Sweeney Todd

Sweeney Todd Or The String Of Pearls
Anonymous
Wordsworth Editions, 2007

First impression:
Sadly, my first impression of this otherwise seemingly brilliant work is an uneasing sense of mistrust. Supposedly, it is a copy of a lost original manuscript from 1850, but the style it is written in does not testify to this. Although there is no clear proof, I am certain that this is a product of modern time written in some form of pastiche, but I shall nonetheless continue reading.

Review:
If you couldn't tell that my enthusiasm was perturbed from the fact that it took me six months to read this book, I'm sad to admit that the process was not only time-consuming but also quite painful. I found the work drawn-out over insignificant details and opposedly very hasty conclusions-wise, and to add I was constantly bothered by its language, which I perceived as an authenticity hoax. There were selected bits resting on enjoyable ideas, but for the most part the novel is unexciting and in execution (ha, ha) suffering from unconvincing performance.

Rating: Boring

High Fidelity

I don't even need to look it up to know that this book was written during the 90's. From the very first page this books seem to be throwing up 90's-depressions, and that kind of worn-out dullness that a country can only experience at the end of a millennium, in my face. Nor do I have to look at the cover to know that it's written by a pathetic wanna-be-the-male-version-of-Helen-Fielding-character (Nick Horny, is his name. You've probably heard of him.)

The story is trying to say... eh...oh, fuck it, I don't know what the story wants. It's just sad. It's about a self-centred man living in London who is left by his girlfriend. He doesn't care, instead he makes a list of all of his previous shags in his life and contact them because he hopes that they still spend every minute of their life missing him. They don't. He gets depressed and when his latest ex's father dies he takes advantage of her weakness and they get back together. He proposes.
I think the story is trying to say that there really is no such thing as love between people, just greed and selfishness. But that's just a guess. If I could go back in time I'd probably have picked another book and downloaded this on DVD instead.

Snuff Fiction

Snuff Fiction
Robert Rankin
Corgi Books, 1999

First impression:
Being written before and about the great millennium bug and about the re-uprising of snuff, the book certainly caught my attention. Reading it now, however, it seems lacking in structure, off-topic and overly formal. I hope there are exciting bits not too far ahead.

Review:
I must confess that I was disappointed. Even though the author appeared to have written numerous other celebrated works, there was not a trace of professionalism in it. I will agree that it had its bright moments, but the overall impression was that the author is quite conceited and overestimates his own humourous abilities. I was not amused. The structure of the plot may follow all the rules, but I found it boring, predictable and shallow. The focus was not where I would have liked it to be and the exaggerated "funniness", brought out even more by the unnatural tone and out-of-place jokes and metaphors, just made the whole thing pathetically ridiculous. I regret sounding so harsh, but this book was definitely not in my taste.

Rating: Boring

Bottom #10

I was asked to list my ten least favourite books, in reference to the Top #10 quite recently. I feel obliged to mention that they are not necessarily in the same class of "bad", but merely unappreciated at the time.

Nick Stone: Mr. Clarinet
Marian Keyes: Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married
Joseph Conrad: Mörkrets Hjärta
Jennifer Lee Carrel: Shakespeares Hemlighet
Jonas Hassen Khemiri: Ett Öga Rött
Arto Paasilinna: Hoppsan, Jag Är Död!
Ronny Sandahl: Vi Som Aldrig Sa Hora
Tony Parsons: Saker Vi Kunde Berätta
William Shakespeare: Hamlet i översättning av Britt Hallqvist
Franz Kafka: Processen