Nikanor Teratologen

Do you ever wonder what would happen if the spirits of le Marquis de Sade, William S Burroughs and David Foster Wallace took out timeshares in John Water's brain and wrote a book together?

Assisted Living may very well be the result of such a process.

Interpreted by the gelded mandarins of American 'literature' as a warning about the neo-nazis under the bed or a reactionary broadside against political correctness, it is instead a spermatic blast of pure anger at the ridiculousness of show more contemporary(ish -- it was written in 1992) global society.

The narrator is an adoptee/sex slave/boyservant of his (alleged) grandfather, writing a diary on wall paper remnants.

They proceed to have adventures that would not be out of character for Dawn Davenport or William Lee, to say nothing of de Sade's four gentlemen. They murder families out on a hike, clubgoers in a city,nearly get swallowed by Cthulhu fishing -- in short, your average, healthy, grandpa/grandson homoerotic relationship.

Enough spoilers though -- if you like weird, violent yet erudite shit, read it. show less

A Sunday evening makes you want to trashtalk your country more than St. Bernhard and St. Goytisolo combined.

Five stars for the first 100 pages and 1 for the remaining 224. Difficult to rate and review, Assisted Living tests the stomach of the reader but yields rich albeit uneasy laughter to the intrepid. The narrative occurs in rural Sweden, an elderly man and his grandson face the quotidian, with the targets of alcohol, incest, torture, rape, and murder. This occurs in a Sweden of the show more margins of the (already dried up) welfare state. A Sweden with no opportunity nor civility. Each page is a dense thicket of historical and literary references. Such bounty comes at a cost. It likely isn't for you. A simple exercise should suffice. Killing Jews is as about as difficult as gaying up Foucault. If that statement bothered you in the least, then avoid this and find your joy elsewhere. show less

Dalkey put out a translation titled ASSISTED LIVING.

Den absolut mest absurda bok jag någonsin läst