Lord of Dark Places - Hal Bennett BOOK REVIEW

Video Sponsored by Ridge Wallet. Check them out here: ridge.com/BETTERTHANFOOD Use Code “BETTERTHANFOOD” for 15% off your order until Dec.7th, then back to 10%
BUY HERE:
amzn.to/3li79Mv
Ronald Walcott Articles:
bit.ly/3D4LGg6
bit.ly/3E57Tfi
SUPPORT / PATREON:
/ booksarebetterthanfood
INSTAGRAM: @booksarebetterthanfood
/ booksarebetterthanfood
MUG:
www.zazzle.com/better_than_fo...
PATREON INFO:
/ booksarebette. .
For $5+ per video Patrons you'll receive (in addition to all below):
Entered in the Book & Coffee Jar Drawing
For $1+ per video Patrons you'll get access to:
Patron-Only Reviews
All Reviews Ad-Free
Discord Channel
Better Than Friday Newsletter (5 things I'm interested in sent to you every Friday)
-------------------------------
PATRON ONLY REVIEWS:
The Necrophiliac by Gabrielle Wittkop - Halloween 2021
/ 58073911
Death in Midsummer by Yukio Mishima
/ 55759685
Holy the Firm by Annie Dillard
/ 53139833
The Key by Junichiro Tanizaki
/ 51134117
Platforms by Nina Power
/ 48914140
Consider This by Chuck Palahniuk
/ 45465524
Bookshelf Tour 2020:
Part 1: / 41287302
Part 2: / 42817306
Part 3: / 43783138
The Blind Owl by Sadegh Hedayat
/ 38823138
Margery Kempe by Robert Glück
/ 38645694
Transparent Things by Vladimir Nabokov
/ 37527267
The Lover by Marguerite Duras
/ 35574016
11 Books to be read in 2020:
/ 33921584
Atomic Habits by James Clear
/ 32697977
Too Loud a Solitude by Bohumil Hrabal
/ 30969884
The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene
/ 29515320
Reading is Expensive (A Rant)
/ 29065141
White by Bret Easton Ellis
/ 26771749
A Room on the Garden Side by Ernest Hemingway
/ 21573550
The Return by Roberto Bolaño
/ 21019229
Darkness Visible by William Styron
/ 20276630
"Blindness", an essay by Jorge Luis Borges
/ 19529985
The Alligators by John Updike
/ 18428537
The Diaries of Adam and Eve by Mark Twain
/ 17281418
Animal Crackers in My Soup by Charles Bukowski
/ 16924023
A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
/ 16133547

[@BetterThanFoodBookReviews]

Big thanks to Ridge for sending me this wallet and supporting the channel! Here’s the site if you want to check them out! > ridge.com/BETTERTHANFOOD

[@jamesgallo6247]

Hey dude I actually snatched up a copy of the hardcover edition of this book thinking it would have the artwork of the paperback. Feel like trading ? lol

[@danv4299]

It's so awesome that you're harnessing your popularity to revitalize interest in these overlooked masterpieces

[@dabrupro]

Yes!

[@FlintSL]

"Are you tired of carrying around the warped skin of a dead animal on your ass?" The folks making Ridge Wallets ought to consider using this as their motto.

[@ciganyweaverandherperiwink6293]

Hands down one of the best literary channels on KZbin. (The Swans reference in this video was the cherry on top- your wonderful analogies and obscure cultural references are all in the language I speak. I love it, thank you.)

[@Hal_Bennett]

*phew!* boy am I glad he liked my book that I absolutely wrote!

[@davidpritchard4263]

Thanks for the videos cliff my friend, not only are you giving me insight to more books I should read but your videos are helping me get through some really dark times, I thank you

[@nolandost3070]

Passionate coverage of passionately provocative literature. Just what I was hoping for and as always, thank you for your video.

