Fiction. A spare and chilling account of the day-to-day experience of Sloper, a janitor in a big-city office building, WASTE explores the import of...
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Apr 07, 2010
karen
rated it: 
i enjoyed this book, but im wondering what greg must think of me to have recommended it. you know how when patrick mccabe is writing truly sick shit and you enjoy it but you're like, man - why am i laughing at this?? its like that. but told in this tight prose that still manages to leave so much implicit. i liked it but it's definitely not for everyone.
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(19 people liked it)
Jan 29, 2009
Alfonso
rated it:
I have friend call amilcar… amilcar is more of a sick fuck than me, he enjoys watching news when there are big accidents so he can laugh at them… amilcar’s idea of a joke is go to Somalia set up a electric fence… get a big table fill with the most delicious food on the planet and put some fans so the smells gets everywhere… cuz he wants to laugh at the starving people getting electrocuted while trying to get to the food… while he eats… amilcar and I use to spend our nights trying to come up with
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(3 people liked it)
Dec 08, 2008
Greg
rated it:
A wonderfully sparse and creepy novel about a janitor. There is something quite disturbing about this book, and it's not just the um, stuff (that I won't give away) that is overtly disturbing. If you can get a hold of this I'd recommend reading, the book has a kind of 'self-published' feel to it with the quality of the print on the cover, but look beyond that and read what really should be a book that gets a lot of attention.
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(5 people liked it)
Aug 30, 2009
Greg
rated it: 
I defy anyone to not fall in love with Eugene Marten’s prose. Okay, I’ve never defied before, but I urge you to read this book published by Ellipsis Press in 2008. In an unnamed city a janitor called Sloper goes about his business at a highrise downtown and finds a few surprises. He is a loner, lives in his mother’s basement, plays a cup and ball game to pass the time and, not surprisingly, is socially awkward. He is a true voyeur in an age of covert computer geeks. He weighs the objects the wor
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Sep 04, 2011
Daniel
rated it: 
I had high expectations for this book. A protagonist who is a janitor in a corporate building; strange co-workers; foul doings: the elements at play in this little volume were interesting, different, and ripe for modern noir. In actual fact, the elements that Marten put into play did not work for me.
I don't want to dish on this book. It represents everything that I want to support in publishing and books, in that it is a singular work that evades easy categorization. It also goes place More...
I don't want to dish on this book. It represents everything that I want to support in publishing and books, in that it is a singular work that evades easy categorization. It also goes place More...
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(3 people liked it)
Jun 20, 2009
Laura
rated it:
Um. Ulp. I'm pretty much speechless here.
Eugene Marten's very short novel is about Sloper, a janitor. While merrily performing his janitorial tasks one evening, Sloper runs across something unusual in the dumpster, and...well, you probably have some idea where this is going, and it's really every bit as "EWWWWWW" as you think it is.
Waste is one of those books where you finish reading and you're really not quite sure whether you've been had or whether you're in More...
Eugene Marten's very short novel is about Sloper, a janitor. While merrily performing his janitorial tasks one evening, Sloper runs across something unusual in the dumpster, and...well, you probably have some idea where this is going, and it's really every bit as "EWWWWWW" as you think it is.
Waste is one of those books where you finish reading and you're really not quite sure whether you've been had or whether you're in More...
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(2 people liked it)
Aug 06, 2011
Mike
rated it: 
Few writers could carry off this story. Marten builds his world sentence by sentence. The effect is compelling. See how the somewhat poetic rendition he gives a plate of left overs in the first few pages transforms by the middle then end of the book. Marten questions blind systemic trust, the compulsive bases for character alive in a culture that refuses to deal with its own refuse.
Mar 02, 2009
Emily
rated it:
Deeply disturbing but surprisingly well written. It fucks with our perception of what gets deemed "waste" in our society: stuff, people, entire lives...
The style is creepy and minimal and uncomfortably effective.
The style is creepy and minimal and uncomfortably effective.
Jun 18, 2009
Robb
rated it:
I bought this book Tuesday evening on Amazon.com, it was delivered at work Thursday afternoon and I finished reading all 116 pages that night. Couldn't put it down.
Jan 07, 2010
Hal
rated it:
The freakiest book I've ever read. Repellent yet hypnotic. Short enough to read in one sitting. I like it, but prefer In the Blind.
Jan 16, 2010
Pjlevine
rated it: 
I gave it one star because I didn't like it BUT I couldn't put it down.
Jan 05, 2009
Derek
rated it:
I blogged about it here:
http://www.5cense.com/NYC_Revisisted.htm
http://www.5cense.com/NYC_Revisisted.htm
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Aug 06, 2009
Ashwin
rated it:
Burns like a fuse. Fireworks. Also, you're the one that lights the match. When something blows, you'll be an accomplice.
Jun 10, 2010
Colette
rated it:
Someone publish this book. Waste blows almost every published book I've ever read out of the water. I found a self-published copy in the creepy basement of a used bookstore on Coventry, Cleveland with no description and it was one of the most fucked books that felt like it was coming from my own head. This author published a book called 'In the Blind' after this which is not nearly as good but until this one sees the light of day, check it out.
Jul 22, 2010
Schuyler
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Aug 03, 2008
Eugene
rated it:
"This is surely one of the darkest and most jarring books I’ve read. It is also pitch-perfect. Waste wastes nothing–not a syllable, a beat, a ragged breath." –Dawn Raffel
Feb 05, 2012
Feb 10, 2012
M.
rated it:
I got my hands on a copy of this book from Deron Bauman when it first came out, self-published by Eugene Marten. I liked it so much I sent it along to Gordon Lish who in turn loved it so much he got Eugene a book contract to publish his next novel. I have the original, signed by Eugene, but never fully acknowledged by him that I really helped him out. In an interview Gordon Lish said what an influence I was for Eugene, but the bum has never attempted to thank me. Oh well. But the novel is defi
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