false 1859270 5 Tom Brodzinski is a man who takes his own good intentions for granted. But when he finally decides to give up smoking, a moment’s inattention to detail becomes his undoing. Flipping the butt of his final cigarette off the balcony of the holiday apartment he’s renting with his family, Tom is appalled when it lands on the head of one his fellow countrymen, Reggie Lincoln. The elderly Lincoln is badly burnt, and since the cigarette butt passed through public space before hitting him, the local authorities are obliged to regard Tom’s action as an assault, despite his benign intentions. Worse is to follow: Lincoln is married to a native from one of the rigorous, mystical tribes of the desert interior, and their customary law is incorporated into the civil statute. In order to make reparations to Mrs Lincoln’s people, Tom will have to leave his family behind, and carry the appropriate goods and chattels deep into the arid heart of this strange, island continent. Any of this might be bearable, were it not for Tom’s companion, forced on him by his enigmatic lawyer, the mixed-race Jethro Swai-Phillips. Brian Prentice, like Tom, has to make reparations and although there is a taboo that prevents either man from knowing the exact detail of the other’s offence, Tom’s almost 100% certain that he’s a child-abuser. As they drive into the desert and encounter a violent counter-insurgency war that Tom has allowed himself to remain in ignorance of, the relationship between the two men becomes one of complicit guilt as well as seething mistrust. Refusing facile moral certitudes, Will Self's latest novel is set in a distorted world, in a country that is part Australia, part Iraq, part Greeneland and part the heart of a distinctively modern darkness. 1859918 7 4 2008 The Butt total:47|5:5|4:14|3:10|2:15|1:3| 47 144 99 22 5 6 false false Sat May 10 14:52:59 -0700 2008 Tue Jan 13 15:51:47 -0800 2009 The Marlboro Light of Darkness.

Here's a CliffNotesesque version of the novel: http://books.guardian.co.uk/digestedread...

Whoot! On order! Cartoony British dustjacket, but still...first time I've ever imported a book. I feel like Captain Carlos De Los Santoyana, or one of ...more...]]> 2 2 false false Fri Oct 24 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Oct 17 11:49:53 -0700 2008 Fri Oct 24 10:07:21 -0700 2008
Tom Brodzinski, presumably an American--although his count...more...]]> 5 1 false false Sat Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Nov 15 12:05:55 -0800 2008 Sat Nov 22 13:00:12 -0800 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Jan 31 15:01:38 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 31 15:09:14 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Aug 20 00:13:05 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 14 01:27:46 -0700 2009 The Book of Dave and Great Apes is one of my all-time favourites. I am generally bored or put off by his short stories and could make no headway at all with How the Dead Live.

This is a lighter-hearted and (some would s...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 07 14:07:37 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 07 14:14:32 -0700 2009
Tom Brodzinski is abroad with his family, in a strangely unfamiliar country. He smokes his last cigarette and in a bizarre sequence of events find...more...]]> 2 0 false false Wed Apr 29 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu May 07 21:18:26 -0700 2009 Thu May 07 21:25:58 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Jan 05 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Dec 30 16:52:59 -0800 2008 Tue Jan 06 08:44:02 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 1 false false Fri Sep 12 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Sep 11 13:53:53 -0700 2008 Mon Oct 27 21:49:19 -0700 2008
At the end of a long vacati...more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Apr 22 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Mar 23 06:13:47 -0700 2009 Sat Apr 25 05:00:37 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Nov 12 09:47:47 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 01 11:03:10 -0800 2008 more...]]> 0 0 false false Tue Jun 09 19:38:11 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 09 19:39:40 -0700 2009 2 0 false false Sun Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Feb 02 18:02:11 -0800 2009 Wed Feb 11 17:51:51 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Thu Jul 09 16:02:05 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 09 16:19:47 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Tue Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Jun 19 18:37:30 -0700 2009 Fri Jun 19 18:39:23 -0700 2009 2 0 false false Sat Oct 04 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Sep 26 03:44:00 -0700 2008 Sat Oct 04 01:01:14 -0700 2008
I saw Will Self reading a chapter from this book earlier in the year, it sounded very funny but ...more...]]> 2 0 false false Sat Oct 18 19:40:58 -0700 2008 Tue Oct 07 08:15:55 -0700 2008 Sat Oct 18 19:40:58 -0700 2008 The Butt dragged on too long without having the substance to contain it. [ full review ]more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Jun 03 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Apr 13 08:15:18 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 03 13:45:15 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Oct 27 11:38:44 -0700 2008 Sat Nov 22 06:03:59 -0800 2008 4 0 false false Sun Jul 26 08:51:09 -0700 2009 Tue Apr 28 12:17:40 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 26 08:51:09 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=1859270