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The Gospel According to Blindboy
The Gospel According to Blindboy is a surreal and genre-defying collection of short stories and visual art exploring the myths, complacencies and contradictions at the heart of modern Ireland. Covering themes ranging from love and death to sex and politics, there's a story about a girl from Tipp being kicked out of ISIS, a van powered by Cork people's accents and a man who drags a fridge on his back through Limerick.
255 pages, Hardcover
First published October 20, 2017
312 people are currently reading
1923 people want to read
About the author
Blindboy Boatclub
6 books399 followersBlindboy Boatclub is one half of the famed artist duo the Rubberbandits. Along with Mr. Chrome, the Rubberbandits started working together in 2000 but shot to international fame in 2010 upon the release of their song 'Horse Outside'. Their debut album 'Serious About Men' was released in 2011.
The duo are famed for their satirical and biting takes on Irish culture and are easily identifiable by their masks, made of plastic shopping bags, used to hide their identities. The Rubberbandits are self-proclaimed Gas Cuntists, an art movement they founded that has been described as 'Dada and Fluxus on a horn'.
In 2015, the duo represented Ireland at the Venice Biennale.
The duo are famed for their satirical and biting takes on Irish culture and are easily identifiable by their masks, made of plastic shopping bags, used to hide their identities. The Rubberbandits are self-proclaimed Gas Cuntists, an art movement they founded that has been described as 'Dada and Fluxus on a horn'.
In 2015, the duo represented Ireland at the Venice Biennale.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 185 reviews
November 21, 2017
In 1916 in the Cabaret Voltaire in Zurich a man named Hugo Ball is standing on a small stage dressed in a suit made of cardboard. He opens his mouth and out comes a procession of nonsense words and sounds. He sounds like he’s having a stroke. But what he’s saying isn’t nonsense, it’s a poem he wrote called Karawane. And you in the audience, you’re a young man who is disillusioned by the war happening around you. Machines are killing man. How did this happen? Modern life has become an absurdity. Just as absurd as Hugo Ball up on that stage in his cardboard suit and saying words like ‘jolifanto bambla ô falli bambla’. Back then they called this display of insanity ‘dada’ and it eventually became one of the most important movements in twentieth-century art history. Times of great political unrest are when we need absurdity the most. 1916 had Hugo Ball but 2017 has Blindboy Boatclub.
Many of you will know Blindboy as one half of the artist duo the Rubberbandits but this book is a solo venture. The Gospel According to Blindboy is a collection of fifteen Gas Cuntist story stories. Gas Cuntism is the aesthetic movement founded by the Rubberbandits, an artistic venture described as ‘Dada and Fluxus on a horn’. Therefore, this book acts not only as a conventional collection of stories but as an endeavour for Gas Cuntism to be recognised within the public sphere. Much like how André Breton’s novel Nadja has become one of the major texts for understanding the beginnings of French Surrealism, The Gospel According to Blindboy acts as primer for those wanting to learn about Gas Cuntism.
But ultimately, none of this means anything if the stories do not hold up. I am happy to report that not only do these stories hold up, but this book is one of the most eloquent and well-crafted debut collections I have ever read. Short story collections are very often hit-and-miss, in a collection of fifteen like this one you would expect maybe one or two standout stories, peppered with a couple of middling tales and handful of duds thrown in just to bulk the whole thing up. The Gospel According to Blindboy is astonishing in its consistency with each new story being just as strong as the previous. It’s the ABBA Gold of short story collections, there isn’t a bad one in there.
