I received this book for free from in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
L: A Novel History
on September 1, 2012 and has 350 pages.
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This advanced reading copy was provided by the publisher.
Becker claims that this is a visualized history of what might have happened in England if Margaret Thatcher hadn’t been returned to office. “…a mirage of security under a paternalistic state led by a charismatic would-be dictator.” To be honest, I have no idea why Becker would put such effort into such a hideous story.
The only reason I racked the rating up to a “2” is because Becker has written it well and put great effort into “supporting documentation”.
My Take
I only managed one hundred pages in this book and skimmed bits of the rest. On the one hand, Becker has brilliantly written an impression of a biography creating the typical supporting materials most historians and biographers would use to create such a book and building an authenticity into it with references to the supposed external resources, quotations from others, bits of history and news sources, and using footnotes as that last dash of credibility.
The topic of her “biography” however is just so disgusting. All I’ve read so far is the background on her primary character and it’s that buildup that I just can’t tolerate any longer. It makes me ashamed of being part of that generation. It almost makes me ashamed to be an artist. It certainly strains at my adherence to the First Amendment!
I really can’t say if the rest of this novel has any worth, but if you enjoy animal mutilation and sacrifice, Marxism, rich “kids” who whine about their privileges, communistic oppression, and Robert Mapplethorpe-type toilet art, this story is for you.
L is a psychopathic jerk and I wish he’d been smothered at birth along with this novel.
The Cover and Title
The cover is a pencil sketch of L in profile.
The title certainly is a clue that this is a total fiction — L: A Novel History — although sadly, the type of behavior within it is universal non-fiction.
