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71st out of 90 books
—
89 voters
Senseless
by
Stona Fitch (Goodreads Author)
Eliot Gast is kidnapped in Brussels by a group of international terrorists. He is held captive in a white room. Black wires that hang from the wall and ceiling broadcast his plight worldwide via the Internet. His crime, they insist, demands justice. At first he cooperates, then plots escape.
Paperback, 160 pages
Published
July 1st 2003
by Soho Press
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Elliot Gast is a man of taste and refinement. He has a nose for a fine wine, and eye for fine detail and a palate that has appreciated the best of food. He works for a company called IBIS as a social facilitator in business dealings, having moved on from being a small cog in some murky palm-greasing on behalf of American business interests at the point of the formation of Europe’s Common Market.
His life is good.
On the way home from a splendid meal one evening, he is kidnapped from the streets...more
His life is good.
On the way home from a splendid meal one evening, he is kidnapped from the streets...more
Senseless is best described as a psychological thriller, a novel that blends crime and horror, harking back through Christie’s And Then There Were None, back through the Sherlock Holmes stories, right back to Edgar Allan Poe, the guy who brought the detective story genre kicking and screaming into the world with his Murders in the Rue Morgue in 1841.
But I digress. Senseless is the brutally short tale of US economist Eliott Gast, abducted from the streets of Brussels by an anti-globalisation grou...more
But I digress. Senseless is the brutally short tale of US economist Eliott Gast, abducted from the streets of Brussels by an anti-globalisation grou...more
Haunting, terrifying, disturbing, grotesque. But also lovely, touching, poignant, and even funny. It's not for everyone, but Senseless is a book I'll not soon forget. Eeesh. Also, the SAW franchise could learn something for Fitch's novel: it pays to have an entirely separate, well-developed interior landscape for the hostage. The moment that Eliot Gast says— "I'd never catch a napkin in midair again"? That's how you get a reader/viewer to care about a character. It's in the details, not in the s...more
Review snippet: However, Gast never loses site of himself even as he is made senseless. He refuses to cooperate in any manner, fighting as much as he can, refusing to do what his captors ask of him. In order to increase the theater of the torture, his captors want him to scream, to yell in pain, to fight overtly instead of rebel passively. At one point, Blackbeard tells Gast that his Internet pain show is making the terrorist group lots of money, 10% of which will be his if only he will cooperat...more
This book was very interesting and kept me engaged the entire time. It is short too, so it was easy to sit down and read big chunks at a time. It was very dark at times, and scary, but still very interesting. The conflict that Elliot was in continuously changed. Very creative book, the setting especially was very well thought out, I could imagine it vividly by the end of the book. Also the different forms of torture made for a very interesting book.
What a prescient novel: looking back at the 10 years since its publication, its resonance, both worldly and personal, is simply unavoidable for me.
In terms of style and sensibilities, Senseless perfectly matches my own tastes. It's rather rare that I know from the first 2 sentences that I am "all in," but that's exactly what happened, and I finished the novel in one, incredibly late night because I couldn't put it down.
In terms of style and sensibilities, Senseless perfectly matches my own tastes. It's rather rare that I know from the first 2 sentences that I am "all in," but that's exactly what happened, and I finished the novel in one, incredibly late night because I couldn't put it down.
A really great book, so horrible yet so brilliant. Makes you cringe and really feel something when you read it.
Ich habe die Realityshow des Grauens zu Ende gelesen. Ich weiß nicht ... der Bedarf an solcher Literatur ist vorerst befriedigt. Trotz allem ist der Roman sehr dicht und packend geschrieben. Aber nichts für so eine dünne feinsinnige Person wie mich.
Lesefreunde von Thrillern, in denen es auch physisch recht hart zugeht, ist der Roman zu empfehlen.
Lesefreunde von Thrillern, in denen es auch physisch recht hart zugeht, ist der Roman zu empfehlen.
Oct 04, 2010
Nicole
marked it as to-read
favorite books of Gregory Maguire
RATING: 4.75
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Terrifying. A business man is kidnapped by a terrorist group opposed to the European Union. They broadcast torture of him--removing each of the five senses--on the internet, leaving his fate to their audience.
"A chilling psychological thriller and brilliant political fable for our time. It's masterful and should be situated on the literary map between DeLillo and Coetzee." --Russell Banks
"A chilling psychological thriller and brilliant political fable for our time. It's masterful and should be situated on the literary map between DeLillo and Coetzee." --Russell Banks
A cruel fictional account of a man held captive and subjected to losing each of his five senses, one at a time...it sounds awful (and it gets intense to read at times), but it actually seems to pay homage to the senses. I'd actually do 3 1/2 stars if it were possible.
Gory and bloody and terrible. A train wreck I couldn't look away from. I'm glad it was short because as much as I wanted to, I couldn't put it down.
May 22, 2013
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