The Feast of Fools

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing book in schizophrenic-stream of consciousness
Review: After muddling through the first 170 pages of this book, I had to give up. This book is written in the style of a schizophrenic stream-of-consciousness. Although the idea of a story based on the Persephone/Hades myth has potential, the overly descriptive and disjointed writing style make this novel more difficult to decipher than a college entrance exam. There are too many characters who are just kind of thrown into the pot, and none is either very interesting or apparently relevant. Although some images and settings are intriguing, character development and plot are sacrificed for excessive detail and crude sexual innuendo. There are three fools here: the author, the publisher and me.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing book in schizophrenic-stream of consciousness
Review: After muddling through the first 170 pages of this book, I had to give up. This book is written in the style of a schizophrenic stream-of-consciousness. Although the idea of a story based on the Persephone/Hades myth has potential, the overly descriptive and disjointed writing style make this novel more difficult to decipher than a college entrance exam. There are too many characters who are just kind of thrown into the pot, and none is either very interesting or apparently relevant. Although some images and settings are intriguing, character development and plot are sacrificed for excessive detail and crude sexual innuendo. There are three fools here: the author, the publisher and me.

Rating:
Summary: Difficult reading, but a loads of fun.
Review: The only other review on this book gave a rather harsh evaluation of this novel. I must admit that the book was pretty trying and slow-going at first (mainly due to the author's rollicking wordiness which is sometimes nonsensical, and a lot of obscure descriptive passages) but it picks up momentum and interest after a while. It's those kinds of books that slowly grows on you, and that keeps you persistently reading despite its idiosyncracies at times. I find this book hugely entertaining, and its plot and characters immensely funny. The author has a wonderful knack of stylistic timing, puncturing otherwise difficult and dense passages with a dose of high-voltage humor! I think serious literary students and teachers would find this book challenging - Bakthin's carnival theories would fit in snugly with this book. But an average reader would too, after of course, the initial 100 or so pages of establishing and deciphering the codes to reading and understanding this book. It's not a book one often chance upon, but its a book once read, would be forever savoured.