I Miss The World

by Violet LeVoit

"LeVoit's work exists at the center of a glowing nexus where fever dream punk rock poetry collides with raw emotion and vertiginous talent." --Jeremy Robert Johnson, author of Skullcrack City

Set in and around Hollywood Forever Cemetery, this tense and mind-bending noir is Violet LeVoit at her finest: an unnerving, unpredictable and comic journey through deep trauma and glitzy nostalgic insanity.

"I Miss The World is a gut-punch, throat-punch, heart- punch of a novel. LeVoit knows how to seduce you with a lullaby when she's going for blood." --Danger Slater, author of Puppet Skin

"It is masterful, it is beautiful and awful, it is sweepingly and breathtakingly artistic, the impact of seeing some great natural wonder or work of art for the first time." --The Horror Fiction Review

"Revelatory, gut-punching, brilliantly anarchic perfection." --J David Osborne, author of Black Gum

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Thriller, Horror Thriller, Crime, Adult, Literary Fiction

154 pages, Paperback

First published November 16, 2016

Reviews

[Janie · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you have read this book, then it has already worked its dark magic on you. If you haven't read it yet, start now. Go into the cemetery blindfolded and pay attention to the dialogue between siblings. Something has happened, but you have no idea what lies ahead of you. The pace is fast as reality untangles. Like the woman on page one, you are standing on a precipice. The truth is in the falling.

[Danger · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was great!

Thing is: I was worried going in. I knew that the majority of the book (in fact, I’d say 98% of it) took place in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery and consisted of a conversation between the two main characters. I was like, HOW is this going to hold my interest. In the age of YouTube and Twitter and Vine, how can a sustained DIALOGUE possibly entertain me?

Dude, this book is more than just entertaining. It is profound.

Violet LeVoit knows where the veins are, and she knows how to seduce you with a lullaby when she’s going for blood. That’s what helps keep this book feeling fresh. It’s disorienting and surprising in every direction you turn. And everything is tied up in knots so thick, it’s almost impossible to stop reading long enough to breathe. The clash between the aesthetics of the past and the promise of the future, and the impossibly big disparity between the two, is rendered through pages-long monologues that trapeze from idea to idea with such speed (only to return again moments later) you almost don’t realize that if this were a play or movie you were watching, instead of reading a book, that the character would’ve just been speaking for 20 minutes straight. And in these haunting speeches (and in the rapid fire back-and-forths too) we get a Rubik’s cube of character development, setting, and action wide enough to encompass what is basically the TOTALITY of the human condition. I read this in awe. Like HOW are you writing like this, LeVoit? These aren’t just words on a page. These are song lyrics, sung at perfect-pitch. These are spells.

I don’t need to get into the specifics of the plot. It’s there. Suffice it to say, this isn’t My Dinner With Andre. We are building towards something. Something big. You know it right from page ONE. The story moves briskly and succinctly, each moment piled on to the last like the bricks in a pyramid. The conclusion is illuminating, considering the dark tone of the entire novel. I can’t stress it enough: This book is not to be missed.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

You get the feeling the author is messing with you throughout the entire book, like a cat who's caught a mouse, but you can't be certain and so all you can do is keep reading. You're at her mercy and she's having so much fun with that.

[Vicki Herbert - Vacation until Jan 2 · Rating 5 out of 5]

The end is to die for...

No spoilers. 5 stars. This is the story of a brother and sister meeting at Hollywood Forever Cemetery to commiserate over the lives they believe they each have lost...

They are very close...

Brother (no names are used except for Brother's lover Christian) is a Hollywood screenwriter/set director...

Sister is a Hollywood casting agent/photographer who is unable to bear children...

Brother collects memorabilia from the 1970s when he was most happy as a child...

Sister, who is protective of Brother, and Brother both agree that they miss Grandma and her old house fiercely...

Brother subconsciously collects artifacts (phones, furniture, etc.) from Grandma's era to recreate her house, but in the end, there is no there there anymore...

Brother and Sister have moved from New Jersey (their childhood home) to Hollywood, California, to begin a bright new chapter in their lives...

Brother has a bitter breakup with Christian...

Sister, who can't have children, was counting on Brother to have the children for both of them...

Brother and Sister discover that there is no here here, there is only now now in L.A. and they miss the world they once knew...

In the end...

Brother and Sister come to find that pain lasts longer than love...

This novella noir (154 pages) is a strange, insightful trip to the dark side of the idea that you can't ever go back home. Although you can just about count the characters in this story on one hand, the story itself spans the lifetime of the siblings. The end is to die for...

