Psychoses Unleashed! | ‘Walking to Hollywood’ BOOK REVIEW

[@dreamofempire2114]

The only thing I’ve read of his is Great Apes and I’m afraid I did not enjoy it at all. The writing style in the novel seemed to me at the time to fit well with my impression of Mr Self any time I encountered him on TV, which was that he seemed fixedly intent on proving to everyone how incredibly clever he was (which no doubt he is) but also came across as arrogant and somewhat boorish. You seem to hold him in high esteem so perhaps I should give another of his novels a try.

[@JoeSpivey02]

Is there not that same 'fixed intent to prove cleverness' in most novelists? I'll grant you that the intent seems to dominate Will more than is typical, but I really don't think it ruins the overall experience. If you don't like his fiction, there are three collections of essays which are more grounded but just as lyrically adventurous! 'Junk Mail', 'Feeding Frenzy' and 'Why Read'.

[@dreamofempire2114]

Thanks for those recommendations, Joe. I will seek them out. I don’t agree with you that most novelists are trying to show their readers how clever they are. Some of the best manage very well to get out of their own way with their prose to to allow the reader to become immersed and fully engaged in the behaviours and motivations of the characters without seeing ‘the strings’ pulled by the puppeteer.