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A review by kate_lemer
Marabou Stork Nightmares by Irvine Welsh
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Can you say a book is brilliant, and yet absolutely atrocious at the same time? This one has swallowed me up and chewed me out. Devastating, heart-breaking, disturbing, vomit-inducing. I lack words to describe it properly. How "funny" made it into the blurb I do not know. There is nothing distinctly funny or amusing in this book. Ridiculous, yes, though rather in a sad, psychotic way. Definitely not something to laugh at. Could be that the review is of its time, which is probably even more disturbing than the work the book itself, or at least similarly disturbing. Once I cracked a smile, a very faint one (p. 151 if you want to re-read the specifics).
It took me a few pages to until I completely understood the plot. The Scottish dialect takes a bit of getting used to, but you can get into the flow of the story pretty quickly and easily. I definitely do not recommend going into this book blind, without reading the trigger warnings. I took them lightly, I shouldn't have. The book is very explicit, with an unreliable narrator. The latter should have been obvious to me from the very start, seeing as the narrator is a coma patient. The book handles many disturbing themes, in an explicit, but not gratuitous way. It steers clear of the "Game of Thrones" kind of violence, it does not flood the pages, but is all the more horrific when it is there, clinical, narrated in such a way that even the word choices disturb you.
What I am left wondering about is the use of sex in this book - Roy does not seem to derive any physical or emotional pleasure from it, rather the opposite. He gains recognition, he is feared, he feels powerful. Yet every time, disgust swallows him up - or is that what the narrator wants us to think? At the end he does commit suicide, but can we believe his reasons?
This book is the ultimate "violence begets violence" textbook example. It is brilliantly written, the three storylines starting separately from each other, but as the plot progresses, they blend brilliantly together. Transitions are experimental, voluntary at first, but as Roy's mind spirals, he loses his power over his subconsciousness, if he ever had any to begin with.
Welsh offers a brilliant insight into men's minds and their views on women's sexuality and freedom of expression. Sadly, I don't think society has improved much in that regard. They might throw their opinions around as blatantly as before, but the arguments are still the same. Why do men rape women? Why is there so much violence in the world? We cannot keep excusing such behaviour by wretched childhood experiences. It would be misleading to say that only men commit violence against women and other men. Women are not exempt from this - Patricia and the ending come to mind .
Antiquated, Victorian societal norms are a beast, prevailing over healthy expression of emotion. How much could be solved by us letting go of what societal pressure tells us we should behave like, be like, feel like, talk like? Should I feel compassion? Should I pity them? I just don't know. This is a book that leaves you queasy, feeling violated (especially if you identify as a woman or have experienced abuse), questioning, and terribly sad.
Mind the content warnings, I mean it!
It took me a few pages to until I completely understood the plot. The Scottish dialect takes a bit of getting used to, but you can get into the flow of the story pretty quickly and easily. I definitely do not recommend going into this book blind, without reading the trigger warnings. I took them lightly, I shouldn't have. The book is very explicit, with an unreliable narrator. The latter should have been obvious to me from the very start, seeing as the narrator is a coma patient. The book handles many disturbing themes, in an explicit, but not gratuitous way. It steers clear of the "Game of Thrones" kind of violence, it does not flood the pages, but is all the more horrific when it is there, clinical, narrated in such a way that even the word choices disturb you.
This book is the ultimate "violence begets violence" textbook example. It is brilliantly written, the three storylines starting separately from each other, but as the plot progresses, they blend brilliantly together. Transitions are experimental, voluntary at first, but as Roy's mind spirals, he loses his power over his subconsciousness, if he ever had any to begin with.
Welsh offers a brilliant insight into men's minds and their views on women's sexuality and freedom of expression. Sadly, I don't think society has improved much in that regard. They might throw their opinions around as blatantly as before, but the arguments are still the same. Why do men rape women? Why is there so much violence in the world? We cannot keep excusing such behaviour by wretched childhood experiences. It would be misleading to say that only men commit violence against women and other men. Women are not exempt from this
Antiquated, Victorian societal norms are a beast, prevailing over healthy expression of emotion. How much could be solved by us letting go of what societal pressure tells us we should behave like, be like, feel like, talk like? Should I feel compassion? Should I pity them? I just don't know. This is a book that leaves you queasy, feeling violated (especially if you identify as a woman or have experienced abuse), questioning, and terribly sad.
Mind the content warnings, I mean it!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Incest, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Xenophobia, Medical trauma, Murder, Sexual harassment