"Will Self wanted to build a monument to his mother, but his own shadow obscures it." Me on the "tiring trudge" of reading Will Self's terrible new novel, where "the story is hidden behind thickets of verbiage": - ThreadSky

john-self.bsky.social • 173 days ago

"Will Self wanted to build a monument to his mother, but his own shadow obscures it."

Me on the "tiring trudge" of reading Will Self's terrible new novel, where "the story is hidden behind thickets of verbiage":

Comments

louise275.bsky.social•171 days ago

Is that the man who did some staring with Mark Francois MP, unbelievably in fact still an MP?

john-self.bsky.social•171 days ago

Yes.

louise275.bsky.social•171 days ago

Hmmm. Luckily his books are swaddled in prizes and beard stroking admiration most of the time so thankfully inaccessible to anyone wanting to read something enjoyable. I would not be a reviewer for any money, thanks for what you do 😁

john-self.bsky.social•171 days ago

He actually doesn’t really win prizes! I think his stuff is too divisive to appeal to a whole committee of judges…

louise275.bsky.social•171 days ago

😂 it's a real feat to create the illusion of being a prize winner, his agent is some sort of genius. For me, he'll always be man staring ridiculously at Mark Francois.

scottwortley.bsky.social•172 days ago

I went to hear him years ago when he was touring bookshops with great apes. The thickets of verbiage were present in speaking to readers and answering questions too. I took agin him massively. A position affirmed in everything I heard about him re his relationship with Deborah Orr

paulclem.bsky.social•173 days ago

I haven't read it yet, but I do like his writing. His "verbiage" is challenging, but I've tried to use it to extend my own vocabulary. It's also a pity that he's not writing for the New European anymore - not that I dislike his successor Marie L C.

leerandall.bsky.social•173 days ago

This post has made me smile.

tds153.bsky.social•172 days ago

Is this the book that got longer as you read it?

john-self.bsky.social•171 days ago

Nope…

tds153.bsky.social•171 days ago

Hard times…

rosyrosy2024.bsky.social•173 days ago

Are you his brotherJohnathan?

eggsbened.bsky.social•172 days ago

If Will Self didn’t exist he’d be a character in a Ben Jonson play.

feebee69.bsky.social•172 days ago

I've always presumed that his books are just his awful self, written down. Awful human being. I'd imagine.

jonathangibbs.bsky.social•173 days ago

Can we call this a self own?

stewartmack.bsky.social•173 days ago

Well, it’s not self love.

neverella.bsky.social•171 days ago

I am from a parallel universe which is exactly the same but no one ever thinks about Will Self and it's better there

john-self.bsky.social•172 days ago

'Will Self has always liked to shake the reader up. Among his books are Cock and Bull - where a woman grew a penis and raped her husband - and My Idea of Fun, which opened with a man decapitating a tramp and then, er, “addressing myself to his corpse”. But shock has a limited shelf life.'

eddierobson.bsky.social•172 days ago

Blimey, the cover is very much trying to summon up his 90s heyday.

john-self.bsky.social•172 days ago

The cover is the best thing about it!

john-self.bsky.social•172 days ago

Reader comment:

ianmartin.bsky.social•172 days ago

I hate Will Self. And his books can do one.

john-self.bsky.social•172 days ago

What if this is right, and Will Self's ideal state is, say, his appearances on Shooting Stars - but they could only exist through his fame as a novelist, even though the novels aren't very good? The readers of his novels are collateral damage.

causticcovercritic.bsky.social•172 days ago

Him on the PM's plane with his drugs, as close to Heaven as a man could get.

johnelwilliams.bsky.social•172 days ago

I think the readers have been wise to this for a while. Years ago we put him on in Laugharne - packed house, audience in hysterics, loved him - barely sold a single book afterwards.

daveiswriting.bsky.social•172 days ago

For my latest project I've been reading novels I would never have gone within a million miles of - and have been surprised and occasionally shocked at how much I enjoyed people I'd always dismissed. Really opened my eyes to new stuff. But still unable to get beyond first ten pages of a Self novel.

john-self.bsky.social•172 days ago

Is this people like Sophie Kinsella iirc? Anyone else you'd press on us?