|
|
Post by vaughan on Jul 1, 2009 15:25:38 GMT
Paperjacks: 1986, 166 Pages
After the disaster that was "The Confessional" I immediately (as in as soon as the Confessional book hit the carpet) grabbed another book to start.
Phew! And was it ever a relief!
The Happy Man tells the story of the Ripley family, happy in their San Diego suburban lifestyle. Living among like minded professionals, the border to Mexico just three miles off, fast cars and...... new neighbours.
The new neighbours are the Marsh's. Father, Mother, and son.
They're just a bit wealthier than everyone else, yet they're easy going, happy, and in complete control. Bit by bit they insinuate their values onto the community, perverting your bog standard suburban lifestyle into something far more.... personal. Their mentor? Marquees De Sade..... Juliet.
I really enjoyed this one. It was a bit unique from my experience, but I'd say it's a cross between American Psycho and a late Ballard novel. It had horror elements, but there are several themes underlying it: self-worth, the nature of suburban lives, and the needs of man are quite interesting - without interfering with the fictional plot that rolls out, it never gets heavy handed.
Indeed, this book is a breezy read, told entirely in the first person (Charles Ripley) and includes a couple of shocks along the way.
I'm still too lazy to hook up my scanner (is that really important to people here?) but the cover is nice too - a photograph of two hands - and a knife and fork cutting through an eyeball.....
Higgs apparently wrote one other book - Doppelganger. I'll keep my eyes out for that.
Excellent read this.
|
|
|
|
Post by markewest on Jul 30, 2014 8:59:42 GMT
Starting this today, after it's been sat on my shelf for years (I reckon I bought it in the late 80s). I read the same writers "Doppelganger" a couple of years ago, which was quite clunky but good fun.
|
|
|
|
Post by markewest on Mar 6, 2015 11:21:47 GMT
|
|
