The Dog (Explicit)

This sarcastically written novel by Joseph O'Neill is not a part of my reading challenge - but instead is another one of those books like Satin Island - yes, it's from Cillian Murphy's bookshelf. Well, I did think (as you may remember) Satin Island was worth a good read, maybe even a re-read. I can't say that about this one. It was good, not great. It's not one of those memorable books and I think that I may pass a re-read on it. (That's saying something! For me to pass a re-read, the book must've not been very impressive at all!) Saying that, it wasn't really the worst book I've ever read and I would recommend it to you - since the writing style is quite funny. It's the characters that I found impossible most of the time. 

As you all now know where I got my recommendation from - I aptly send my apologies for this review to Irish actor Cillian Murphy. I'm sure his real taste in literature is better than whatever this is. 

Get ready. 

Characters:

Well, I didn't have a favourite character in this novel purely because I thought that the protagonist was a sort of post-modernist misogynist A-Grade asshole. A man who talks sarcastically about metaphors around pornography - yet forcibly sexualises the shit out of everything....I can't even describe how much I hated the characters. Let's move on. 

Themes:

Okay, so the theme surrounding the language of sarcasm and social critique was actually pretty good. I have to say, there were some parts that were genuinely funny. But, apart from that - that's pretty much it. 

Storyline:

I failed to process most of the storyline because of the long, flamboyant, verbose and unneeded endless syntax that seemed to have absolutely no punctuation whatsoever so that when you probably cam to an important part of the piece you'd probably miss it because you weren't stopping to take breaths (or mental breaths) in-between the reading and processing. 

Kind of like that sentence ^^^. 

Verdict:

Sorry Cillian - I give this book 3/9. I aptly apologise to Cillian Murphy - I loved Satin Island though - that was at least bearable. 

0/3 for characters: Let's just not go there. Not. Even. Close. 

100% for themes: Witty dialogue AND witty narration - extra brownie points earned. 

0/3 for storyline: Nope. Never again. Long...long...long...long...verbose...verbose...verbose...verbose...Dribble.