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The Bird Room
Alice is at work. Alice thinks I'm at work. I'm not at work.
I'm trying to guess the password to her email account . . . When Will meets Alice, he can't believe his luck. She's smart, sexy and, much to Will's surprise, in love with him. Alice brings meaning to his urban existence. But true love never came easy and soon devotion leads Will to something darker. The Bird Room is a candid, funny and joyous portrait of love and desire in the modern age.
I'm trying to guess the password to her email account . . . When Will meets Alice, he can't believe his luck. She's smart, sexy and, much to Will's surprise, in love with him. Alice brings meaning to his urban existence. But true love never came easy and soon devotion leads Will to something darker. The Bird Room is a candid, funny and joyous portrait of love and desire in the modern age.
208 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
3 people are currently reading
164 people want to read
About the author
Chris Killen
6 books47 followersI am the author of the novels In Real Life (2015) and The Bird Room (2009).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 66 reviews
January 24, 2010
Most of the marketing quips for this book praise its dark comic aspect. It's dark comedy as Brett Easton Ellis' Less Than Zero was comic; vacuous, emotionally crippled twenty-somethings finding a place in a world where sex is devalued and true intimacy appears painfully out of reach. Imagine the angst ridden teens of any Green Day song coming of age.
To be sure, Killen is a skilled writer. His characters are well defined, even those representing grist for the protagonist's delusional mill. He's provided Will with profound insecurities, paralyzing him from taking any action in his cloistered existence. It's not so much 'love' he has for Alice but the need for someone with whom he can indulge in his deepest paranoia.
The Bird Room is indeed dark in it's merest glimpses of hope, it's soul-less porn sex and the empty lives of it's characters.
To be sure, Killen is a skilled writer. His characters are well defined, even those representing grist for the protagonist's delusional mill. He's provided Will with profound insecurities, paralyzing him from taking any action in his cloistered existence. It's not so much 'love' he has for Alice but the need for someone with whom he can indulge in his deepest paranoia.
The Bird Room is indeed dark in it's merest glimpses of hope, it's soul-less porn sex and the empty lives of it's characters.
February 20, 2010
You ever get those nasty porn pictures or videos on your cell phone of men or women doing disgusting things for all the world to pass phone to phone or video to video? Maybe someone sends them to you as a joke, for the shock value, most likely a co worker watching you from across the room eagerly awaiting to see the look on your face when you open you phone? If you have received those kind of pictures/videos, you have probably at some time wondered, "who are these people? why do they do this?" You want answers, read this book.
Tho the main character in the story is about and narrated by Will, some of the spotlight is taken by Helen, a porn actress. She comes into Will's life thru his friend, another Will, an artist, who gets this twisted idea to combine his art with porn, to turn a sexual relationship into art and shock people at his next art show. Thru all this art/porn stuff, Will the narrator talks about his relationship with the mysterious Alice, who also dabbles in porn production. By the end of the book, all these characters are linked in some way. I will not reveal. Does this link have anything to do with Helen's imaginary sister? Hmm...
When I entered the contest for this goodreads win, the summary promised me a love story with a twist. It is certainly twisted. However, had I realized the aspiring actress was in the porn industry, I most likely would not have signed up. The content was not for me, but I do think people with an interest in this particular field will like, if not love it.
Also of note: Abundant use of the F word for those that do not care for cursing. This was a very quick, one afternoon read.
Tho the main character in the story is about and narrated by Will, some of the spotlight is taken by Helen, a porn actress. She comes into Will's life thru his friend, another Will, an artist, who gets this twisted idea to combine his art with porn, to turn a sexual relationship into art and shock people at his next art show. Thru all this art/porn stuff, Will the narrator talks about his relationship with the mysterious Alice, who also dabbles in porn production. By the end of the book, all these characters are linked in some way. I will not reveal. Does this link have anything to do with Helen's imaginary sister? Hmm...
When I entered the contest for this goodreads win, the summary promised me a love story with a twist. It is certainly twisted. However, had I realized the aspiring actress was in the porn industry, I most likely would not have signed up. The content was not for me, but I do think people with an interest in this particular field will like, if not love it.