[@asmrakademia9889]

Thanks man for giving me back the enthusiasm for reading great books. Being a literary editor (and young adult books writer) for most of my adult life, I got jaded with reading and the book business some years ago, gave up on it entirely. This channel played a major part in revitalizing my initial love of the written word, so I humbly thank you for that. Keep up the good work, while I grab a book and get that coffee! All best from Hungary.

[@MrPROJECTSyNc]

Thank you Cliff for bringing books like this to our attention

[@hoodiehat7126]

Read The Misanthrope by Molière, it’s a short play, only 76 pages long, it has great character analysis, and dialogue that is really witty and inventive for Molière’s time. Molière also helped inspired the French Revolution with his play’s, it pokes fun at high French society, well also having his writing discreetly make gestures towards the perils of castes and enlightenment. Beaumarchais's the marriage of Figaro like Molière’s plays was adapted into an Italian opera. Beaumarchais's was by De Ponte and Mozart, I’m not sure if Molière inspired the play write directly, but Molière lived before Beaumarchais's, and Beaumarchais's play’s also pokes fun at high society, and was even banned by Emperor Joseph the second, well Louis XIV banned Molière’s Tartuffe. Both have a ton of great plays, but Misanthrope is considered to be the French hamlet by some accounts, it’s worth a read. (Molière was also a patron of Louis XIV) and (Beaumarchais's convinced Louis XVI to pay for supplies to the American revolutionaries by falsely claiming that Louis XV had been in favor of assisting the American Revolution.)

[@octamedicin]

Indeed, Moliere is great. Probably the most original of the french classicists, although I think lyrically Racine is on top. However, it was Beaumarchais who wrote The Marriage of Figaro.

[@hoodiehat7126]

@@octamedicin Thank you, play writes can be tricky in remembering which opera was written by who, I was a century off.

[@randychandler4141]

Thanks for such an insightful and intriguing review. Having grown up on Kerouac and the Beats, I somehow missed Hal Bennett. Just ordered used paperback of LORD OF DARK PLACES. Your discerning love of books is admirable.

[@1408Aur]

Wow. So I just finished Lord of Dark Places. Clifford, thank you very much for your review, otherwise I might never have discovered what is now one of my favourite books, if not my favourite book I’ve ever read. I can’t stress how powerful and mesmerizing this truly amazing work of art is. As always, your reviews are a constant source of inspiration and knowledge to really great literature and I again offer my thanks to you sir!

[@ummon995]

I’m a big fan of McCarthy and William Burroughs so I thought I’d give this a shot. It lagged too much where I wanted it to hurry and skipped over parts that I’d hoped would linger on longer. Yeah, the pacing and repetition grated on me to a point that even the depravity couldn’t jumpstart my interest after a while. That said, your review of Lord of Dark Places is damn spot on and I appreciate you giving it some publicity because it is a unique piece of fiction that should be known.

[@shaneharrington3655]

100% agree. Character motivations also came across as annoying/dumb in parts…

[@glibglob8755]

You dumb

[@vukcevu5854]

Did you try reading Serbian literature? There is so many amazing Serbian writers and I suggest to try at least one of them. Mesa Selimovic, Ivo Andric, Danilo Kis, Borislav Pekic are just some of them on top of my head

[@uniquechannelnames]

Great review, definitely got me excited to get a hold of this book. Was great and entertaining, especially considering the hardcore and explicit nature of the book.

[@lizardslaw2661]

This is a phenomenal review. Ordered it immediately.

[@antemiakavillari4720]

Your Bataille analysis/reviews brought me here (thank you). Excellent channel. Children of God is great but The Great Annihilator is definitely on my top. Also, I spot that Herman Nitsch book there, huge fan of his harmonium work. Cheers!

[@Gabrielcezar94]

Here listening to Cliff describe the plot of the book and I’m really intrigued; it sounds like one of those mad as hell dreams one somehow has and awakes awfully trying to come to terms with what just happened; and I’m thinking, how can this vision have been turned up into a novel!?!?!? I need to read it now! Thanks for unearthing it ❤️

[@lonl123]

Fantastic review...just ordered a copy....Sounds like a book right up my alley.