[Rodney · Rating 5 out of 5]

A profound and amazing read. If you are looking at this, you have probably heard great things about I Miss The World already. I only have more great things to say. The only problem is that I cannot really say much about what happens without being a spoiler and I would loathe to do so. What I will say here is that LeVoit has blown my mind. To pull off a book where a majority of the content is dialogue in a graveyard between two characters is one thing. Not only was there was no problem keeping my interest throughout, the way it all wraps up is something indescribable. I am not the same person I was when I started this book.

[Zai Zai · Rating 5 out of 5]

so wow... I Miss The World was an elite reading experience... to be honest I had no idea where this book was going because like 85 percent of it was a conversation ... and that conversation was executed so well like the musings about time and experience and memories and sacrifice and the state someone is in... like yeahh Plato would definitely blush... and that absolutely bonkers reveal and ending??? I can't!!??? highly recommending this one!

[George Billions · Rating 5 out of 5]

Teasing a story in the background

I looked out the window one day and saw flashing lights down the block. The cops had pulled over a van on my street. A few minutes later another cop car came. They pulled out the driver and a passenger, who I guessed to be a husband and wife, and questioned them separately. Somebody, a daughter perhaps, moved around inside the van. The woman cried. The man made a phone call.
The girl didn’t come out of the van until the cops left with the adults in handcuffs. She looked angry as hell, scowling at everyone who walked by. Another teenager showed up and drove the van away.
Something happened. I wanted to know more but nothing I could do gave me any more information. I watched the entire thing from different windows, craning my neck and trying to make out any of the dialogue. The story was there, just hidden.
I Miss the World unfolds in a similar way. The real story is immediately hinted at: something bad has happened. Most of the book dances around this something that has happened. It remains mostly hidden in the Tarentinoesque banter that fills the pages. The characters talk much more about what it takes to make a historically accurate film set than any crime that may or may not but probably happened right before the book opened.
It’s kind of maddening. I craned my neck and tried to read from different angles. I needed to know more. The story, so masterfully teased, eventually revealed itself. It sounds like I’m describing a slow burn or a shaggy dog story, but it really didn’t feel like either.

[Whitney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! On the surface, this is a brother and sister talking in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery about culture and their history, working up to what led them to this conversation. This book made me think of Alice falling down the rabbit hole; falling in slow motion and describing the scenery as she goes. These characters are obviously plummeting towards something horrific, and the things they're discussing are circling around that horror in a narrowing spiral. It's short, it's riveting, and it’s a gut punch - just take the plunge.

[exorcismemily · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I am not bad. I am good but hurt. That is often mistaken for bad. But it's not true. And there is nothing I have done that cannot be forgiven."

This book. I don't even know where to start. I was so unsure about what was going on for most of I Miss the World, and then I loved when everything tied together. This is a unique story, and I enjoyed it.

Most of this book is focused on a dialogue between two characters. I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about this, but it was done really well. Some parts were confusing, but I think I ended up grasping what was going on. Sometimes books like this can feel cheesy, but this one did not. I Miss the World is grim and haunting. I will definitely be reading more from Violet LeVoit!

[Diamond · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book, even with some forewarning it still shocked me, and made me feel like I was reading something really special! I got sucked in at by the dialogue (there's a lot of it, like a lot a lot, but possibly the best dialogue I've read in a book!) It makes you let your guard down and feel safe before ripping you to shreds! I really loved all the snark, and the themes of identity, inability and/or refusal to forgive, and showing a dark and terrifying side to nostalgia. Definitely give this a read!

[Austin Hatch · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Pain is the only polished antique we have. It’s proof that time passes.” -Violet LeVoit, “I Miss the World”

LeVoit’s created a slow-burn masterpiece. The first 80% of this book is a clinic in dialogue and character depth, whereas the final pages are fast-paced with breakneck prose and revelations you’ll never see coming.

[Abby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surreal and disturbing, with profound insights and enchanting visuals. It can easily be read in one sitting, which I recommend aiming for (don't start it when you only have 20 minutes or something) for full impact.

[Matt Neil Neil · Rating 5 out of 5]

This short novel totally blew my mind. An absolute masterclass in dialogue (I can think of no better comparison than Elmore Leonard), a lot of the book unravels the past of two siblings through their reminiscences of family and faded Hollywood glamour, hints of darkness dropped sparingly like breadcrumbs to see you through the forest. And then there's a gut-punch change of pace before a breathless race to the end that left me crushed. No horror is turned away from here, in the end.

I had this on my Kindle for over two years before finally reading it and that's a real shame, but now it's time to go and check out anything else of Violet Levoit's I can find.

[Tiffany Scandal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this book in one sitting and it blew my mind. I was a huge fan of her short stories, but this, her debut novel, was on a whole other level. LeVoit is fierce and I can't wait to read what she comes out with next.