Also of note: Abundant use of the F word for those that do not care for cursing. This was a very quick, one afternoon read.
November 13, 2018
Clive James once said that to be a lousy writer takes energy: average novelists remain unread not for being bad but for being flat. Although written with Judith Krantz in mind, the same easily applies to Chris Killen.
The tale's too similar to the teller. It's like those ghosts in folk tales - caught between worlds, adrift, affectless. It's no accident that words like 'ghost', 'insubstantial', and 'absent' dominate. Will, the main character attracts these terms the way a magnet attracts iron filings. Even Will's love interest Helen/Clair, ostensible actress and actual prostitute in denial, gets a hint of this at times: 'There's this blankness to him, as if he's a more an idea than an actual person.'
So with the novel. With the interior monologue turned to full volume, all externals are drowned out. Oddly, it's the everyday things that pierce Will's solipsism: shopping at Tesco Express, chipped Ghostbusters II mugs, notes to record trashy films on Channel 5. Little happens and little is felt by Will or us.
The Bird Room is scrappy, unsatisfying and more of an outsized short story than a novel. There had to be easier ways for Canongate to squander its Life of Pi money than this.
The tale's too similar to the teller. It's like those ghosts in folk tales - caught between worlds, adrift, affectless. It's no accident that words like 'ghost', 'insubstantial', and 'absent' dominate. Will, the main character attracts these terms the way a magnet attracts iron filings. Even Will's love interest Helen/Clair, ostensible actress and actual prostitute in denial, gets a hint of this at times: 'There's this blankness to him, as if he's a more an idea than an actual person.'
So with the novel. With the interior monologue turned to full volume, all externals are drowned out. Oddly, it's the everyday things that pierce Will's solipsism: shopping at Tesco Express, chipped Ghostbusters II mugs, notes to record trashy films on Channel 5. Little happens and little is felt by Will or us.
The Bird Room is scrappy, unsatisfying and more of an outsized short story than a novel. There had to be easier ways for Canongate to squander its Life of Pi money than this.
September 3, 2008
I read the bird room in two hours and thirty two minutes on a national express coach on my way to a holiday. The book is better than the entire holiday so far, even though I have three days left. The book is a slim but thorough examination of helplessness, anxiety and self destruction. It is beautiful in its clarity and humour. The Bird Room is written in a style that is understated which gives it a poetic quality that can't be brought about with more elaborate prose. It is a love story.
That's my review. This box says I should right something that I learned from this book as well.
I didn't learn anything from the book.
It made me want to not crumple up into a pile. It made me want to be a success, but a nice, quiet, polite success.
I loved it.
That's my review. This box says I should right something that I learned from this book as well.
I didn't learn anything from the book.
It made me want to not crumple up into a pile. It made me want to be a success, but a nice, quiet, polite success.
I loved it.
February 11, 2009
one of my favorite novels
January 28, 2010
(Discosure: I received this book for free through the Goodreads First Reads Program)
What started out as a really good dark humor story devolved into a much less complex, although definetly darker, observational narrative. Killen has written some deeply flawed characters, and as much as I love flawed characters, that's not enough to make up for a plot that ends about 2/3 of the way through the book for one of the main characters and goes absolutely nowhere for the rest of the characters. This might have made a great short story, but stretching it out to novella length brings on a lot of repetition of the character's actions and inner dialogs. Perhaps that was the point, that these people have no depth beyond what we're given, but then I have to wonder why in the beginning of the story there's so much originality in how they perceived themselves and each other. That was before the story turned into a "there's no 'there' there.
What we're given as a setting (London, or some other very large British city) shows that Killen can be economical and descriptive at the same time. My favorite line from the whole book, in fact, is more about where the story takes place rather than who it's about: A character is lamenting that she has to go to a certain store because at the other, more preferable ones, she might run into people she doesn't want to see. Despite the fact that she lives in one of the most populous, conjested cities of the world, she wishes she could live "...somewhere more anonymous,like the rainforest or the sky". Killen's characters are people who couldn't lose themselves anywhere.
