Status Updates From The Pillars

My criticisms might sound cynical, but just read the book. The author repeatedly mistakes his stream-of-consciousness inspirations--bad puns, shallow, repetitive characterisation, turns of phrase that sound poetic but are total nonsense, non-sequitur statements--for genuine creative inspiration. Seems he wrote this in a hurry & didn't have the care or discipline to edit it for anything other than basic grammar.

But why's it juvenile? Many reasons. He describes the shirt, pants, & shoes of literally every character. It's weird. He says things like, "walking through the tundra-scape of suburbia". What the fuck's that? There's no mention of trees or cold! He calls millennials "snowflakes" with 0 context. He puns on his heritage by calling his mum's paranoia an "Acropolis apocalypse". O, I get it, the Acropolis is Greek. Smart.

When I think about this book, I think about the state of modern publishing. No one reads anymore, & writers' incentives are all fucked up. E.g., the narrator says that this first book sold 300 copies, which is probs true of the author IRL. How do you cope with spending hours writing something that'll make no money & go unnoticed? You put in minimal effort & write shit. For proof, read this book. It's juvenile.