To give an example of the Gas Cuntist stylings of these stories, let me describe what I believe to be the masterpiece of the whole collection, ‘Arse Children’. This story (which is actually more a novella) takes place on a November evening in the Mansion House in Dublin. Éamon de Valera and Michael Collins are hypothesising what is to be done about the Cairo Gang. We discover that De Valera has been given the gift of a womb in his bowels and is able to give birth to arse children, an army of two-foot tall soldiers with a bloodlust for killing the Cairo Gang. Eventually the story leads to a scene in which Michael Collins is fucking Éamon de Valera in the arse after being liquored up on tiki cocktails. The final section of the story deals with the apparent author of this tale and the outrage the story causes when it is released online. Only Blindboy Boatclub could turn a story about De Valera birthing children out of his anus into a meditation on online culture and the mob mentality. In fact, many of the stories are not what they seem, with the overwhelming absurdity masking deeper meditations on mental health and modern life. Perhaps the most affecting story in the collection is ‘Ten-Foot Hen Bending’ which involves a young woman dealing with crippling anxiety and how it essentially ruins her life. Ultimately, we see her attempting to overcome her anxiety by tormenting a group of Italian tourists in Bunratty Castle with Australian actor Sam Neill.
The Gospel According to Blindboy is a blindingly inventive collection. Echoes of Flann O’Brien and Leonora Carrington permeate the pages, whilst Blindboy’s unique prose style could be described as a lyrical patois. There is just something so wonderfully visceral about phrases like ‘tit milk’ and ‘rape brothel’. Chuckles beget hysterics. And all of this from a debut collection. It really is unheard of. I loved this book and I can already see myself taking it down from my shelf every so often to dip in and out of, like a mad trout in a river of sizzurp.
Many of you will know Blindboy as one half of the artist duo the Rubberbandits but this book is a solo venture. The Gospel According to Blindboy is a collection of fifteen Gas Cuntist story stories. Gas Cuntism is the aesthetic movement founded by the Rubberbandits, an artistic venture described as ‘Dada and Fluxus on a horn’. Therefore, this book acts not only as a conventional collection of stories but as an endeavour for Gas Cuntism to be recognised within the public sphere. Much like how André Breton’s novel Nadja has become one of the major texts for understanding the beginnings of French Surrealism, The Gospel According to Blindboy acts as primer for those wanting to learn about Gas Cuntism.
But ultimately, none of this means anything if the stories do not hold up. I am happy to report that not only do these stories hold up, but this book is one of the most eloquent and well-crafted debut collections I have ever read. Short story collections are very often hit-and-miss, in a collection of fifteen like this one you would expect maybe one or two standout stories, peppered with a couple of middling tales and handful of duds thrown in just to bulk the whole thing up. The Gospel According to Blindboy is astonishing in its consistency with each new story being just as strong as the previous. It’s the ABBA Gold of short story collections, there isn’t a bad one in there.
To give an example of the Gas Cuntist stylings of these stories, let me describe what I believe to be the masterpiece of the whole collection, ‘Arse Children’. This story (which is actually more a novella) takes place on a November evening in the Mansion House in Dublin. Éamon de Valera and Michael Collins are hypothesising what is to be done about the Cairo Gang. We discover that De Valera has been given the gift of a womb in his bowels and is able to give birth to arse children, an army of two-foot tall soldiers with a bloodlust for killing the Cairo Gang. Eventually the story leads to a scene in which Michael Collins is fucking Éamon de Valera in the arse after being liquored up on tiki cocktails. The final section of the story deals with the apparent author of this tale and the outrage the story causes when it is released online. Only Blindboy Boatclub could turn a story about De Valera birthing children out of his anus into a meditation on online culture and the mob mentality. In fact, many of the stories are not what they seem, with the overwhelming absurdity masking deeper meditations on mental health and modern life. Perhaps the most affecting story in the collection is ‘Ten-Foot Hen Bending’ which involves a young woman dealing with crippling anxiety and how it essentially ruins her life. Ultimately, we see her attempting to overcome her anxiety by tormenting a group of Italian tourists in Bunratty Castle with Australian actor Sam Neill.
The Gospel According to Blindboy is a blindingly inventive collection. Echoes of Flann O’Brien and Leonora Carrington permeate the pages, whilst Blindboy’s unique prose style could be described as a lyrical patois. There is just something so wonderfully visceral about phrases like ‘tit milk’ and ‘rape brothel’. Chuckles beget hysterics. And all of this from a debut collection. It really is unheard of. I loved this book and I can already see myself taking it down from my shelf every so often to dip in and out of, like a mad trout in a river of sizzurp.