What started out as a really good dark humor story devolved into a much less complex, although definetly darker, observational narrative. Killen has written some deeply flawed characters, and as much as I love flawed characters, that's not enough to make up for a plot that ends about 2/3 of the way through the book for one of the main characters and goes absolutely nowhere for the rest of the characters. This might have made a great short story, but stretching it out to novella length brings on a lot of repetition of the character's actions and inner dialogs. Perhaps that was the point, that these people have no depth beyond what we're given, but then I have to wonder why in the beginning of the story there's so much originality in how they perceived themselves and each other. That was before the story turned into a "there's no 'there' there.
What we're given as a setting (London, or some other very large British city) shows that Killen can be economical and descriptive at the same time. My favorite line from the whole book, in fact, is more about where the story takes place rather than who it's about: A character is lamenting that she has to go to a certain store because at the other, more preferable ones, she might run into people she doesn't want to see. Despite the fact that she lives in one of the most populous, conjested cities of the world, she wishes she could live "...somewhere more anonymous,like the rainforest or the sky". Killen's characters are people who couldn't lose themselves anywhere.
March 6, 2011
When describing this book, I would have to say 'intriguingly bizarre.' It's a quirky plot and the characters are interesting enough. It takes a strange look at relationships and the behaviour of the characters is sometimes surprising. Overall, I don't think I completely got it. However, I couldn't stop reading. There was something about it that made me want to read until the end; even though I found the ending slightly confusing. An interesting read. If you like off the wall plots then you'll like this book.
March 23, 2010
NOTE: I actually gave this 3 1/2 stars
I thought that maybe putting a little time between the end of this book and my review would give me more clarification on how I felt, but nope. I still think that it was just weird. Did I enjoy reading it? Yes! Did I LIKE it? Maybe yes, maybe no. Because really, it was just plain weird.
My favorite thing about this book was that I absolutely adored the writing style. It was one of those books where you sort of feel like the main character is talking to you while at the same time feeling as if he doesn't care about you at all. It just sort of plods along, if that makes sense, and yet the story itself is completely non-linear. It goes back and forth and back and forth while at the same time slowly and succinctly moving forwards. In a way, this caught me off guard, and yet it was also a pleasant surprise. I love books that are written like this.
This book is also extremely interesting in that you never actually get to know any of the characters, which could come from the fact that they never really get to know each other, and yet it is very much character driven. Who is Will, who is the other Will, who is Alice? None of this is really important, as they are only important characters inasmuch as they are important to the first Will. They are all so flawed and confused.
While the style of this book makes it easy to read, the content does it. It's an intriguing look at the sex-lives of adults, at our perception of love and sex . It's an intimate look at relationships, and it's so real. While I didn't relate at all to the relationships in the Bird Room, as I didn't relate at all to the characters, the ideas presented through their relationships did make me think a little bit about the relationships in my life. And how real they may or may not be.
Will (the first) disgusts me, and he absolutely deserves everything he gets. I would NOT deal well with having a person like him in my life. And yet, the book is narrated from his point of view, and I absolutely ate it up. He made me laugh, he made me think, and he almost made me sad while at the same time shunning him.
So it's a good, well-written book, but it will not make you feel good. It might even depress you. And you may like it without actually liking it's content. It's GOOD while at the same time. . .leaving you unsure as to what exactly there was about it that you liked.
I thought that maybe putting a little time between the end of this book and my review would give me more clarification on how I felt, but nope. I still think that it was just weird. Did I enjoy reading it? Yes! Did I LIKE it? Maybe yes, maybe no. Because really, it was just plain weird.
My favorite thing about this book was that I absolutely adored the writing style. It was one of those books where you sort of feel like the main character is talking to you while at the same time feeling as if he doesn't care about you at all. It just sort of plods along, if that makes sense, and yet the story itself is completely non-linear. It goes back and forth and back and forth while at the same time slowly and succinctly moving forwards. In a way, this caught me off guard, and yet it was also a pleasant surprise. I love books that are written like this.
