Self Defeat

I read this interview with Will Self in the Guardian a while back, and thought his new book "Umbrella" sounded really interesting, longlisted for the Booker Prize and all. I suggested the local library buy it, and they did. Now, I´m so sorry. Really.

Not that it´s a bad book, I´m sure. (As I mentioned, it´s up for the Booker Prize.) I got to about page 15 when I started wondering, when is this loony part going to end? When begins the next chapter? As I leafed through it, I realized it goes on and on for 397 pages. No chapters. I should have read this review. Not sure it would have deterred me, though. I´m up for a challenge. However, this is not just a challenging book. It´s a challenging book written in English. And my English isn´t good enough, I am reluctant to confess. It´s not just a matter of glossary. Some layers of language, some kinds of language-use just isn´t available to you if you are not part of a certain culture. I wonder how this book would look in translation. If it´s even translatable. No, of course it is. But you´d have to be up for it. You would have to take your time. You would have to be a genious writer to do it. Here, I give you a taste of page 3:

It goes on and on. I´m sorry I suggested the library spend money on what will no doubt be stuck on a shelf forever. Or perhaps I´m wrong. Perhaps it will be read and loved. Just not by me.