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A review by nuffy375
Chalk by Paul Cornell
2.0
How I found myself reading this book:
My librarian, setting out various book options for our “Dark Fantasy” themed book club month: “This one is a more modern dark fantasy. I tried reading it, but I couldn’t finish because I was so disturbed.”
Me: “Challenge accepted.”
Well, I can certainly see why this book was described as disturbing. There are mutilations and gruesome murder aplenty. But what I did not consider when I set this challenge to myself is that it is a book about teenage British boys written by a British male author. What does that mean? It has a lot more masturbation and penis focus than I care for in my fiction. The story was a unique take on fantasy, and it had a lot of interesting aspects, but...the penis-centered writing is definitely not to my preference.
My librarian, setting out various book options for our “Dark Fantasy” themed book club month: “This one is a more modern dark fantasy. I tried reading it, but I couldn’t finish because I was so disturbed.”
Me: “Challenge accepted.”
Well, I can certainly see why this book was described as disturbing. There are mutilations and gruesome murder aplenty. But what I did not consider when I set this challenge to myself is that it is a book about teenage British boys written by a British male author. What does that mean? It has a lot more masturbation and penis focus than I care for in my fiction. The story was a unique take on fantasy, and it had a lot of interesting aspects, but...the penis-centered writing is definitely not to my preference.