This book is also extremely interesting in that you never actually get to know any of the characters, which could come from the fact that they never really get to know each other, and yet it is very much character driven. Who is Will, who is the other Will, who is Alice? None of this is really important, as they are only important characters inasmuch as they are important to the first Will. They are all so flawed and confused.
While the style of this book makes it easy to read, the content does it. It's an intriguing look at the sex-lives of adults, at our perception of love and sex . It's an intimate look at relationships, and it's so real. While I didn't relate at all to the relationships in the Bird Room, as I didn't relate at all to the characters, the ideas presented through their relationships did make me think a little bit about the relationships in my life. And how real they may or may not be.
Will (the first) disgusts me, and he absolutely deserves everything he gets. I would NOT deal well with having a person like him in my life. And yet, the book is narrated from his point of view, and I absolutely ate it up. He made me laugh, he made me think, and he almost made me sad while at the same time shunning him.
So it's a good, well-written book, but it will not make you feel good. It might even depress you. And you may like it without actually liking it's content. It's GOOD while at the same time. . .leaving you unsure as to what exactly there was about it that you liked.
October 22, 2008
How happy I was to read this, and it didn't disappoint which makes me more happy.
I wonder if it's possible for a character to some how drown from his own neurosis? I imagine it'd be a slow and painful demise as Will's suffering from a terminal case of self-annihilation, the method of death is the steady drip of anxiety.
Despite Will's case of the Unbearable (Un)Likeness of Will, I found myself strangely content when following his strange plight. What does that say about me? Actually when reading this I simultaneously wanted to hug and shake Will. What does that say about Will?
I wonder if it's possible for a character to some how drown from his own neurosis? I imagine it'd be a slow and painful demise as Will's suffering from a terminal case of self-annihilation, the method of death is the steady drip of anxiety.
Despite Will's case of the Unbearable (Un)Likeness of Will, I found myself strangely content when following his strange plight. What does that say about me? Actually when reading this I simultaneously wanted to hug and shake Will. What does that say about Will?
February 3, 2011
If you loved the film Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind then I highly recommend this book. Lovingly dark, and hilarious it puts you behind the eyes and hearts of Helen & Will, two separate people being pulled through their own flaws & finding comfort in others. The scenery, the language, the style, I loved it all. It IS graphic and frankly more believable that way. These people are not sheltered, they are real. And they are fully aware & accept total responsibility for getting themselves there. It was like watching a really good friend go through heartache & you are excited for them to learn more about themselves and want to console them so badly. I loved every bit of it.
April 13, 2010
Bleh. This seems like one of those books that is considered daring or noteworthy just because of the topic and not necessarily because of any other writing merit. I did not identify with any of the characters. I don't especially see the point of what the author is trying to 'say' (if anything). It is highly unlikely I would read anything by this author again. On the plus side, it was short and quick and only wasted a little bit of my time.
April 21, 2015
It was a weird book, the good type of weird.
The writing style is so neat and simple.
I found myself saying wth throughout the book but could not get myself to leave it, I loved it.
Finding out which will it was broke my heart. It's shocking how far someone would go, how disturbed someone could be. I felt bad for every character of the book and I still cannot get over the scene when he tried to recreate the sex tape.
The writing style is so neat and simple.
I found myself saying wth throughout the book but could not get myself to leave it, I loved it.
Finding out which will it was broke my heart. It's shocking how far someone would go, how disturbed someone could be. I felt bad for every character of the book and I still cannot get over the scene when he tried to recreate the sex tape.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 23, 2009
'Reviewing' this book makes me think of words like inventive, short, dreamlike, sharp. Each little sentence erupts with meaning on a giant splash of my favourite things: characters with 'rich internal lives', no outright 'morals' to 'impart', lots of honest, awkward, sometimes beautiful sex, and sparse, direct language that makes your heart flutter.
July 30, 2010
I saw early drafts of this novel. It was interesting to read the published version and see all the changes etc. Chris did a really good job pushing comforts levels I didn't even know I had - and if you knew me, you know that's saying something. I can't wait for the follow up. Chris is one to watch.
