Emma Tom’s first book took about 100 years to write and is a slapstick crime novel narrated by a dead school girl. Deadset is not what you’d call an easy read, though a journalist once compared it to White Noise by Don DeLillo which Emma Tom thinks is one of the nicest things anyone could ever say about a book. Two other fans of Deadset were Irvine Welsh (the guy who wrote Trainspotting) and the judges for the 1998 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Asia and the South Pacific (who gave it a prize for Best First Novel). Probably the only way to get this book is to buy it directly from Emma Tom who’s still got a few copies of it up in her attic. otherwise look for it in vinnies stores, which is where I found it for $2.
This took me a bit to get into, and grasp the swing of the nowel as the writing style is so far removed from how I think and speak. HOWEVER. I could not put it down. I took the journey from the bus, to the morgue all the way to the police station. It shocked me, it terrified me, it revolted me. It made me smile despite myself and I felt guilty at times over laughing at some of the blacker portions of the novel. This is a really unusual book, read it if you are looking for something different, very far removed from the norm. I don't know that I could read it again; but it refreshed me despite my slack jawed horror by the end nonetheless.
read this just after it was first published and thought it was pretty bloody good.reading it again for the first time since then,still think it's pretty bloody good.