Saturday, September 17, 2011

The debut novel 'Ablutions' by Patrick deWitt


Looking for something a little different and new I stumbled across 'Ablutions' by PdeW. Reading the back tag and a few reviews I thought this could be fun, although the tale of a "whiskey loving barman drawn into the nocturnal world of his sociopathic clientele" appearing fun to me might say a little more about me but whatever. The characters that inhabit this LA dive bar could belong in a Hunter S. Thompson adventure only with less morals and even less respect for their own humanity. From the crack addicted machete wielding ex-con to the gradually imploding wannabe cop, the midget former child actor and every form of depraved person in between, drinking whiskey seems like a welcome relief to this barman. It is written in the second person which works for me and each paragraph starts off as if this were a first draft, whatever this writing device is called it kept me turning the pages and within a matter of hours I had finished. There are moments of big laughs, moments of remembrance to situations familiar and moments of brutal honesty that make this book a gem.

My take on 'Ablutions', this book is brilliant.

Pages 164
Publisher Granta
Price £7.99

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