March 7, 2010
This book was muffed up big time!! I really wouldn't recommend this book at all. It jumped from place to place I really couldn't follow it all that well. oh well at least it only had 202 pages in it!!
May 13, 2011
It started off quite funny, but I lost track of what was happening and who it was happening to, when the timeline shifted. I could go back and read it again, but I'm not sure I can be bothered. I ended up feeling as depressed and purposeless as the characters in it.
Want to read
October 13, 2008Been wanting to read this since the summer when CHDClarke told me about... Hurry up.
April 18, 2010
Best book I've read this year. fast paced, exciting, intriguing....read start to finish in one sitting! can't wait to see what Chris Killen produces next
March 4, 2010
I liked it. But I have a feeling i will read this again and I will love it.
July 4, 2018
Odd.
I might write a full review of this book at some point in the next few days, but until then I'm just going to feel bemused/confused about it.
EDIT 04/07/18:
I wasn't sure whether to review The Bird Room or not, because it's an... Interesting story. My copy is in pretty bad condition so I was only reading it before donating it to a charity shop, which means I'm not too disappointed that I didn't enjoy it, but it's also been playing heavily on my mind for the past couple of days because I have literally no idea what it meant.
William is dating Alice. When William introduces Alice to his artist friend Will, he's certain that they're going to end up sleeping together. Alice references the fact that she made porn with one of her ex-boyfriends. William decides to find it.
Interspersed throughout, a girl called Helen (who used to be called Clair) shares her experiences as a sex worker. Helen doesn't have sex for money, but she does just about everything else. When William contacts her, their worlds collide... But instead of clearing everything up, the combination of the two characters makes everything feel far more convoluted.
I read through some of the other reviews on Goodreads just to see if there was some ~deeper meaning~ that I was missing (literary fiction and a sludgy, book slumping brain are not a great combo) but alas, that didn't clear anything up, either. It seems as though it's supposed to be some kind of social commentary on loneliness, but I've never felt less connected (or interested) in a set of characters in my life.
Why would you give such an emotionally unappealing book two stars, Alyce? Well, that's because the writing style flows beautifully, incorporating short, sharp, snappy sentences in an effective manner that gives this book the pace of a thriller... Even if the events included are completely uninteresting. I read this story with my boyfriend, and it lends itself to being read aloud, even if some of the scenes are a little cringe-inducing.
It looks like it took Chris Killen six years to release his second novel, but I'm not sure whether I'm going to give In Real Life a try. He's certainly got an interesting style, but I'm still not completely sure whether I actually enjoyed it, so I think I'm going to give all of his future novels a skip.
This review was originally posted on The Bumbling Blogger.
I might write a full review of this book at some point in the next few days, but until then I'm just going to feel bemused/confused about it.
EDIT 04/07/18:
I wasn't sure whether to review The Bird Room or not, because it's an... Interesting story. My copy is in pretty bad condition so I was only reading it before donating it to a charity shop, which means I'm not too disappointed that I didn't enjoy it, but it's also been playing heavily on my mind for the past couple of days because I have literally no idea what it meant.
William is dating Alice. When William introduces Alice to his artist friend Will, he's certain that they're going to end up sleeping together. Alice references the fact that she made porn with one of her ex-boyfriends. William decides to find it.
Interspersed throughout, a girl called Helen (who used to be called Clair) shares her experiences as a sex worker. Helen doesn't have sex for money, but she does just about everything else. When William contacts her, their worlds collide... But instead of clearing everything up, the combination of the two characters makes everything feel far more convoluted.
I read through some of the other reviews on Goodreads just to see if there was some ~deeper meaning~ that I was missing (literary fiction and a sludgy, book slumping brain are not a great combo) but alas, that didn't clear anything up, either. It seems as though it's supposed to be some kind of social commentary on loneliness, but I've never felt less connected (or interested) in a set of characters in my life.
Why would you give such an emotionally unappealing book two stars, Alyce? Well, that's because the writing style flows beautifully, incorporating short, sharp, snappy sentences in an effective manner that gives this book the pace of a thriller... Even if the events included are completely uninteresting. I read this story with my boyfriend, and it lends itself to being read aloud, even if some of the scenes are a little cringe-inducing.
