false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171773660m/119113.jpg 119113 7 Will Self's tabloid-friendly reputation as a connoisseur of proscribed substances should not obscure the fact that he can write many of his contemporaries under the table. His latest collection, <I>Tough, Tough Toys for Tough, Tough Boys</I>, is filled with typically Selfish confections: gritty chunks of reality wrapped in a sweet shell of exquisitely funny and intelligent writing. Admittedly, some of the stories here feel a little underdeveloped, as if the author were flexing his literary muscles and showing how easily he can make highbrow style dirty-dance with his lowbrow obsessions, but even the least of them is a bravura performance by an expert wordsmith. Self's obvious pleasure in bringing his extraordinary talents to bear on the seamiest of subjects is irresistible: the description of a crack cocaine rush that closes the first story, for example, is quite possibly more intoxicating than the drug itself.<p> But the greater part of the book complements that dazzling style with deeper pleasures. As he ranges from the hilarious tale of a remarkable infant who babbles in business German ("<I>Bemess-bemess-bemessungsgrundlage!</I>") to a troubled psychiatrist's journey toward the abyss, Self shows an uncanny knack for mixing realism and absurdity. The closing piece, a short novella about a wrongly convicted sex offender's attempt to win a short-story prize, is the most assured of all. In this author's hands, the barely articulate conversations of career criminals are transformed into poetry, and the struggles of the central character are both moving and wickedly funny: <blockquote> In prison, in the English winter, the word crepuscular acquires new resonance, new intensity.... For here and now is an eternity of forty-watt bulbs, an Empty Quarter of linoleum, and a lost world of distempered walls. It's an environment of corridors and walkways, a space that taunts with the idea of progression towards arrival; then delivers only a TV room full of modular plastic chairs and Styrofoam beakers napalmed by fag ends. </blockquote> In <I>Tough, Tough Toys for Tough, Tough Boys</I> Will Self shows once again that he's someone to be reckoned with. The kind of writer a society needs, he uses his wit as a crowbar to pry open the cracks in our culture. <I>--Simon Leake</I> 1492425 1998 Tough, Tough Toys for Tough, Tough Boys total:141|5:24|4:53|3:50|2:14|1:0| 141 510 170 10 119113 0802137024 9780802137029 131 9 3.62 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171773660m/119113.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/119113.Tough_Tough_Toys_for_Tough_Tough_Boys 5 0 false Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 -0800 2001 Wed Jul 08 17:46:02 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 08 17:57:42 -0700 2009
Every story here is interesting, and like a lot of his work, you don't ...more...]]> 119113 0802137024 9780802137029 131 9 3.62 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171773660m/119113.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/119113.Tough_Tough_Toys_for_Tough_Tough_Boys 5 0 false Sat Feb 02 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat Feb 02 06:46:06 -0800 2008 Sun Feb 03 08:11:14 -0800 2008
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for what it's worth, i think the onomastically-significant self is one of the most interesting authors writing today. he's both erudite and pop (in a twisted 21st century waugh ...more...]]> 119113 0802137024 9780802137029 131 9 3.62 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171773660m/119113.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/119113.Tough_Tough_Toys_for_Tough_Tough_Boys 3 0 false Fri Jul 17 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 18 11:32:49 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 18 11:32:49 -0700 2009 1 more...]]> 119113 0802137024 9780802137029 131 9 3.62 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171773660m/119113.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/119113.Tough_Tough_Toys_for_Tough_Tough_Boys 3 0 false Fri Jun 12 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Jun 05 07:11:33 -0700 2009 Fri Jun 12 11:46:34 -0700 2009 2829361 0140282866 9780140282863 1 1 3.62 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2829361.Tough_Tough_Toys_for_Tough_Tough_Boys 5 0 false Wed Mar 26 16:40:48 -0700 2008 Sun Mar 30 09:11:56 -0700 2008 more...]]> 119113 0802137024 9780802137029 131 9 3.62 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171773660m/119113.