I liked Autobiography. Even though it had many of the same flaws -- the dense and overwritten flowery prose --, it was still interesting because it was about Morrissey and other real people. But in List Of The Lost he failed to create believable fictional characters and a credible fictional world. I have studied literary criticism and work as an editor of Finnish fiction, so I practically read for a living.
Actually I think pop lyrics suit Morrissey's gifts perfectly, because the song gives the words strict limits. He has to be exact and brief in his wording, because you can't cram too much stuff in a three minute pop song. But on a blank page he has no limits and therefore he ends up writing monstrous sentences that go on for half a page or more. A friend of mine, a professional translator and a huge Morrissey fan, translated Autobiography to Finnish and was totally at loss with many sentences in it. After some research and consulting other people he realized that there are many expressions in that book which actually don't mean anything. They are just bad and unclear writing. Which is of course understandable, because the book wasn't edited at all. And then of course Morrissey didn't allow the translations to be published, so all that work was in vain. Although of course he got paid by the publisher.
