Status Updates From Darconville's Cat

Very funny but can be hard going. I have to look up so many words...

Theroux is reaching towards a passionate crescendo in the final hundred pages. The prose is more aubergine than purple, and there is a greater focus.

Crucifer finally gives Darconville a worthy sparring partner, but the characters, here and throughout the book, are closer to Platonic forms than even archetypes. It’s Swift’s battle of the books with volcanic spleen.

Crucifer is a brutal character, a misanthropic excess closer to the eighteenth century or moralizing medieval tales.

The locale switch reveals a different side of Darconville, and the first hints of the outrageous Crucifer are compelling. There is also a shift as fewer characters in MA are named as compared to in VA.