I loved this Swede’s A Man Called Ovi, but not his Beartown and have not read any of his other numerous novels. This is his latest.
In this novel set in an unspecified town and at unspefied times, a group of teens is featured because one of them has become a famous artist with one particular piece of
painting worth millions because he painted it when he was only 14 and then died young.
However, the teens are all insecure, obsessed with dying, and crooks, breakin artists, stealing cars and fighting. None are remotely normal and the families are all dysfunctional or nonexistent. Like the characters, the time lines also seem to vary without any logic or sense of continuity.
Stilted conversations and disconnected stories are so prevalent that I completely lost interest. To be fair, there is no explicit sex, with just a hint of homosexual attractions and abundant foul language. I completed my reading of it only by taking it with me on my iPad and reading while exercising on the treadmill in the gym over several days.
I will not be tempted to read more Bachman.
2.0/5
Thanks, Goodreads.
The Passionate Reader 