It looks like it took Chris Killen six years to release his second novel, but I'm not sure whether I'm going to give In Real Life a try. He's certainly got an interesting style, but I'm still not completely sure whether I actually enjoyed it, so I think I'm going to give all of his future novels a skip.
This review was originally posted on The Bumbling Blogger.
March 18, 2021
The Bird Room follows the uncertain course of love of two separate individuals. Will, who has never had a steady girl, finds love when Alice spends the night and doesn’t leave. Claire reinvents herself as Helen, an actress, or so she dreams, in the meantime she’ll take what comes.
This is a strange yet alluring novel. First impression is it will be a slight and flippant tale, yet it is hard not to be drawn following Will’s witty first-person narrative. He can’t quite believe he is living with a steady girl, but the course of love is never that easy and there are troubles ahead, and Will’s solution is far from conventional. Helen’s path to potential love is equally unusual, if she chooses to follow it.
The two intertwining stories are told with economy, humour and candour, occasionally being quite explicit. What makes Will’s story particularly touching perhaps is that it is so very easy to relate to him. He is very ordinary, he lacks confidence, his life is far from perfect, decision do not come easily to him, he is the antithesis of everything he would like to be; which if we are honest with ourselves is perhaps many of us feel at times. He would like to be able to go back and start all over again, avoid all the mistakes, who of us would not like that chance? So we easily identify to him, and consequently his story is all the more touching and ultimately (perhaps?) sad.
The Bird Room is not a long novel, it can easily be read in one sitting, yet it is a perceptive story full of insight, one which is bound to make an impression on the reader, to leave one thinking about the nature of relationships, and about oneself.
This is a strange yet alluring novel. First impression is it will be a slight and flippant tale, yet it is hard not to be drawn following Will’s witty first-person narrative. He can’t quite believe he is living with a steady girl, but the course of love is never that easy and there are troubles ahead, and Will’s solution is far from conventional. Helen’s path to potential love is equally unusual, if she chooses to follow it.
The two intertwining stories are told with economy, humour and candour, occasionally being quite explicit. What makes Will’s story particularly touching perhaps is that it is so very easy to relate to him. He is very ordinary, he lacks confidence, his life is far from perfect, decision do not come easily to him, he is the antithesis of everything he would like to be; which if we are honest with ourselves is perhaps many of us feel at times. He would like to be able to go back and start all over again, avoid all the mistakes, who of us would not like that chance? So we easily identify to him, and consequently his story is all the more touching and ultimately (perhaps?) sad.
The Bird Room is not a long novel, it can easily be read in one sitting, yet it is a perceptive story full of insight, one which is bound to make an impression on the reader, to leave one thinking about the nature of relationships, and about oneself.
March 22, 2021
Clever, Kooky and BRILLIANT!
This little novel pressed my reading pleasure buttons; oddball, funny, disturbing and poignant, and has remained with me after finishing. I believe each individual reader is left to determine what actually unravels - but this in no way distracts from a tale of obsession and self-destruction.
Having worshiped at the altars of Miranda July and Tibor Fischer, the work of Chris Killen falls somewhere between the two - and for my ten bob's worth; it doesn't get much better than that.
It's a shame he has not been more widely read, and that his other offering (In Real Life) followed on 6 years after The Bird Room.
I'm also at a loss to see so many negative reviews for The Bird Room - but then again, I think you have to be as mad as a box of frogs to a) write it b) enjoy it.
If you are reading this, Chris - please brush the dust off your Bic biro and get writing again!
Us frogs need entertaining!
This little novel pressed my reading pleasure buttons; oddball, funny, disturbing and poignant, and has remained with me after finishing. I believe each individual reader is left to determine what actually unravels - but this in no way distracts from a tale of obsession and self-destruction.
Having worshiped at the altars of Miranda July and Tibor Fischer, the work of Chris Killen falls somewhere between the two - and for my ten bob's worth; it doesn't get much better than that.
It's a shame he has not been more widely read, and that his other offering (In Real Life) followed on 6 years after The Bird Room.
