
Halfway through the novel, particularly when Naomi gains the trust of Ari, the story becomes drastically lopsided. It felt as though Cronenberg so badly wanted to stick with Naomi and ditch the idea of Nathan's storyline, yet he knew he required the latter in order to enlarge this book's overarching plot. And, in this lopsidedness, it felt as though Cronenberg was merely writing Nathan in for the sake of it. The coincidences between both stories are poorly explored, rather being just that: bizarre coincidences. One after the other.
The ending is also an extreme letdown. Cronenberg teases us with a bombastic finale to the story, only to leave us with about as many answers as when we turned the first page.
But there are positives: this book is gruesome in a very cool and twisted manner. It's psychologically powerful, too, often leaving me disgusted hours after putting the book down. Various dinners were abruptly brought to halt when the image of one of these repugnant scenes entered my mind. And I fucking loved that. Furthermore, I like the majority of the characters a lot and find Aristide to be incredibly well-written and developed as the story reaches its climax. While the philosophical stuff threw me off - purely because most of it just seemed rushed in - it actually added to the charming madness of Aristide. Lastly, fair play to Cronenberg. The man is in his late 60's and clearly impassioned by technology; some of the terminology he uses here, the way in which the characters interact with technology, is truly genuine and fascinating. That someone of his age can paint this modern age in such a non-critical and genuine manner is quite special.
I love Cronenberg. I wanted to love Consumed. I ended up loving it in spurts.
But I still love Cronenberg.
But there are extreme issues with this novel that, as much as it pains me to say, really stopped it from being a great debut book from the esteemed director. Cronenberg writes as though this is a screenplay, often getting caught up in the smallest of details when the story itself is crying for an acceleration of pace.
Halfway through the novel, particularly when Naomi gains the trust of Ari, the story becomes drastically lopsided. It felt as though Cronenberg so badly wanted to stick with Naomi and ditch the idea of Nathan's storyline, yet he knew he required the latter in order to enlarge this book's overarching plot. And, in this lopsidedness, it felt as though Cronenberg was merely writing Nathan in for the sake of it. The coincidences between both stories are poorly explored, rather being just that: bizarre coincidences. One after the other.
The ending is also an extreme letdown. Cronenberg teases us with a bombastic finale to the story, only to leave us with about as many answers as when we turned the first page.
But there are positives: this book is gruesome in a very cool and twisted manner. It's psychologically powerful, too, often leaving me disgusted hours after putting the book down. Various dinners were abruptly brought to halt when the image of one of these repugnant scenes entered my mind. And I fucking loved that. Furthermore, I like the majority of the characters a lot and find Aristide to be incredibly well-written and developed as the story reaches its climax. While the philosophical stuff threw me off - purely because most of it just seemed rushed in - it actually added to the charming madness of Aristide. Lastly, fair play to Cronenberg. The man is in his late 60's and clearly impassioned by technology; some of the terminology he uses here, the way in which the characters interact with technology, is truly genuine and fascinating. That someone of his age can paint this modern age in such a non-critical and genuine manner is quite special.
I love Cronenberg. I wanted to love Consumed. I ended up loving it in spurts.
But I still love Cronenberg.