[@MAFion]

I just finished this novel. Your description is perfect (Baldwin meets Crews). Thank you so much for the recommendation! I agree, it's a masterpiece of some sort.

[@kanaprates1012]

Amazing video sargent! I really love your channel and I would really love a video about Cervantes's Dom Quixote de La Mancha, my favorite book ever! Greetings from Brasil!

[@zoemcmorran1503]

love your channel keep it up!

[@arnoldcarter8099]

Please do a video on Master and margarita... It's a great read for the time right now, with all the censorship on art thats going on. Aswell as a fantastic book, if you haven't read it please do... Did I mention the devil is in it. Cheers from Australia

[@ashleys9711]

My local book store picked that book as it's next read! It looks so interesting

[@Hitithardify]

The devil is in it, you say? As a metalhead, I am legally obligated to read anything that involves the devil.

[@maristiller4033]

Wonderful wonderful book I read it this summer and it became an instant favorite

[@fuzzydunlop4513]

I think he said he was reading it recently

[@queen_in_yellow]

Agreed. It's a favorite

[@nullset560]

Between this and "His Name was Death" I'm loving the reviews recently Cliff. Just leagues ahead of anyone else on KZbin.

[@alexander6746]

One day I will wake up and see a new post from Better Than Food and it will read Austerlitz - W.G. Sebald BOOK REVIEW and it will be a good morning

[@MrPROJECTSyNc]

Is it that good? I’ve just read The Rings of Saturn and I wish I had read Austerlitz instead haha

[@minanguelova]

what u said about growing and mistakes and no mistakes being permitted in a super vigilant society was really on point!

[@warlockofwordsreturnsrb4358]

Saló is a powerful film, once seen never fully forgotten. Have you seen Salon Kitty? A bit more rambunctious but keeps up the intense atmosphere.

[@LalalaStep]

Hi! Good channel! I have just laboured through The Recognitions by Gaddis, took me almost a year (mostly because I am not a native English speaker, so… mindfuck). I am still coming to terms with what that book actually was, so would appreciate your insights sometime in the future. Secondly, I noticed a pattern in your book picks and would therefore recommend a couple of non-conformist female voices: Elfriede Jelinek, Inés Cagnati, more of Lispector and Daša Drndić. Good luck!

[@michaelguzman5497]

Just finished your review and will definitely look for it. Have you read Deathbird Stories by Harlan Ellison?

[@TacticalSpray]

Have you read any S. Craig Zahler? I've just watched his three films which he wrote and directed, Bone Tomahawk, Brawl in Cellblock 99 and Dragged Across Concrete; They are some of the best movies I have seen out of the US in a long while.

[@hendrixman121]

This review caught my interest so much that I ordered it and it's now jumped to the top of my list...will be reading it next after I finish Satantango. I'm not sure if "looking forward to reading it" is the right phrasing given your review but I am very, very intrigued.

[@hendrixman121]

Just finished this book. Holy shit, what a ride. Incredible...never read anything like it.

[@chokingmessiah]

"In order to earn my reputation I may have to start drinking my tea from a skull since this is the only vice remaining to me.. four pots a day and heavy sugar.. " -William S. Burroughs to Laura Lee Burroughs, December 1959.

[@johnb.1020]

Top notch satire! Reminded me strongly of Crumb, Clay Wilson, Grass Green - stuff that I used to spend fat hours on in my twenties.

[@Saygoodbye130]

Thank you!

[@vicjames3256]

Wait de Sade's Justine didn't make you cry? Also, thanks for sharing - ordered this based on your review. Can't wait!

[@leripiliev6408]

A bookshelf tour would be amazing.

[@jakemahoney362]

Love this channel so much. Thank you for exposing these books to people. Truly inspiring man. U da best

[@Draxtor]

sounds awesome and a perfect Xmas gift for myself. 10 minutes in sounds a bit like Jodorowksy's "Santa Sangre"

[@shaneharrington3655]

Ok this sounds so good I need to stop the video, go buy the book and watch the review later when I finish it, thanks!

