Some Words

Over the past week, I’ve gotten to read quite a bit more than usual. That means mostly that I’ve put off reading some of the things I’m stalled on, and focused on other books that grabbed me on the spur of the moment. One of those books was Crooked Little Vein, by Warren Ellis of Transmet fame.

It didn’t take long to read, I’m not a terribly fast reader and it lasted all of three hours for me. The book clocks in at 245 pages, very small pages. I’m glad I borrowed it.

It’s not that this book offended me, though the whole point of it seems to be either getting offended at it and shouting, thus boosting sales, or proving to your friends how edgy you are by liking it. At this point in our society (can we call this P.H. for Post Hunter or P.T. for Post Thompson) shock is not a novel thing. Crooked Little Vein is a book built to shock, and make that shock feel novel. All the quotes on the cover are supposed to verify its edgy credentials, and all its testicular saline injection and “you live in a police state” crap is supposed to shock. There is only the barest thinnest wisp of a plot. It’s function is to move the protagonist from one “shocking” person to the next.

The protagonist is a detective. A caricature of the corrupt behind the scenes evil politician gives him a job. That job is to find a crazy thing that shouldn’t exist. On his way to find the thing, a path written in large letters with spilled glow stick fluid, he meets a lot of strange people who want him to realize that strange is normal. Is there anyone who reads Warren Ellis who didn’t decide that strange was normal in the mid to late 90s?

But what, dear reader, is the payoff? Well, Mr. Ellis informs, the internet has changed everything.

…

Well Fuck. The World is Flat.

So, the payoff here is a Thomas Friedman op-ed. On the way I get some very pro-porn pseudo edgy writing. Friedman plus porn… aside from the fact that I don’t every want to think about those two things in context again? Meh. The book was meh. It was candy for three hours filled by an after void of meh. Oh my God it’s full of meh.

It’s not that I dislike Mr. Ellis’s shtick. In fact, I normally quite like it. But without illustrations to bring some of the madcap crazy to life… it falls a little flat. Rising to the level of solidly workmanly is a bit disappointing. At least it was only a few hours…