What Are We Reading?: Sloughing Off the Rot, Lance Carbuncle

Rating: 4/5 Personal Discoveries

Give me the short version: Wiped tabula-rasa clean, John embarks on a surrealist journey to not only rediscover, but literally recreate himself.

Are you looking for something different? I mean, really different? Sloughing Off the Rot is a meandering lyrical re-envisioning of biblical allegory, pop culture, songs, catchphrases, states of mind and just plain linguistic fun. Lance Curbuncle writes with the supreme confidence of one who can hold a loose reign; swinging between wham and whimsy without ever relinquishing control. I was rather reminded of the first time I read Naked Lunch: how briskly staccato and yet still elastic and melting narrative suddenly seemed to feel. Although I enjoyed the skillful to-and-fro of the language, through no fault of its own the story didn't really click for me - the elements that light my fire tend to be fairly specific. Don't be dissuaded from picking this up, as there's an audience out there waiting to go crazy for this book.

Favourite moment:

"Along the road, they encountered other men and boys. Santiago plucked an everlasting supply of worms from his bottomless bag and dropped them in the people's eyes. And the men and boys joined them and danced along the road, spinning and circling around John, as planets orbiting a sun."