[@AlchemicalJournals]

Sounds riveting. Would really enjoy watching a “Top Ten favorite books of all time” video of yours

[@dabrupro]

Wow. Blown away. Recently learned of Percival Ellis and William Melvin Kelley. "Often humans will seek to improve the habitat of trout in a stream by providing some kind of structure under the water. People will sometimes dump anything in the stream, think that the fish will want to take shelter in it. Car bumpers, shopping carts, dog houses. Generally fish prefer the smooth curves of nature to the hard edges of humans. But more importantly, if the structure is not proper and is not put in the right place in the stream, the flow of the current might find an erodible bank and so cause more harm than good."--Erasure

[@anthonysheppard9247]

You are very easy to watch ,great fun,,,just wondering, do u ever ,or have you ever read amy stephen King novels, or do you just read high brow books ,,,

[@vpisanjuk2518]

review some Jean Genet! thiefs journal is a great start i think

[@darrenbrown8952]

Children of God and Ex-Military? Fuck me, I'm in. Can't get a stronger sell than that.

[@allofthemmilkingwithgreenf7493]

Right?!

[@rhysholdaway]

Just got this book as a Christmas Gift to myself.

[@rickharsch8797]

Your best review (of all I've seen). Overlooked authors: Chandler Brossard (latest novels).

[@yw1971]

8:31 - Groundhog Day ref. Yes

[@Neat0_o]

I would like very much to know your thoughts on some books by Clive barker.

[@Dorakskel]

You will love Invisible Man, it's exactly the sort of nuanced take on race that often gets sidelined in our world of 150 character opinions. Also I loved your comment on doing a 180 on a book that you hate after examining your hatred for it, I believe I've had this experience with The Trial by Kafka. I had such a visceral reaction of hatred for the book but I have never thought of a book more, I also tend to see the themes that Kafka explores in it so clearly in our modern day world that I've been essentially thinking about it non-stop since my initial reading. Every new process that we add to our world seems to make us less human. In a perverse way we are becoming, first and foremost, system facilitators.

[@ntandomazibuko6574]

This book completely changed me after I read it and became more curious about racial issues ... Thanks for the recommendation can't wait to re-read it

[@Ardavan47]

AMAZING.... you gotta read PIMP by Iceberg Slim

[@quinnbidmead2400]

I would love to see a review of ‘The Matter With Things”, by Iain McGilchrist. Only recently came out.

[@IdealEpitaph]

Do you have a list of every book reviewed/recommended?

[@jonathanwoodvincent]

I really appreciate you turning me on to this book. I am unable yet to express its effect. It's like a lotus budding in shit

[@walliewallace9990]

I really adore what you said about him trying to come to terms with the skewed lines between race, sexuality, etc…and from his messed up childhood how can he? I kind of feel how I felt when I read Lolita. I’m so forced to sympathize with him even though joe is objectively a bad person. His inner monologue is so brusque in a way that someone might actually rationalize with themselves. That’s the biggest reason why I find it so raw and real, because his rationalization of all the things he does is singularly his and his alone, which are (arguably) vile, cruel, and wrong. That’s why it’s so interesting.

[@jackseney7906]

You must read Ellison's "Invisible Man," it's practically your duty to do so 👍

[@dabrupro]

Leonard Cohen said something like some books are to be read, others studied. Your synopsis, etc. is amazing. Sounds like a mystical guide through the dark night of the soul. Intense indeed.

[@dabrupro]

You must stop insisting that good alone should happen to this body. You have become the gross body because only one body is the object of your concept. Servants and the attendants should be considered as God. There is no other Reality with or without quality. All is Govinda [God]. Because we categorise all objects, there is the ego. You perceive the wife as wife, the daughter as daughter, the horse as horse and the dog as dog. They are all Reality only. There is no need to change the form of the objects. Only the attitude of the seer must change.-SIDDHARAMESHWAR Maharaj

[@patrickmcdaniel8123]

@@dabrupro - This quote is so full of nonsense and half truths. One should always focus and aim toward "Good". Always.