February 9, 2018
This is the weirdest book I’ve ever read and it’s brilliant.
Read
April 9, 2018Blindboy has been lauded as ‘the voice of a generation’ by of some of his peers and is the self-proclaimed architect of a new aesthetic/literary style he refers to as, ‘gas cuntism’. This aesthetic is centred around a delirious postmodern mash-up of ancient Irish history, dole merchants, mental health problems, politics and drugs, all delivered though a, slashing modern Irish vernacular.
Blindboy retorts to have great admiration and respect for Ireland’s magnificent literary lineage. There is certainly a felt sense of Flann O’ Brien’s bizarre humour and deviations into metafiction. However, Kevin Barry, whose dark prose and incisive take on modern Ireland has been rightly championed by critics, comes to mind more readily. Blindboy however, lacks Barry’s discipline. I don’t mean by way of the stories’ ludicrous content (Michael Collins and Eamon De Valera engaging in graphic anal intercourse in order to spawn a small fleet of Irish Republican super soldiers known as ‘arse children’ is a prime example), this isn’t even necessarily my main bone of contention with Blindboy. It’s his lack of discipline when it comes to the actual prose. The vernacular approach, though at first is somewhat refreshing, is essentially the same in nearly every story. He incessantly litters the stories with ‘hilarious’ similes; it’s as though he’s desperately trying to be ‘fresh’ here. The humour seems crowbarred in a lot of the time, contrived, impairing the surrounding story. Each tale is subject to absurd plot twists which, though are perhaps somewhat, ‘gas’, leave the narrative completely scattered and subsequently, the reader, unengaged. Ultimately, there is no one to care about in these stories (perhaps, with the exception of the semi-autobiographical tale concerning the sufferer of social anxiety). There are some great and truly funny moments to be found among the 15 shorts however, and glimmers of a genuinely fresh voice emerging among the squall.
There is talent here, and humour and a welcome mix of absurdity and darkness; yet there is also a need for discipline and continence. An ability to curtail some of the absurdity might just free up some of these characters and stories, and possibly our own ability to relate to them.
Blindboy retorts to have great admiration and respect for Ireland’s magnificent literary lineage. There is certainly a felt sense of Flann O’ Brien’s bizarre humour and deviations into metafiction. However, Kevin Barry, whose dark prose and incisive take on modern Ireland has been rightly championed by critics, comes to mind more readily. Blindboy however, lacks Barry’s discipline. I don’t mean by way of the stories’ ludicrous content (Michael Collins and Eamon De Valera engaging in graphic anal intercourse in order to spawn a small fleet of Irish Republican super soldiers known as ‘arse children’ is a prime example), this isn’t even necessarily my main bone of contention with Blindboy. It’s his lack of discipline when it comes to the actual prose. The vernacular approach, though at first is somewhat refreshing, is essentially the same in nearly every story. He incessantly litters the stories with ‘hilarious’ similes; it’s as though he’s desperately trying to be ‘fresh’ here. The humour seems crowbarred in a lot of the time, contrived, impairing the surrounding story. Each tale is subject to absurd plot twists which, though are perhaps somewhat, ‘gas’, leave the narrative completely scattered and subsequently, the reader, unengaged. Ultimately, there is no one to care about in these stories (perhaps, with the exception of the semi-autobiographical tale concerning the sufferer of social anxiety). There are some great and truly funny moments to be found among the 15 shorts however, and glimmers of a genuinely fresh voice emerging among the squall.
There is talent here, and humour and a welcome mix of absurdity and darkness; yet there is also a need for discipline and continence. An ability to curtail some of the absurdity might just free up some of these characters and stories, and possibly our own ability to relate to them.
March 12, 2023
This man brings an incredible amount of peace to my life through his weekly podcast and writing. Any words to try and deftly big up his work would do it a terrible injustice I'm sure. Highly recommend - jump in and enjoy the ride.
