Combat Camera

by A.J. Somerset

You'd like to believe you're in some tale of sin and redemption. I guess we all like to think we're walking through some grand, redemptive story. Well, we're all going to end up disappointed. Disappointment is one of the two fates that we all must eventually meet.

When former Pulitzer Prize–winning combat photographer Lucas Zane washes up drunk, broken, and hallucinatory after covering the worst global conflagrations of the past two decades, he takes a job with a low-budget pornographic impresario, getting accidentally involved with one of his actresses, Melissa. After a horrific assault, Zane hatches a plan to rescue Melissa, his career, and, he hopes, himself.Combat Camera is a restless, tragic, blackly funny, hypnotic novel.

255 pages, Paperback

First published September 21, 2010

About the author

A.J. Somerset wrote for outdoor magazines in Canada and the United States, including Outdoor Canada, Fly Fisherman, Ontario Out of Doors, and American Angler, "the best-written, best-edited, and best-looking publication in its class." He contributed regular columns to Fly Tyer and The Canadian Fly Fisher, and twice received writing awards from the Outdoor Writers of Canada, but quit outdoor writing in 2005 to concentrate on fiction. His first novel, Combat Camera, received the 2010 Metcalf-Rooke Award. He lives in London, Ontario.

Reviews

[Ruth Seeley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now THIS is muscular writing. It's also very deftly written and, I'm guessing, deftly edited - there were perhaps a total of two phrases in this novel that made me squirm slightly and wish to pick up my editing pencil (which, ok, is now filed in the toolbox, but never mind). I loved the underlying theme of this book and the parallels it sets up between the effects of witnessing physical violence and suffering emotional/psychological/socio-sexual violence. I also loved the questions it poses for the reader: can two damaged people who've become inured to violence be good to and for each other? You'll have to read it yourself and make up your own mind on that score.

[McLean Watson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fuck you GoodReads. I wrote a giant review for this and your stupid dogshit app logged me out so I have to write it again.

Cheers to my first read of November, it was a good one to say the least.

I wrote a very long and in depth review just moments ago. Unfortunately this app hates me so I now have to attempt to capture what I said the first time.

I found this novel in a rack of discarded books at the library I work at. I’ve learnt that most people have horrible taste. It’s a travesty that this book almost met it’s end and got shipped to be recycled paper, and I’m glad I grabbed it.

“Combat Camera” is an interesting read in the way that it paints its protagonist. Lucas Zane is an asshole. But we’re continuously meant to not only feel bad for him but hope he’s okay. And I really found myself relating to him, he struggles everyday with the weight of things that happened to him a long time ago, and they prevent him from living in the present.

The relationship between Zane and Melissa was great. Though I’ll admit a personally wasn’t happy with the way their relationship panned out in the end. I really wished it was different.

Either way this was a great read. I was sucked in and there wasn’t really any point where I felt bored or like I wanted to read something else.

I’m gonna read another shorter one. And then, on November 22nd, I’m gonna start 11/22/63. So that monster will take up a lot of November and December.

[Neil · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent book and a complete surprise I found in a bargain bin. Well written and compelling. Loved it

[Pooker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love road trips. Literary road trips and all of the road trips I've personally taken.

Miriam Toews is the queen of the literary road trip in my book. Her characters set off in search of someone somewhere and they find themselves. In quest of an answer, they inevitably find at least the hopeful beginnings of a solution.

I didn't expect a road trip when I started this book, but when Zane offers to drive Melissa home to Vancouver from Toronto, I am delighted. I know every mile of this trip. I've travelled certain legs of this trip countless times, the entire length a few, both as an adult and as a child. While I didn't notice as a child, I've come to realize that, trapped in the confines of a limited space, bonds are formed, rifts in body and spirit are repaired. It is the case whether you are sharing that space with others or just your own self. As a parent I have insisted on the road trip over the more expedient getting from A to B by plane. I deliberately ensnare my now adult children in the confines of my car for holiday trips with the expectation of sharing our presents and pasts, our hopes and dreams, and I am never disappointed.

And so I have high hopes for photographer Lucas Zane, as wounded and as soulless as he may be from the decades of covering the horrors of war. I perceive a heart beating, albeit faintly from within, when he rescues Melissa, someone perhaps as damaged as he, as together they set off down the highway. Along the way, I think I hear that heartbeat grow a little stronger as I begin to consider (indeed, want) the possibility of a real human relationship between them. I begin to worry a little by Marathon. How could they not be enchanted by the scenery passing by their windows? Yet there's still room for optimism as Melissa chants, "I think I can I think I can I think I can." And, there's lots more miles to go.

Calgary. I could cry.

Vancouver. Oh my frangible heart!

1,311 photographs. 43 complete and partial rolls of film.

[Mark Young · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really dark and unpredictable, with characters that aren't necessarily likeable, but which we do come to care about and feel compelled to follow through their misadventures. Somerset's writing style is tight and far more accomplished than his one novel list would suggest. Maybe it's the prize the book won, but I kept feeling there were similarities between his and John Metcalf's style. The same technical brilliance with hints of the trademark Metcalf sardonic wit. There were some genuinely touching, funny scenes between the stripper with the heart of gold and the cynical, world-weary photographer.

I get a sense that the author has a great sense of humour in these moments, in the book's hilarious video trailer and his affable, self-effacing style when he reads his work in public. If anything, I wanted more humour from this book to lighten the mood. It's dark, pessimistic tone is a bit oppressive at times and it relies on some humour, some action and some prurient interest to fuel reader interest. Effectively, yes, but disquietingly so. You feel somehow worse about yourself in the same way the hero does.

Lucas Zane is not an uplifting hero, but his attempts at some kind of redemption, as pathetic as they seem, are ultimately inspiring. A well-written, engaging and thought-provoking novel, Combat Camera makes me look forward to future offerings from this author.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

After 20 years of photographing the worst of the world in wars all over the globe, Lucas Zane has just barely survived physically. The question is if he has survived mentally. Through some truly outstanding writing, A.J. Somerset had me turning the pages over two days of semi-constant reading to find out if he did. At the outset, he is doing pornographic photography to make ends meet and I wasn't quite as involved. But, when he took off across Canada to take a young stripper/porno actress home, I was hooked. There were many flashbacks to his days as a famous photographer and most gave a good idea of why he came to be where he was in the end. However, the memories of the Berlin Wall coming down were the exception and some of the best writing I've read about that period.

[Chantale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lucas Zane, a Pulitzer prize winning photographer, suffers from war-related stress. He has become detached from his family and friends. His friendship with Melissa, a stripper, seems to provide some hope that he may pull himself out of his rut. Zane is a humourous, tragic and, flawed character. At times a dark and violent read, there is still beauty to be found. I appreciated that I was able to understand the photography references even though I am not a photographer. This debut book won the 2009-2010 Metcalf-Rooke Award.

[Adam McPhee · Rating 3 out of 5]

A haunted war photographer befriends an abused stripper in Toronto and hatches a plan to get their lives on track. A quick read with a voice that makes the book hard to put down. This is Canadian noir.