[@laylavladi]

Yess more bunny rabbits and sunshine please

[@dullknifefactory]

Purchased a copy from thriftbook Insane read Had to put it down and read it in parts. Still haven't finished it yet.

[@jamesgwarrior1981]

I like how I am almost 100% sure, this will be the only writer after digging, was named Playboys next writer or best writer.

[@dbcarr2000]

For what it's worth, I wrote on _Lord of Dark Places_ in my book, _African American Satire: The Sacredly Profane Novel_ (2001). It's just a short analysis, but it's something. Bernard Bell also writes about Bennett in _The African American Novel and Its Tradition_ (1989). It is true that little scholarship on Bennett exists, and that this is a shame.

[@musicfilmhead9051]

Just read through that "half part" of the book. Jesus christ, that really hit hard...

[@Rodrigotosomandouvcsefoder]

Im a brazilian dude and wants to read this book, but there isn't translate of this book for portuguese. Someone cay say it's a too much difficult reading to do? Because i'll have to read it in english

[@bobcabot]

...ja but S.K. once said something genius to a critic : " Im writing about ordinary people in extraordinary situations, the "others" write about extraordinary people in ordinary situations" which translates here to: you can charge a book too much til it doesnt matter anymore...

[@alexmacdonald9182]

you had me at Death Grips :)

[@ellelala39]

I am a big coward; I couldn't handle Hubert Selby Jr. 's Requiem for a Dream. But you make an important point about Disturbing Art revealing truth (s) about the human condition.

[@caiomendes4178]

I think It’s time to some brazilian autor again :-) “The Hour of the Star” is a classic novel from Clarisse Lispector, it is short and simple but it is Clarice so don't let that fool you. This is a flawless tale, beautifully and poetically told. But i wold love if you read some book from Jorge Amado, anyone who has read Amado knows already that his characters are unforgettable, we have soap operas, movies and musics about his books and his characters, “The Two Deaths of Quincas Wateryell” is a very short, unpretentious funny book about the two deaths of Quincas, "vagabond king" and "patriarch of the prostitutes”. Nevertheless, inside it there lies the essence of brazilian culture. in case anyone is curious, the both books became movies, the movie “The Hour of the Star” is from 1985 and the movie “The Two Deaths of Quincas Wateryell” is from 2010, maybe is possible find with english subtitles on internet…

[@drdoolittle8396]

also Eden, Eden, Eden by Pierre Guyotat

[@nowheredan27]

Can't find a digital copy of this anywhere, man. Only PDFs. Damn shame.

[@lis.anwell638]

The way you’re talking about this book is the same way people feel about A Little Life.

[@randyattwood]

Do you accept books to review?

[@v.cackerman8749]

The whole “seeing yourself as a God” thing could partially be a coping mechanism to trauma.

[@theowlmovingcastle]

me: *watch a video from 2015 because need to learn about paradise lost* "Interesting,let's see his channel" me:"oh,is him the guy that i saw before?AH"

[@johnfleming5470]

Damn, and I was hoping for a Harry Potter Review - I was sure you had finally got to the classics

[@martinsFILMS13]

Harry Potter is for little kids!

[@richardrichard6383]

Or Horrid Henry. He's well transgressive.

[@Hitithardify]

You're a fan of Swans and Death Grips too?! Best Book reviewer of all time

[@luckygitane]

But does he have the best teeth in the game? 👀

[@ljgenes]

Hogg by Samuel R. Delany.

[@RidgeWalletYT]

Carbon Fiber realness 👌

[@walliewallace9990]

Just finished it and….I don’t think I can be more messed up than I am right now.

[@priyankadubey1418]

Wao

[@Bookspine5]

´If you are easily offended you´ll get the most out of it ,´BTF . I love it :D

[@Noogi302]

Is it more or less graphic than 120 Days of Sodom?