December 8, 2017
When I started it, it was definitely a 5 star for me. What changed? I think he's not fully aware that his misogynistic tendencies can read less like parody more like truth. I met heard him talk and I have a lot of love and respect for him. He's the new voice of this weird new Ireland/voice of his generation. I like his feminism, but it still needs some work. He sort of makes fun of this, in the story with the man who wears the Repeal sweatshirt and runs a pizza place. Some of these are so wonderfully disturbing and makes me think there is actually something wrong with him. But there probably isn't. I loved! the story about the woman who deals with her anxiety. It's a great example of how to deal with depression and the power of now. Arse Children...oh my. That's all I'll say about that. Totally worth a read. It will definitely be unlike anything you've read before.
March 3, 2018
An instant favourite! Brilliantly twisted, rollercoaster-like unpredictable and witty. Blindboy's elaborate eloquence and disturbing complexity is definitely not for everybody, which only makes it more irresistible. Some of the short stories are pure nightmare material, part bad trip, part introspective crisis, refreshed by an exhilarating fearlessness. I'd like to see David Cronenberg and Danny Boyle pairing up and bringing these stories to a screen - or maybe not, better leave them on those adrenaline-fueled pages. Long live the Great Gascuntist!
February 13, 2021
The fuck did I just read??
December 22, 2024
I’m sorry, I’m not hip or cool, but most of these stories were just too weird. Absurdism/gas cuntism is just not for me, and you know what? That’s okay!
Scaphism = 3.25 stars
Dr Marie Gaffney = 4.25 stars (my favourite)
Draco = 3 stars
Ten-foot Hen Bending = 2.5 stars
Fatima Backflip = 2 stars
Hugged-up Studded Blood-puppet = 1.5 stars
The Batter = 2 stars
Arse Children = 1.5 stars
Malaga = 3 stars
Ríthe Chorcaí = 1.5 stars
Shovel Duds = 1 star
Lackland Candlewax = 2 stars
‘Did you read about Erskine Fogarty?’ = 3 stars
The Bournville Chorus = 2 stars
Month Shunters = 2 stars
Average rating: 2.3 stars
Scaphism = 3.25 stars
Dr Marie Gaffney = 4.25 stars (my favourite)
Draco = 3 stars
Ten-foot Hen Bending = 2.5 stars
Fatima Backflip = 2 stars
Hugged-up Studded Blood-puppet = 1.5 stars
The Batter = 2 stars
Arse Children = 1.5 stars
Malaga = 3 stars
Ríthe Chorcaí = 1.5 stars
Shovel Duds = 1 star
Lackland Candlewax = 2 stars
‘Did you read about Erskine Fogarty?’ = 3 stars
The Bournville Chorus = 2 stars
Month Shunters = 2 stars
Average rating: 2.3 stars
August 11, 2025
Ako priča počne normalno samo malo pričekajte.
Ludo iskustvo, u jednom momentu sam čitala fanfic dva irska političara, a u idućem priču o psihopatkinji koja je toliko poremećena da je ISIS ne želi.
((ps podcast mu je savršen))
Ludo iskustvo, u jednom momentu sam čitala fanfic dva irska političara, a u idućem priču o psihopatkinji koja je toliko poremećena da je ISIS ne želi.
((ps podcast mu je savršen))
April 10, 2023
I appreciated what he was going for and I enjoyed some stories, but the writing style just wasn’t for me
January 20, 2026
4.5 stars, rounded up.
Loved these stories years ago when I listened to Blindboy tell them on his podcast, and enjoyed reading them even more! Really strong collection, love his writing, as deranged as it often is 😂
Here's how much I enjoyed them:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
1. Scaphism
6. Hugged Up Studded Blood Puppet
9. Malaga
13. Did You Read About Erskine Fogarty?
15. Month Shunters
⭐⭐⭐⭐
3. Draco
4. Ten-Foot Hen Building
7. The Batter
10. Ríthe Chórcaí
11. Shovel Duds
⭐ ⭐ ⭐
2. Dr. Marie Gaffney
5. Fatima Backflips
8. Arse Children
14. The Bournville Chorus
⭐⭐
12. Lackland Candlewax
(If you average-up those stars, the result is actually very slightly below 4 stars, but there's added points for overall enjoyment. Greater than the sum of its parts, etc.😁)
Loved these stories years ago when I listened to Blindboy tell them on his podcast, and enjoyed reading them even more! Really strong collection, love his writing, as deranged as it often is 😂
Here's how much I enjoyed them:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