I'm also at a loss to see so many negative reviews for The Bird Room - but then again, I think you have to be as mad as a box of frogs to a) write it b) enjoy it.
If you are reading this, Chris - please brush the dust off your Bic biro and get writing again!
Us frogs need entertaining!
November 2, 2017
I got this book as part of the LibraryThing early reviewers programme. Killen's use of language is very deft and clever and his characters well painted, but I was ultimately disappointed that something billed as a comedy wasn't really that funny; most of the humour derives from the increasingly psychotic way Will behaves as he becomes increasingly secure about his relationship, but ultimately I found that that made me cringe rather than laugh.
So not a book that suited me then, but equally not a bad book. The right person would probably enjoy it immensely— it's just that that person wasn't me.
So not a book that suited me then, but equally not a bad book. The right person would probably enjoy it immensely— it's just that that person wasn't me.
May 24, 2024
L'inutilità e la disperazione
Breve e veloce è narrato da un duplice punto di vista: quello di Will che sta perdendo, senza riuscire a fare nulla, l'amore della sua vita e quello di Clair/Helen che si illude di fare l'attrice ma in realtà soddisfa i sogni erotici di persone incontrate su internet dietro compenso.
Quello che sconvolge è la passività di entrambi questi (giovani) personaggi che non solo si lasciano vivere, ma che si affrettano verso il precipizio a causa della loro ignavia, ben consapevoli di farlo. Sembra di assistere alla pantomima mal recitata della Commedia dell'Arte, solo che qui non ci sono risate.
Breve e veloce è narrato da un duplice punto di vista: quello di Will che sta perdendo, senza riuscire a fare nulla, l'amore della sua vita e quello di Clair/Helen che si illude di fare l'attrice ma in realtà soddisfa i sogni erotici di persone incontrate su internet dietro compenso.
Quello che sconvolge è la passività di entrambi questi (giovani) personaggi che non solo si lasciano vivere, ma che si affrettano verso il precipizio a causa della loro ignavia, ben consapevoli di farlo. Sembra di assistere alla pantomima mal recitata della Commedia dell'Arte, solo che qui non ci sono risate.
November 27, 2017
Rece: La casa degli amanti indecisi - Voto: 0
L'ho abbandonato, una palla pazzesca fin dalla prima pagina, è un libro utile se non si riesce a dormire e ci si vuole annoiare quel tanto che basta per addormentarsi in meno di 30 secondi.
Sono riuscita ad arrivare a pagina 22 poi l'ho abbandonato al suo tragico destino.
La storia? Vorrei saperla anche io. In realtà ci sono 3 tipi, lui, lei e l'altro e la gelosia. Storia di una noiosità così noiosa che mi chiedo come einaudi sia caduta così in basso.
L'ho abbandonato, una palla pazzesca fin dalla prima pagina, è un libro utile se non si riesce a dormire e ci si vuole annoiare quel tanto che basta per addormentarsi in meno di 30 secondi.
Sono riuscita ad arrivare a pagina 22 poi l'ho abbandonato al suo tragico destino.
La storia? Vorrei saperla anche io. In realtà ci sono 3 tipi, lui, lei e l'altro e la gelosia. Storia di una noiosità così noiosa che mi chiedo come einaudi sia caduta così in basso.
October 30, 2020
Original.
Liked reading about the inner lives and imaginary worlds of two introverted characters.
Disliked that this book was too short. I would have liked to find out what happens next and I was waiting for Will's (the artist) explanation of his project.
Liked reading about the inner lives and imaginary worlds of two introverted characters.
Disliked that this book was too short. I would have liked to find out what happens next and I was waiting for Will's (the artist) explanation of his project.
September 24, 2017
Enjoyed the easy reading language in the book, the beginning was nice the details were beautiful but then the novel took another path which I did not really enjoy.
May 10, 2019
Very funny scenes of social anxiety.
September 1, 2019
Read like a darker take on a Peep Show episode in the best way possible.
April 18, 2020
A novel written by Chris Killen. Very easy to read. Can't stop reading!
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