[@aliceboamahtoonetoo]

You're usually all right... but not this time...

[@ntandomazibuko6574]

Really cannot wait to read other books from the same author

[@queziacostareis8833]

Do I have the same taste in books as Cliff does? No. Do I still watch every episode whenever he uploads? Yes. Ps: No offense, but I prefer romance. And I am currently reading The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas just because of Cliff (even though I am Brazilian).

[@bobcabot]

so i forgot: sit down and write his Wikipedia and all for the others too, just do it...

[@Linda-bq7eq]

I’ll be reading some Hal Bennet. You’re a fine, convincing teacher. I found your channel back when you reviewed the Peregrine. Jeez…& thanks. Keep on.

[@pyjamacat7044]

xxx

[@Hermit_mouse]

Did anybody find this author to be similar to Chuck Palahniuk

[@fgjhfgjf]

I'm pretty easily offended but also careful

[@nopenope7654]

Swans, Death Grips, popularizing old transgressive lit...oh yeah it's millennial time 😎

[@lemvanw6499]

Revolt against the modern world by Evola is a life changing book. You should review it!

[@AleksandarBloom]

It's on every incel subforum! very strange! wonder why

[@lemvanw6499]

@@AleksandarBloom What the hell is an incel subforum? Incels are esotericists?

[@BigItalian7]

@@lemvanw6499 Not necessarily, they do tend to have highly reactionary and disgusting views though. Just like Evola, the man who thought Mussolini was too liberal and the Nazis didn't go far enough.

[@lemvanw6499]

@@BigItalian7 I guess, but Sargent has also reviewed Jordan Peterson and Jünger. Not the kind of guy to shy away from controversial books.

[@BigItalian7]

@@lemvanw6499 fair enough

[@mariaradulovic3203]

R u cruel? Do u like cruelty? Or r u doing your best to avoid it?

[@dullknifefactory]

I love when cliff reviews black authors

[@makor2817]

the hungover book reviewer

[@jongriffinblues]

Another work of transgressive fiction by an AA author - Hogg by Samuel R. Delany. I’ve never read it. Only read about it. Yikes!

[@jamesnetwall1193]

Thank God it's going to offend everybody American literature is long-ago neutered

[@jacobsullivan6472]

Love your book reviews dude. I dont mean to be that guy, but just want to share the message in these hard times. Ephesians 2:8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. Believe in The Lord (GOD) Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved. Just wanted to give people some hope. Peace and love, stay strong.

[@patrickmcdaniel8123]

Jacob Sulllivan - O.K. But did you read the book?

[@Boxer309]

Yo Sargent, I love your descriptive content, but your visual jump cuts give me a headache................. waaaaay overused IMO...............maybe it's just me🤔

[@Kepxnfjflamchdlwnxlw]

Pseudo-intellectual grifter.

[@nunyabizness9787]

I found this book far more boring than you did. The writing is pedantic and it wears out the shock-value of nonstop (and unrealistic) sex pretty quickly. The characters are also not realistic enough to invest in much. Joe has no identity whatsoever beyond sex. And even sex gets dull when there's nothing else. It picks up a bit when he goes to 'Nam and I hoped it would turn a corner... but then it goes right back. The big "shocking" moment is too unmotivated. It seems there just to try to freak the reader out, but it doesn't really work because we've established everyone as a cartoon already. The "who really killed the guy in the wine barrel?" thing got interesting... then went nowhere because Joe decided he was more interested in screwing some more to follow up on it. There are some interesting parts, and some (clumsy) attempts to pack in a message -- probably to keep the book from being dismissed as nothing but endless sucking-fucking -- but they're lost in look-at-my-chewed-up-food silliness. I didn't even find it that "transgressive," because it was trying WAAAAAY too hard. Also, whining your ass off for about five minutes isn't a great way to start a review. I am so tired of people crybabying about how they're being censored when they really aren't -- they're just not accepting the kind of results people get for being jerks.