1. Scaphism
6. Hugged Up Studded Blood Puppet
9. Malaga
13. Did You Read About Erskine Fogarty?
15. Month Shunters
⭐⭐⭐⭐
3. Draco
4. Ten-Foot Hen Building
7. The Batter
10. Ríthe Chórcaí
11. Shovel Duds
⭐ ⭐ ⭐
2. Dr. Marie Gaffney
5. Fatima Backflips
8. Arse Children
14. The Bournville Chorus
⭐⭐
12. Lackland Candlewax
(If you average-up those stars, the result is actually very slightly below 4 stars, but there's added points for overall enjoyment. Greater than the sum of its parts, etc.😁)
May 21, 2021
Couldn’t put it down, read it in two sittings! By far my favourite collection of short stories yet. Would have been five stars but I found myself skipping two stories because of the graphic contents.
September 16, 2021
Charming alarming yarns and fact rapt toys.
June 12, 2024
This was truly an experience. Unsure I would embark on it again but very glad that I did. Clever, funny, disturbingly close to reality and gloriously weird.
March 15, 2019
Brilliant! I loved it
June 3, 2020
I find myself apprehensive when it comes to penning this review, for fear of doing this modern masterpiece a disservice. However, I have committed myself to writing a review for every book I read during the pandemic for fear of entirely losing the run of my mental stability, and therefore I must prevail. I apologise in advance.
I meant what I said when I used the word 'masterpiece' - every inch of the meaning of it. I had to pace myself while reading 'The Gospel According to Blindboy' due to my terror of consuming the fifteen incredible short stories in one greedy glut and being left with a somewhat empty heart afterwards, with no idea of what to do with my time and imagination after having finished. It was bittersweet when I turned the final page today after about five days, which were largely dedicated to trying to complete my tortuous overload of college assignments - still not finished, but hey, I had the best of distractions to keep me *somewhat* sane.
The first word that comes to mind when I think back to my reading experience (truly, there is no other word to describe it) is 'unexpected'. Who would ever have guessed that the same man who broke the internet back in 2010 with the notorious 'I've a Horse Outside' could come up with a collection of stories so unique, refreshing, daring, and diverse? Now, let me make this clear, there is nothing wrong with 'I've a Horse Outside' or any of the Rubberbandits' other... em... works? As satirical songs, they paint quite the (unfortunately) accurate picture of Irish society, but 'The Gospel According to Blindboy' reaches intellectual depths I just would never have expected from a 'man who for his day job wears a plastic bag over his head', as Russell Brand so aptly quipped.
From ancient Persia to modern Honduras, from Draco to Freud, from bog bodies to ornithology, and from King John the First of England to Éamon de Valera, this book has it all. There is an entire two pages filled with fascinating facts, and Blindboy spins shocking takes on the above characters, concepts and places among many others with an ease that can only come from being extremely well-educated. Once again, who would have known? The book twists and turns in and out of history and while the shifting narrative voice (switching between first and third person, depending on the story) is resolutely Irish, some of the accounts take us all across the world. The only recurring feature is the impossibility of knowing what direction the book will turn next -(spoiler alert!) who would have guessed that a lonely trailer inhabitant of Ennis could end up becoming the new, mangled sexual fetish of a Chinese drug-lord in Hong Kong almost overnight?
