Status Updates From Dreams of Leaving

I started this on holiday, and read 90 pages on the plane, then didn’t touch it again since.

It’s fascinating, and strange. Reminds me that I really must read more Thomson. The Five Gates of Hell is an amazing book.

I'm doing better than I did in 1987. There must be virtue in perseverance.

I am becoming more tolerant of this novel's dullness though I dislike the way it glamorizes the casual use of hard drugs. The imagery strives for original and striking effects but it often collapses into banality. "He was so big that there wasn't a word big enough to describe how big he was. So when he told Moses to hold it, Moses held it." (Moses is 6 foot 6, so the other man must be really big.)

I first tried to read this book in 1987 but I abandoned it, appropriately, during the chapter called "Unfinished Histories (1972)". My life was tumultuous at the time. Was that the reason I couldn't finish this novel? My life is quieter now so I've decided to have another go. This morning I found myself calculating how many hours I need to spend on this before I can read something more interesting. A bad sign.