honestly yeah it does have a bit of a "im fourteen and this is deep" kinda feel but what i found worse was the wierd pace? i read it a few months ago so correct me if im wrong but i got the feeling that everything kind of unraveled too suddenly in the sexond half/last third. the repetition and the long sex scenes im not too bothered by tbh it reminded a bit of american psycho but they do come off as a little more shallow. unfortunately i quite like the overall weirdness lol and the juxtaposition between them clearly living in the real, modern world but also doing irrealistic or just bizzarre things. side note i think the rock collecting habit is moreso a form of addiction than it is a funny quirky habit. its like he just switched substance intead of actually getting better- like at some point its anactual problem theire house is overflowing with rocks and only later does he find anything to do with them. what i do like is that while the ending is bleak, he's lost everything, his mom died, his scam uncovered and his sex addiction has actually got worse there's a sense of 'yeah all this happened to me and life is shit at least i belong somewhere. finally.'
Hmm, I never thought of the rock collecting as a substitute for addiction. I felt the pacing of it was definitely scattered and even though I think it's meant to be a bit jolting and chaotic, the whole act with the doctor revealing that she was a time-traveler just felt off. I think Bret Easton Ellis is better at writing unlikable characters since the satire arises more naturally. Here, I couldn't if I was supposed to like Vince or just empathize with him.
Interesting take on the novel. I like that you noticed that there is an element to his writing that has a juvenile quality to it.
honestly yeah it does have a bit of a "im fourteen and this is deep" kinda feel but what i found worse was the wierd pace? i read it a few months ago so correct me if im wrong but i got the feeling that everything kind of unraveled too suddenly in the sexond half/last third. the repetition and the long sex scenes im not too bothered by tbh it reminded a bit of american psycho but they do come off as a little more shallow. unfortunately i quite like the overall weirdness lol and the juxtaposition between them clearly living in the real, modern world but also doing irrealistic or just bizzarre things.
side note i think the rock collecting habit is moreso a form of addiction than it is a funny quirky habit. its like he just switched substance intead of actually getting better- like at some point its anactual problem theire house is overflowing with rocks and only later does he find anything to do with them.
what i do like is that while the ending is bleak, he's lost everything, his mom died, his scam uncovered and his sex addiction has actually got worse there's a sense of 'yeah all this happened to me and life is shit at least i belong somewhere. finally.'
Hmm, I never thought of the rock collecting as a substitute for addiction. I felt the pacing of it was definitely scattered and even though I think it's meant to be a bit jolting and chaotic, the whole act with the doctor revealing that she was a time-traveler just felt off. I think Bret Easton Ellis is better at writing unlikable characters since the satire arises more naturally. Here, I couldn't if I was supposed to like Vince or just empathize with him.