The sudden and drastic turn of events as presented in each story is not only shocking but also somewhat worrying - how the idea of (more spoilers!) Éamon de Valera becoming pregnant through an erotic encounter with the taken Michael Collins and swelling to the point that his body, now a mere vessel for a parasitic hoard of Titans, takes up the entirity of Dáil Éireann, could have come logically to the human mind is anyone's guess, but clearly it did. Certain ethnic groups (namely Corkonians) being massively offended by some of the stories would be perfectly understandable, but I do think that the book as a whole is so offensive that it is practically entirely unoffensive. Nearly everyone who reads it (including, I'm sure, Blindboy himself) could take offence at some part of it, but I think that anyone who chooses to do so is a puritan at heart and has no desire to ever have any fun. Despite the fact that I have been slightly mentally scarred by some highly vivid descriptions (you're probably best off skipping 'Scaphism' if you have a weak stomach), I have not been so transfixed by a book in ages, and so it gets a thumbs up from me. I now can't wait to read 'Boulevard Wren and Other Stories' and hope that Blindboy goes on to produce many more.
I meant what I said when I used the word 'masterpiece' - every inch of the meaning of it. I had to pace myself while reading 'The Gospel According to Blindboy' due to my terror of consuming the fifteen incredible short stories in one greedy glut and being left with a somewhat empty heart afterwards, with no idea of what to do with my time and imagination after having finished. It was bittersweet when I turned the final page today after about five days, which were largely dedicated to trying to complete my tortuous overload of college assignments - still not finished, but hey, I had the best of distractions to keep me *somewhat* sane.
The first word that comes to mind when I think back to my reading experience (truly, there is no other word to describe it) is 'unexpected'. Who would ever have guessed that the same man who broke the internet back in 2010 with the notorious 'I've a Horse Outside' could come up with a collection of stories so unique, refreshing, daring, and diverse? Now, let me make this clear, there is nothing wrong with 'I've a Horse Outside' or any of the Rubberbandits' other... em... works? As satirical songs, they paint quite the (unfortunately) accurate picture of Irish society, but 'The Gospel According to Blindboy' reaches intellectual depths I just would never have expected from a 'man who for his day job wears a plastic bag over his head', as Russell Brand so aptly quipped.
From ancient Persia to modern Honduras, from Draco to Freud, from bog bodies to ornithology, and from King John the First of England to Éamon de Valera, this book has it all. There is an entire two pages filled with fascinating facts, and Blindboy spins shocking takes on the above characters, concepts and places among many others with an ease that can only come from being extremely well-educated. Once again, who would have known? The book twists and turns in and out of history and while the shifting narrative voice (switching between first and third person, depending on the story) is resolutely Irish, some of the accounts take us all across the world. The only recurring feature is the impossibility of knowing what direction the book will turn next -(spoiler alert!) who would have guessed that a lonely trailer inhabitant of Ennis could end up becoming the new, mangled sexual fetish of a Chinese drug-lord in Hong Kong almost overnight?
The sudden and drastic turn of events as presented in each story is not only shocking but also somewhat worrying - how the idea of (more spoilers!) Éamon de Valera becoming pregnant through an erotic encounter with the taken Michael Collins and swelling to the point that his body, now a mere vessel for a parasitic hoard of Titans, takes up the entirity of Dáil Éireann, could have come logically to the human mind is anyone's guess, but clearly it did. Certain ethnic groups (namely Corkonians) being massively offended by some of the stories would be perfectly understandable, but I do think that the book as a whole is so offensive that it is practically entirely unoffensive. Nearly everyone who reads it (including, I'm sure, Blindboy himself) could take offence at some part of it, but I think that anyone who chooses to do so is a puritan at heart and has no desire to ever have any fun. Despite the fact that I have been slightly mentally scarred by some highly vivid descriptions (you're probably best off skipping 'Scaphism' if you have a weak stomach), I have not been so transfixed by a book in ages, and so it gets a thumbs up from me. I now can't wait to read 'Boulevard Wren and Other Stories' and hope that Blindboy goes on to produce many more.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 23, 2020
Read some of this to the bais when we went to Switzerland in 2018. Only finishing it now. Be sure to read it Blindboy's voice for maximum craic.
October 27, 2022
Genuinely sublime - stunningly clever, bitingly satirical and hilarious all at the same time. It's not for everyone, sure, but it's so, so good. Listen to Blindboy's amazing podcast as well, he covers everything from the simple joy of cooking to strategies for improving your mental health to the most surreal flights of imagination. I've learned so much from him. Yurt.
