Morrissey’s Penguin Classic

[Deleted member 30764]

Is it worth it purchasing this book? And, yes I know that it has a notoriously bad reputation.

 

[Redacted]

Is it worth it purchasing this book? And, yes I know that it has a notoriously bad reputation.

We have it, my husband read it and I am pretty sure he told me to not bother
He loved Autobiography tho

 

[j*e*t]

I would recommend it to Morrissey's fans because his use of words is so interesting and it gives some insight into his thoughts. I struggled with the stream of consciousness style when I read Ulysses by James Joyce as a student and it takes some getting used to with Morrissey's novel too. Shortly after reading List of the Lost I read a biography of James Dean that included some of his letters. It struck me that Morrissey could have written the novel in the first person, with one or more of the young men telling the story, so that any eccentricities of language or grammar would seem natural.

 

[Deleted member 30764]

We have it, my husband read it and I am pretty sure he told me to not bother
He loved Autobiography tho

Yeah, I have his Autobiography.

 

[Anonymous]

It depends what you are looking for. There are a few glimmers of Morrissey's old lyrical genius here and there, largely within the first 20 pages, but it swiftly becomes an almost unreadable chore, because it's just so badly written. Highly purple prose, mangled syntax, and a rambling narrative that goes precisely nowhere - by the end I felt embaressed for Moz that it had been published, and the publisher didn't have the balls to tell him 'no'. Every character is clearly a mouthpiece for Morrissey, so there may be some interest in reading between the lines to get some of his views, though you might not like what you discover (the attitude displayed towards women throughout is pretty loathsome and misogynistic). The sex scenes are genuinely hilarious though, and worth reading just for the LOLs.

I came out of it with less respect for the author than I had going in, but it's all part of the jigsaw that is Morrissey, so for better or worse you might as well give it a bash. It's a terrible novel, but if nothing else it's an intruiging and revealing insight into his psyche.

 

[Deleted member 30764]

It depends what you are looking for. There are a few glimmers of Morrissey's old lyrical genius here and there, largely within the first 20 pages, but it swiftly becomes an almost unreadable chore, because it's just so badly written. Highly purple prose, mangled syntax, and a rambling narrative that goes precisely nowhere - by the end I felt embaressed for Moz that it had been published, and the publisher didn't have the balls to tell him 'no'. Every character is clearly a mouthpiece for Morrissey, so there may be some interest in reading between the lines to get some of his views, though you might not like what you discover (the attitude displayed towards women throughout is pretty loathsome and misogynistic). The sex scenes are genuinely hilarious though, and worth reading just for the LOLs.

I came out of it with less respect for the author than I had going in, but it's all part of the jigsaw that is Morrissey, so for better or worse you might as well give it a bash. It's a terrible novel, but if nothing else it's an intruiging and revealing insight into his psyche.

I almost have to believe that’s what he set out to achieve with this book.
All the things you just listed, seem to me, like he did that entirely on purpose.

It might be complete wishful thinking on my part? The way his eccentric sense of self and humor are, almost leads me to believe, he actively wanted to write a book completely panned by critics and even his own fans.

 

[Anonymous]

I think every Morrissey fan should read it and form their own opinion.

 

[ZOOM FROM GLOOM]

I almost have to believe that’s what he set out to achieve with this book.
All the things you just listed, seem to me, like he did that entirely on purpose.

It might be complete wishful thinking on my part? The way his eccentric sense of self and humor are, almost leads me to believe, he actively wanted to write a book completely panned by critics and even his own fans.

there may be something to that.

 

[Johnny]

I read it .It isn't good. In all honesty I would struggle to see how it could be described as anything other than poor.

 

[Anonymous]

The way his eccentric sense of self and humor are, almost leads me to believe, he actively wanted to write a book completely panned by critics and even his own fans.

I don't think he's eccentric enough to write something deliberately awful, just to troll people. I suspect this is simply a case of what happens when a star believes their own publicity. After years of being described as one of the greatest living lyricists, I suspect his ego was large enough that he really thought he was the new Oscar Wilde - this is someone who demanded his autobiography by published as a 'Penguin Classic', and posed with signs saying he should be the new Poet Laureate. When you get to that level of stardom, you are just surrounded by yes-men, and no one who will give an honest opinion about anything. Clearly, 'List of the Lost' was published under the proviso that it was a work of genius, and no editor should touch a word of it. I'm sure he was genuinly shocked when it became a laughing stock. He probably still thinks it's great, and it's just the evil 'mainstream media' out to get him.

But I'd still recommend you read it and make up your own mind. There are a few hardy souls out there who genuinely seem to like it, so it might still float your boat.