[Kelly| Just Another Horror Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! I read this in one sitting and it totally blew my mind. So many layers here, so disturbing, so much to think about. I’ll definitely be checking out more of this author’s work.

[Ira Rat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Starts off reading like Tarantino rewriting the dialog to a Camus novel, but ends up its own thing entirely. Engaging in a way that I wasn't expecting, I can't recommend this book enough.

[Kevin Berg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very powerful stuff that scratches at something painful deep inside you.

[Colleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

An awesome gutpunch of a book. I read it all in one sitting and I advise to carve time out yourself and read it all at once--easily doable, with the book packing an awful lot of intensity in 124 pages. I knew it was set in Forest Lawn cemetery in Hollywood, so I purchased this based on good review and the expected old movie references. The book did not disappoint--and from the disturbing start, to the lengthy brother and sister monologues in the cemetery--to the slow dawning realization that crept over me at the 70% mark of what was really going on.

"It's America's Lourdes. A bunch of desperate pilgrims seeking the cure of being your ordinary, boring self. Famous people are the saints. They watch over us. St. Valentino, patron saint of stomach ailments and sex appeal. St. Monroe, our Madonna. And the martyrs--Brad Renfro, Dorothy Dandridge, Corey Haim, Sharon Tate...They're all wandering ghosts, gutted on heaven's lawn like the Black Dahlia."

As good I think as Day of the Locust. I'll never look at this painting the same again for sure:

[Thomas Joyce · Rating 5 out of 5]

I spent most of this story not entirely sure of what was happening. This could be something that may put some readers off. But don't let it. I'm normally a slow reader, but I tore through this, despite not knowing where it was headed. That's thanks to LeVoit's wonderful dialogue and characterisation. It kept me invested in the story of the sister and brother all the way to the ending. And what an ending! It was what made this book a 5-star read for me. The ambiguity of the story and the way they delivered the conclusion. Excellent read.

[Sarah Karasek · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is almost like poetry in the way it surprises. Have you ever seen someone blow a smoke ring that unravels only to reform minutes later? Me neither, but LeVoit accomplishes the verbal equivalent in her winding use of imagery and thought. I'd compare it to the classic stream of consciousness novels, although I can't say for sure how much that term itself applies - stream of conversation perhaps. I must admit that I haven't read The Tracy Fragments yet, but I would highly recommend this book fans of The Tracy Fragments movie.

[Pedro Proença · Rating 5 out of 5]

Masterpiece. Full review coming soon.

[Clarinet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes.

Yes, yes, yes. Interesting, breathless, vivid. But most of all interesting. Like listening to someone else’s conversation going on in the booth behind you.

[Ian Mond · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I’m scrolling through Facebook as you do and I come across a post from Nick Mamatas where he’s provided a quote for Violet LeVoit’s new novel Scarstruck and I think too myself who the fuck is Violet LeVoit and why haven’t I heard of her? I do a little digging (i.e. I googled her name) and discover that she’s an author of Bizzaro fiction, a genre I’ve always been aware of but have never bothered with. On reflection, I find that strange because I’ve always been a fan of horror, loved my splatterpunk in the late 80s and early 90s and would get irrational whenever Charles L. Grant admonished writers for using too much gore. I know Bizzaro isn’t all about the blood and guts, it also dabbles in the experimental and absurd, but it should be in my wheelhouse. Anyway, I decided to purchase a copy of Violet’s first novel I Miss The World, and fuck me if it isn’t just the bomb (do the cool kids still say that?)

The plot is straight-forward. A brother and sister meet up at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery where they catch up on what they‘ve been doing. As both of them work in Hollywood, the brother is a production designer, the sister is a casting agent, much of their conversation revolves around the Business. There’s this brilliant bit where the sister talks about finding the right face for the right time period, but also how the unique features of particular actors changed the public’s view on what was beautiful, what was handsome. “There’s no Susan Sarandon without Bette Davis.” The book is full of smart, razor-sharp observations like this, including an astonishing, hilarious dissection of one of the most famous paintings in America, Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks. The brother and sister’s discussion goes beyond Hollywood, they talk about their upbringing and then the sister launches into a story about... actually you can find out for yourself.

If I held back from giving I Miss The World five stars (on the old Goodreads-o-meter) it’s because I have mixed feelings about the big reveal toward the end (don’t worry I won’t spoil it). It is subtly foreshadowed throughout the book (we know from the outset that somethings not right), but I’ve seen a similar trick pulled a number of times before and it’s lost much of its novelty. Having said that, the twist does lead us to a couple of paragraphs of prose that’s as shocking, cruel and impactful as anything I’ve ever read. The horror of the scene works because it’s all about context, LeVoit has done the groundwork to make sure that when you read those paragraphs you are stunned, you are disgusted and yet you read on. Fuckwit edgelords should take note.