January 7, 2025
Aboslutely batshit, buckwild collection of short stories. Veers from laugh out loud to jaw dropping to shockingly grotesque, often in the same story. Some were weak but the overall tapestry was extremely rich; would recommend if you like your books a bit edgy!
November 29, 2020
some good some bad have to be in a good mood to find it funny overall grand
December 22, 2022
Collection of wonderfully weird short stories. Always hilarious while also being genuinely disturbing at times, it consistently subverted my expectations. Loved it
July 18, 2023
An amusing collection of surreal short stories from a man tries to understand the world with a plastic bag on his face. Absolute favourite was the man carrying his American style fridge freezer on his back though the streets Limerick.
January 27, 2026
This was a healthy bit of madness to read. Some short stories that particularly stood out are .. Ten-Foot Hen Bending is an amazingly unhinged uplifting story. The Batter created such an interesting character story. Malaga was gas. Hugged-Up Studded Blood Puppet madness.
August 8, 2023
This book was so weird I feel like there's something wrong with me just for liking it
January 24, 2025
This short story collection is absurd, disturbing and disgusting at times. I laughed out loud on the train. Gas cuntism at its finest.
November 4, 2024
i kept deluding myself into thinking “oh, this story seems pretty tame”, until it wasn’t
August 25, 2020
Fiction as Standup.
Social media as self-promotion.
Shock and Awe as attention-grabbing
The Prop as Narcissism.
Irony as the voice of Post-Modernism.
How did I get here? I still can’t recall. But it was cheap and arrived virtually pristine. Picked up. Put Down. Picked Up, Put Down, Picked up and splurged. I knew nothing of The Rubberbandits – perhaps that should be TheRubberbanditsIreland’sforemostsatiricistsandoriginalcomedicvoices as the hagiography seems to go. Put a hashtag at the front and you’ve got it in one. Stick a plastic shopping bag on yer napper like some downmarket Daft Punk duo and the recipe for success hits you square in the teeth like a 4 be 2 on a Saturday night. Lets face it.... Grayson Perry’s ‘Claire’ has been at it for a good few years now and did the majority of work to win the 2003 Turner Prize for the luvviedom of Islingtonia.
All of the stories are not without merit but all of them read like someone from the People’s Republic of Stokes Croft doing their usual Saturday Night gig before getting shit-faced on scrumpy. But thats OK, you know, because we are all in this post-modernist ironic world of the coming apocalypse. The instructions on the bottle say ‘TAKE NOTHING SERIOUSLY’.
Blindboy Boatclub is one half of TheRubberbanditsIreland’sforemostsatiricistsandoriginalcomedicvoices. For some reason, management induced, the acquisitive need to grab more money, the narcisistic need for more hits and likes, these 15 standup ideas have been put together in book form and published as THE NEW NOVELETTE. He draws little pictures too, which all come with another little postmodernist ironic tagline. Yep – you can’t do anything now without the tagline or the hashtag. Its embarrassing.
‘Arse Children’ grabbed me for the the bizarre combination of De Valera and Michael Collins and the spawning of arse children revoutionary assassins of the Ra through anal sex. The tale goes into overdrive with a mock up of social media self-perpetuation which is another ironic statement on an ironic statement. Meta-irony. Beautiful and wasted. The voice of the underclass crying in the wild. Shouting not crying. I have a vague liking for them / him which is set against this appalling denigration of literature which yer man would never even begin to buy into. So what is it for? More money making? More exposure? A long wank of self-gratification?
If this is the fiction of the future then I’ll stick to Bernhard, Coetzee, Saramago and Krasznahorkai. I fully expect yer man to be funded to do a serious explorative programme for RTE on The Celtic Tiger soon. Grayson’s the model. But as Blindboy says himself....
Social media as self-promotion.
Shock and Awe as attention-grabbing
The Prop as Narcissism.
Irony as the voice of Post-Modernism.
