| Author |
Message |
    
Karim Ghahwagi (Karim)
Username: Karim
Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 80.167.124.223
| | Posted on Monday, November 24, 2008 - 09:45 pm: | |
Just read this very fine novella this weekend and I enjoyed it immensly. Top points also to a lovely hardback edition.I have not read Royle's work before, now I surly will. Whats with weather phenomina and this series. :-) I was struck also by how deceptivly simple this story first appears on the surface, then it has all these very nice unsettling complexities lurking underneath. Also I was struck by how well handled all those encounters in the pub and around London were. Again seemingly simple, but bloody difficult to pull off so well when you go back... It was really excellent and higly recommended. |
Karim Ghahwagi (Karim)
Username: Karim
Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 80.167.124.223
| | Posted on Monday, November 24, 2008 - 10:24 pm: | |
And I should probably add that the story is erotically charged, funny and very surreal which is a great concoction when handled this well. |
Alansjf (Alansjf)
Username: Alansjf
Registered: 09-2008
Posted From: 93.97.93.216
| | Posted on Monday, November 24, 2008 - 11:21 pm: | |
As a fan of Royle, I found The Appetite somewhat lacking - good, but not as good as The Enigma of Departure, or some of the short stories I've read recently ('Very Low Flying Aircraft' in Exotic Gothic 2 and 'The Dummy' in The New Uncanny - which, incidentally, also contains a fine new story by Ramsey Campbell, and very good stories by Matthew Holness, Sara Maitland, and Alison MacLeod. Recommended. |
Simon Strantzas (Nomis)
Username: Nomis
Registered: 09-2008
Posted From: 99.225.111.224
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 25, 2008 - 01:21 am: | |
"Counterparts" was the first thing of Royle's I read and I found it absolutely astounding. |
Alansjf (Alansjf)
Username: Alansjf
Registered: 09-2008
Posted From: 93.97.93.216
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 25, 2008 - 12:43 pm: | |
I've always preferred Royle's short fiction to his novels (none of which I disliked) - but then I can say that about a lot of writers. |
Karim Ghahwagi (Karim)
Username: Karim
Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.74.221.2
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 25, 2008 - 01:58 pm: | |
Lots of stuff to look forward to then! 'The Very Low Flying Aircraft' is a Ballard reference then? Fun thing is, Ballard came to mind when I read The Appetite, not in the style, but with the handling of the sexuality with the disaster pieces-- Very Ballardian in a sense, though more innocent in the Royle story. |
John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert)
Username: John_l_probert
Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 213.253.174.81
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 25, 2008 - 03:34 pm: | |
I really liked The Appetite and yes - I was reminded of Ballard in places. |