J
by Howard Jacobson
2014 / 342 pages
read by Adjoa Andoh and Colin Mace 11h 5m
rating 7 / literary dystopian
I read this back in July but the Booker Group is just now discussing it and I felt a reread would do me good. Sigh. I was interested for the first half or so but then there was too much strangeness, too much backstory, to try to tie into the main themes – and this is a theme driven book. Disappointing.
The book opens with a sort of parable about a spider and a wolf in which the wolf hunts down his prey and kills htem while the spider just waits for them to appear. The wolf eats everything and has to start in on his family and when they’re gone even eat himself. The spider says he should leave a bit on his plate. And that’s what happens when you hate everything in sight – it finally eats you up. >>>>MORE>>>>