Always exciting to
see where it all began. Or rather – how.
Perhaps the most
striking thing about Will Self’s first novel is the fact that it’s accessible.
Not by anyone’s standard – but by the standards of Will Self. After The Book Of Dave, after Umbrella – or anything else really. It’s still so dense
it is bound to give you a literary headache at some point, but essentially this was the time when the
man cared for your interest. Or, dare I say it, wanted to be liked.
Or take another,
equally fascinating route. Sweet Tooth
or The Children Act will give you no idea about the incest and mutilations
of McEwan’s early novels (and even THAT won’t prepare you for something like “Butterflies”
or “Conversation With A Cupboard Man”).
A rather interesting
distinction that makes you think.