I’m not sure if I’ll ever address my Bizzaro fiction hole. What I have done is pre-ordered Violet LeVoit’s next book because if there’s one thing that’s come out of this is that I now know who she is and I won’t be forgetting her in a hurry.

[Edward Stafford · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three and a half stars, rounded up because it's definitely more of a 3.51 than a 3.49.

This book shouldn't work. The fact that it does probably has more to do with Violet LeVoit being a fucking excellent writer than anything miraculous. Seriously, I am so glad I went into this blind because if the person who recommended it would have told me more about it, I probably would have passed and then I would have missed out.

This is a hard one to recommend and an even harder one to review without spoiling too much. Suffice it to say that most of the book is a conversation between a brother and sister at L.A.'s famous and infamous Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Conversation topics veer wildly from contemplating the impossibilities of the physical space in Edward Hopper's Nighthawks to waxing poetic about Art Deco furniture. As these both happen to be topics I'm interested in, I found it easy to stick with LeVoit's acerbic musings. This is very much a "your mileage may vary" kind of thing, but I think if you can make it through some of the inanities of the conversation, you'll be rewarded.

The first reward is LeVoit's writing itself. It's a pleasure to read. I could easily imagine the book as a theater production. Since almost all of the book is dialogue, the characters feel very much alive and exposed on a spartan stage that happens to be a graveyard. Even if the characters seem very typical hollow L.A. industry types, the dialogue between them is snappy, witty, and believable.

The second reward is the mystery that begins to unravel as the brother and sister go out of their way to avoid the elephant in the room. Eventually, the truth of the matter comes out in an agonizingly beautiful spilling of the guts where revelation upon revelation is hurled at the reader in a series of convulsive confessions that feel more like an exorcism.

For such a small book, it packs a good-sized wallop. Now that LeVoit is on my radar, I'm absolutely going to seek out more of her stuff. Definitely recommended for those who like unconventional horror.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't write reviews because I don't usually feel the need to share anything publically with the world at large.

I will write my first and only review for this.

Wow!

Like many of the descriptions mention, this is a punch in the face, a knee to the groin and a final knock out, face slam against a wall.

I am writing a review because to have this not be read by as many people as possible is an injustice. If I were to play the "What would you do if you had millions of dollars?" game, I would spend as much money possible to see this crafted into a movie, word for word and image for image. I would do that just to have multiple ways this could be experienced. If I had money left over, it would be a play so there would be a third avenue.

I spent the entirety of the second half pacing around the room in circles. Page after page.

In closing, this site needs a sixth star that is rationed and can only be used sparingly. Five is not enough

[Pete · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book took me through a range of emotions I didn’t think possible in 120 pages. I won’t go into details because it’s easily spoiled but I do recommend.

Favorite Emotion: Hollywood Pop-Culture Bliss
Least Favorite: Testicular Trauma Like Pain

[Carrie Laben · Rating 5 out of 5]

Day of the Locust meets Fight Club in all the best ways.

[LX · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 confused stars lol ????

[David Bridges · Rating 5 out of 5]

I went into this book without knowing what to expect from it. I have read several great books from King Shot Press this year and figured let's give it a whirl. Now that I have finished I Miss The World, I am glad I did not have any expectations because none of them would have been met. I don't mean that as a bad thing either. The book is so creative that it would've been impossible for me to have expectations anyways.

The book has a very brief ominous opening that I kept referring back to as I read the book. It comes around though in an awesome way. I don't want to give too much of the plot away because I truly feel like you will get more out of this book if you go in with an open mind. Patience it the virtue with this one, or it was for me. It's a novel but it is formatted basically as a conversation between two characters that are reminiscing and telling stories. There are a lot of generational culture references, usually of the pop or artistic nature, some of them philosophical. The prose itself is poetic but there is also some real poetry weaved into some of the monologues. Like any good novel there is an ending and some twists.

The book really started to pick up for me around page 72. One of the characters is telling a story about moving to LA and it is a crazy experience. This part of the book rang like a top notch Denis Johnson short story. The book just takes off into space after this point. The rest of the book is amazing.

I have a couple of other Violet Levoit books and will definitely be checking those out. I also look forward to any new upcoming work as well. Levoit seems to be a very original voice in dark literary fiction.

[Tyler Spragg · Rating 5 out of 5]

After seeing so much praise for I MISS THE WORLD, I figured it wouldn't disappoint. I picked up this book with almost no idea what I was getting into and was not let down even the slightest bit. Grab this book and see for yourself what you've been missing.