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/119113.Tough_Tough_Toys_for_Tough_Tough_Boys 4 0 false Mon Oct 15 04:11:50 -0700 2007 Mon Oct 15 04:18:44 -0700 2007 119113 0802137024 9780802137029 131 9 3.62 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171773660m/119113.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/119113.Tough_Tough_Toys_for_Tough_Tough_Boys 4 0 false Mon Oct 22 07:36:14 -0700 2007 Mon Oct 22 07:36:14 -0700 2007 119113 0802137024 9780802137029 131 9 3.62 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171773660m/119113.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/119113.Tough_Tough_Toys_for_Tough_Tough_Boys 4 0 false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Thu Aug 23 02:29:48 -0700 2007 Thu Aug 23 02:31:34 -0700 2007 119113 0802137024 9780802137029 131 9 3.62 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171773660m/119113.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/119113.Tough_Tough_Toys_for_Tough_Tough_Boys 4 0 false Mon Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu May 07 05:31:42 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 16 00:54:51 -0700 2009 ]]> 119113 0802137024 9780802137029 131 9 3.62 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171773660m/119113.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/119113.Tough_Tough_Toys_for_Tough_Tough_Boys 5 0 false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Wed Aug 01 10:10:02 -0700 2007 Wed Aug 01 10:21:51 -0700 2007 119113 0802137024 9780802137029 131 9 3.62 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171773660m/119113.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/119113.Tough_Tough_Toys_for_Tough_Tough_Boys 5 0 false Fri Dec 04 14:26:58 -0800 2009 Fri Dec 04 14:26:58 -0800 2009 119113 0802137024 9780802137029 131 9 3.62 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171773660m/119113.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/119113.Tough_Tough_Toys_for_Tough_Tough_Boys 0 0 false Wed Dec 02 15:47:02 -0800 2009 Wed Dec 02 15:47:02 -0800 2009 119113 0802137024 9780802137029 131 9 3.62 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171773660m/119113.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/119113.Tough_Tough_Toys_for_Tough_Tough_Boys 4 0 false Wed Dec 02 12:37:32 -0800 2009 Wed Dec 02 12:37:32 -0800 2009 119113 0802137024 9780802137029 131 9 3.62 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171773660m/119113.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/119113.Tough_Tough_Toys_for_Tough_Tough_Boys 2 0 false Fri Nov 27 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 23 02:43:57 -0800 2009 Fri Nov 27 02:40:01 -0800 2009 119113 0802137024 9780802137029 131 9 3.62 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171773660m/119113.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/119113.Tough_Tough_Toys_for_Tough_Tough_Boys 0 0 false Sat Nov 21 13:29:50 -0800 2009 Sat Nov 21 13:29:50 -0800 2009 119113 0802137024 9780802137029 131 9 3.62 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171773660m/119113.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/119113.Tough_Tough_Toys_for_Tough_Tough_Boys 2 0 false Mon Nov 16 15:28:16 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 16 15:28:16 -0800 2009 119113 0802137024 9780802137029 131 9 3.62 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171773660m/119113.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/119113.Tough_Tough_Toys_for_Tough_Tough_Boys 2 0 false Mon Nov 16 03:05:37 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 16 03:05:37 -0800 2009 119113 0802137024 9780802137029 131 9 3.62 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171773660m/119113.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/119113.Tough_Tough_Toys_for_Tough_Tough_Boys 4 0 false Sat Oct 31 14:45:30 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 31 14:45:30 -0700 2009 119113 0802137024 9780802137029 131 9 3.62 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171773660m/119113.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/119113.Tough_Tough_Toys_for_Tough_Tough_Boys 5 0 false Wed Oct 28 23:55:52 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 28 23:55:52 -0700 2009 119113 0802137024 9780802137029 131 9 3.62 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171773660m/119113.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/119113.Tough_Tough_Toys_for_Tough_Tough_Boys 3 0 false Tue Oct 06 18:48:47 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 06 18:48:47 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=119113