 

[NealCassidy]

Is it worth it purchasing this book? And, yes I know that it has a notoriously bad reputation.

if you can spare $5 buy it and decide for yourself

 

[Deleted member 30764]

I understand what you are saying, but considering how everyone says how abysmally written it is

And Morrissey freely admitted that no one in his life actually liked the book…. In one of those Fiona Dodwell interviews??

This leads me to highly suspect, because of his wild eccentricity, and how it appears that he delights in his eccentricities… that what actually transpired was a serious miscalculation troll attempt with this book.

Literary critics and his fans were misguided into believing he meant to write a serious piece of literature… when he possibly didn’t.

And yes, I realize Morrissey wants to be compared as often as possible to Oscar Wilde, and it’s too bad he didn’t set out with grandiose ideals to write a modern day “The Picture of Dorian Gray “ instead.

 

[BookishBoy]

This thread has reminded me of John Niven's brilliant review of the novel, when it came out.

 

[Eldritch]

Here's a review, which is an absolute riot and probably longer than the novel itself.

A Necessary Review Of Morrissey's Mind-Bendingly Bad Novel, List Of The Lost | Balls.ie

Morrissey Novel - Morrissey -that one- wrote an abysmal novel entitled List of the Lost in 2015, and it got The Reducer treatment this week.

www.balls.ie

Look, this book is not bad because it’s a bit pretentious or slightly wanky, or merely a bit weird on matters of relationships or sex, or even just because it’s filled with hundreds of unprompted lectures about Morrissey’s hobby horse subjects. Sure it's weird that every single character is from Boston, but has the same exact personality and tone of voice, and the same fascination with the British Royal family and the evils of judges and the meat industry. But mainly, it’s bad because it is genuinely near-unreadable. In real terms. In every sense. From the grammar upwards. Not simply in style, or sensibility, or plot. Morrissey is a bad writer in the way that someone might be a bad cook. It’s all the wrong ingredients, in all the wrong order. Forever. If you list all the bad things about this book, you list every single thing in this book. Yes, the style, its sensibility and plot, but also the grammar, spelling, sentence structure, even the f***ing names of the characters. There are never-ending paragraphs that rumble and tumble awkwardly until they come to an abrupt hard-stop, or else career recklessly forward into the next grab bag of cold, wet nonsense. For pages and pages and pages.

 

[BookishBoy]

Here's a review, which is an absolute riot and probably longer than the novel itself.

A Necessary Review Of Morrissey's Mind-Bendingly Bad Novel, List Of The Lost | Balls.ie

Morrissey Novel - Morrissey -that one- wrote an abysmal novel entitled List of the Lost in 2015, and it got The Reducer treatment this week.

www.balls.ie

Look, this book is not bad because it’s a bit pretentious or slightly wanky, or merely a bit weird on matters of relationships or sex, or even just because it’s filled with hundreds of unprompted lectures about Morrissey’s hobby horse subjects. Sure it's weird that every single character is from Boston, but has the same exact personality and tone of voice, and the same fascination with the British Royal family and the evils of judges and the meat industry. But mainly, it’s bad because it is genuinely near-unreadable. In real terms. In every sense. From the grammar upwards. Not simply in style, or sensibility, or plot. Morrissey is a bad writer in the way that someone might be a bad cook. It’s all the wrong ingredients, in all the wrong order. Forever. If you list all the bad things about this book, you list every single thing in this book. Yes, the style, its sensibility and plot, but also the grammar, spelling, sentence structure, even the f***ing names of the characters. There are never-ending paragraphs that rumble and tumble awkwardly until they come to an abrupt hard-stop, or else career recklessly forward into the next grab bag of cold, wet nonsense. For pages and pages and pages.

Oh god I'd forgotten about that review, it's genius. Even for sarcastic little asides like:

"Morrissey's bracket work alone should be generating some awards buzz."

 

[Deleted member 29417]

There is only one character & it's set in a catatonic dream state on the verge of death.

 

[ThePoliticalRevolution]

i love the book. i laughed my ass off.

 

[Deleted member 30764]

There is only one character & it's set in a catatonic dream state on the verge of death.

There is only one character & it's set in a catatonic dream state on the verge of death.

Hello Vex

 

[Deleted member 30764]

I just read that Morrissey and Fiona Dodwell interview again and she claims to have read it three times! He seems almost annoyed by her sucking up to him about the book.

He claims it was suppose to be a modern day “Brighton Rock”….

And that NO ONE he personally knew liked the book.

 

[Dirk Blaggard]

I liked it
*ducks

I think you have to read it for what it is, modern day pulp fiction .
If he really did aim it to be a modern day Brighton Rock, he failed by such a degree, it shows his once ultra sharp sense of knowing is dead
I expect though, that was just a throw away line, and he didn't mean it to be Brighton Rock, at all, but instead a modern day bit of pulp fiction.
In that sense it works.