vladimir's review
Sharp Teeth
by Toby Barlow
vladimir's review
Sharp Teeth by Toby Barlow
vladimir's review
rating:
recommended for: Fans of Cormac McCarthy, DeLillo, poetry & horror flicks
DO NOT be put off by the verse structure--I'm not a poetry aficionado in the least-- but this bold experiment works!
Barlow's epic resonates Homer's Iliad, noir crime, urban fantasy, and the above mentioned McCarthy, Delillo.
A plausible world of werewolf gangs struggling to live amongst the masses of LA. SHARP TEETH isn't just horror-fare, it recasts humanity's desires and failings against the meaning of 'pack' loyalty, craven urges, feral vs. civilized, love and power. And it has some of the best prose I've read all year; a jazzy, gritty ambling narrative voice that's exciting to behold.
"Perhaps being free of language is a blessing for dogs.
'Why do you say that? Why do you always have to hurt me?'
Since dogs aren't continually surprised when
those soft and easily broken tools called words
fail them [humans:] time and again.
'I love you.'
Words, those simple clumsy clay blocks
that one hopes will support such enormous walls.
'I do, I love you.'
Words, the sm...more
Barlow's epic resonates Homer's Iliad, noir crime, urban fantasy, and the above mentioned McCarthy, Delillo.
A plausible world of werewolf gangs struggling to live amongst the masses of LA. SHARP TEETH isn't just horror-fare, it recasts humanity's desires and failings against the meaning of 'pack' loyalty, craven urges, feral vs. civilized, love and power. And it has some of the best prose I've read all year; a jazzy, gritty ambling narrative voice that's exciting to behold.
"Perhaps being free of language is a blessing for dogs.
'Why do you say that? Why do you always have to hurt me?'
Since dogs aren't continually surprised when
those soft and easily broken tools called words
fail them [humans:] time and again.
'I love you.'
Words, those simple clumsy clay blocks
that one hopes will support such enormous walls.
'I do, I love you.'
Words, the sm...more