How did I get here? I still can’t recall. But it was cheap and arrived virtually pristine. Picked up. Put Down. Picked Up, Put Down, Picked up and splurged. I knew nothing of The Rubberbandits – perhaps that should be TheRubberbanditsIreland’sforemostsatiricistsandoriginalcomedicvoices as the hagiography seems to go. Put a hashtag at the front and you’ve got it in one. Stick a plastic shopping bag on yer napper like some downmarket Daft Punk duo and the recipe for success hits you square in the teeth like a 4 be 2 on a Saturday night. Lets face it.... Grayson Perry’s ‘Claire’ has been at it for a good few years now and did the majority of work to win the 2003 Turner Prize for the luvviedom of Islingtonia.
All of the stories are not without merit but all of them read like someone from the People’s Republic of Stokes Croft doing their usual Saturday Night gig before getting shit-faced on scrumpy. But thats OK, you know, because we are all in this post-modernist ironic world of the coming apocalypse. The instructions on the bottle say ‘TAKE NOTHING SERIOUSLY’.
Blindboy Boatclub is one half of TheRubberbanditsIreland’sforemostsatiricistsandoriginalcomedicvoices. For some reason, management induced, the acquisitive need to grab more money, the narcisistic need for more hits and likes, these 15 standup ideas have been put together in book form and published as THE NEW NOVELETTE. He draws little pictures too, which all come with another little postmodernist ironic tagline. Yep – you can’t do anything now without the tagline or the hashtag. Its embarrassing.
‘Arse Children’ grabbed me for the the bizarre combination of De Valera and Michael Collins and the spawning of arse children revoutionary assassins of the Ra through anal sex. The tale goes into overdrive with a mock up of social media self-perpetuation which is another ironic statement on an ironic statement. Meta-irony. Beautiful and wasted. The voice of the underclass crying in the wild. Shouting not crying. I have a vague liking for them / him which is set against this appalling denigration of literature which yer man would never even begin to buy into. So what is it for? More money making? More exposure? A long wank of self-gratification?
If this is the fiction of the future then I’ll stick to Bernhard, Coetzee, Saramago and Krasznahorkai. I fully expect yer man to be funded to do a serious explorative programme for RTE on The Celtic Tiger soon. Grayson’s the model. But as Blindboy says himself....
"[Galleries and museums] preach only to the converted. They remind us of churches, pure solemn and inhabited by very silent people who don’t open their mouths, for fear that someone else might find out that they don’t fully understand the art that’s on display. Art galleries in Ireland are like big vegan churches, and the curator always wears black, like a priest, and the visitors are there for the free wine. Most people who attend Irish galleries are other artists, and they all whisper to each other about commissioning opportunities inside imaginary confessional boxes."Irvine Welsh has a lot to answer for.
June 6, 2024
Dark Irish humour at its finest
January 11, 2018
Top class gas cuntism. The book is kind of undefineable. You will be reading the story thinking "ok, this is a grand wee story", then it will veer off course, skid, spin and crash in a ball of flames leaving no survivors. Only problem with this book was I read it way too quick. <3
February 6, 2018
Excellent collection of shorts, somewhat in the grand tradition of Irish Short Story writing of the last century but with some of the surrealism of Flann O'Brien by way of Will Self. There's a little uneven-ness, some of the stories bang harder than others, but each of them says something about Ireland and what it is to be Irish in the current age.
Favourite story - The Batter, a satire on the lifestyle and mentality of contemporary Dublin new media hispters.
Least Favourite - Lackland Candlewax, an elaborate build up to a cheap gag.
I also think Arse Children would have been perfect without the lengthy meta-explanatory epilogue.
But that's just me.
Overall I really liked this. Well worth picking up if you're a fan of The Rubber Bandits but I'd also recommend it to anyone interested in modern fiction in general.
Favourite story - The Batter, a satire on the lifestyle and mentality of contemporary Dublin new media hispters.
Least Favourite - Lackland Candlewax, an elaborate build up to a cheap gag.
I also think Arse Children would have been perfect without the lengthy meta-explanatory epilogue.
But that's just me.
Overall I really liked this. Well worth picking up if you're a fan of The Rubber Bandits but I'd also recommend it to anyone interested in modern fiction in general.
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