Beatrice And Virgil - Yann Martel

So Yann Martel thinks that all stories about the Holocaust are the same and all make the same point and he really thinks that he is the man to change this.  This is the point he makes in the possibly autobiographical first section of this book about an authors failure to get his revolutionary novel/essay on the holocaust.  Then along come the donkey, howler monkey and taxidermist and you get all the allegories and bits where Martel  no doubt is being very clever and revolutionary.  But really just because it is monkey and a donkey saying it instead of a person doesn't make what there saying any different.  The main problem of this book to me is that it feels like and intellectual exercise rather than a story with emotional resonance.  Then again that may be the point.  The final Games For Gustav section is excellent and very powerful.

5/10 

The Informers - Bret Easton Ellis

Since this is a Bret Easton Ellis book none of the characters are very nice and all of the stories are either about unpleasant actions or tranquillised numbness.  Needless to say it is also really really good.  All the stories are set in mid '80s LA and many characters turn up in several stories and even some friends from other novels turn up.  The trademark dry dark humour was also present.  I'm glad I read this book and I'm also glad that I'm not any of the people in this story.  And there are vampires in it.

7/10

Amulet - Roberto Bolano

The narrator spends most of this story in a toilet cubicle at the university of mexico city.  This book is about 1000 times more interesting than this. I don't really have anything to say about this book but I did enjoy it quite a lot.  So there.

8/10

Kingdom Of Fear - Hunter S Thompson

To begin with I really enjoyed this book, thought it was hilarious and Thompson was a hero, wanted to read fear and loathing again etc etc etc.  But as I read further I became more and more irritated with his always in the right and on the wrong side of the law folk hero persona.  This book could be hugely improved if he could admit just once or twice to have maybe been wrong or to have made a mistake.

6.5/10