Books
Let's get one thing straight: this is no Catch-22 and the sex is pretty dull too. Slabrat is a novel that can't decide what it wants to be. It has literary aspirations: claiming that Ted Heller's first book is written to "the same high standard" as his father Joseph's debut. There is a familiar air of satire: Zachary Post, the ironic, knowing, laid back every-man, lies about his background to work his way up the rat-race of American journalism, but becomes shallow, amoral and disillusioned. In today's brand-driven world, this has potential. However, Zeke is flat and predictable, with the reader barely given a glimpse into his mind or soul, since he is no more honest with us than he is with his colleagues. In general it feels like painting by numbers: things happen but we are not shown why, and soon I stopped caring. It wears you down with its determined cynicism, mediocrity and enduring negativity. Am I taking the book too seriously? On the cover a stilettoed woman grabs an attractive male arse, and a definition of 'slabrat' promises 'a predilection for office sex'...a bonkbuster, surely? But where is the sex? Sadly absent.
The complete lack of romance shows the bleak shallowness of this world. A brave idea when a bit of lovin' would have been an easy way of heating up the story. I'd put powerful writing ahead of gratuitous sex any day and the pain of human existence is central to our lives. Yet when serious writing fails, which - in Slabrat - it does with conviction, a bit of body warmth could help us all along the way.
1. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath This female equivalent of Holden Caulfield progresses relentlessly towards a breakdown. The protagonist's despair and eventual treatment are powerfully depicted, as is the social climate of fifties America.
2. Girl Interrupted - Susanna Kaysen Don't let an uninspiring performance by Winona Ryder deter you. The description of life in a mental institution is surprisingly vigorous.
3. Prozac Nation - Elizabeth Wurtzel Bringing the theme of young, depressed and American up to date now, Wurtzel writes an autobiographical account of her own battle with depression.
4. The Virgin Suicides - Jeffrey Eugenides A stylishly written novel concerning the elusive suicides of sisters, narrated by the schoolboys who never knew or understood them.
5. Just Checking - Emily Colas This is a humourous account of a serious condition. Again autobiographical, Colas makes light of her obsessive-compulsive disorder.
10th Jan 2002