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Amazon.co.uk Review
The narrator of the book is a dancer living in Amsterdam. One day he goes out to buy some cigarettes for his girlfriend--also a dancer--and is kidnapped and held for a period of time before being released. Although Thomson's book is not as plot-dependent as a thriller, for example, it would be unfair to give away too much, simply because the force of each development in the book and the response of the reader are part of the strength and psychological sharpness of the novel and its emotional geography, which is comparable to the narrator's own mental map of the city:
"There was a sense in which the city had been trying to tell me something all along. You'll never solve this case. You might as well forget it. But I had not been listening, of course. Look at the map. It's all there, in a way. The whole story".
At a time when so many writers are obsessed with trauma--particularly child-abuse and its psychological legacy--Thomson chooses to explore the concept through an event that is both more and less sensational. The narrator undergoes an ordeal that, given its aura of artifice and ritual, might find its literary parallel in, for example, The Story of O, but the book also distances the reader from the traumatic events by switching from first to third person narration--a simple device that complicates and deepens the effect of the book as a whole. This shift in narrative position suggests both a complex questioning of and reference to certain literary tropes of confinement and abuse as well as directing the reader to reflect on the psychological distancing perhaps necessary to deal with the trauma.
Charting the narrator's attempt to live with the ineradicable legacy of what he has experienced, his revelations are compellingly and acutely delineated: Thomson's strange, disturbing tale asks profound questions about the burden of the past, especially of past events that set one apart from others rather than providing a shared, communal retrospection: how do we relate to others when we have experienced events that defy rationality, explanation or resolution? --Burhan Tufail
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Our male dancer endures a cruel and humiliating ordeal after being abducted by three random strangers - through no fault of his own. His total powerlessness and inability to identify , never mind get revenge on his captors leads to a chain of events which destroys the dancer's career, his relationships and ultimately his identity.
"The Book of Revelation" is superbly written and Thomson describes the emotional turmoil of the central character perfectly, from the dramatic effect of his ordeal on his sexual behaviour, to his desire for solitude and his disconnection from society.
However the main issues which this book tackles are broadly "Apocalyptic" , metaphysical ones. The author's Amsterdam (a symbol of secular Western society) is decadent and its inhabitants and their lives transitory. Love doesn't last, careers come first and families don't exist. The dancer's family in England are introduced briefly as a symbol of the Old Society, that which is being lost. The New Society which brutalises , traumatises and destroys our dancer is one in which traditional sexual roles are reversed, where extreme cruelty and torture is a form of entertainment and where justice is forever elusive. The New Society and its amorality would not be unlike the End Times as portayed in the Bible. Is this the reason for the Biblical title ?
However on a more down-to-earth level this is a harrowing account of the insidious effects of mental and physical torture on an individual and it's consequences . How much more terrible it is when the victim is unable to articulate his suffering for fear of disbelief.
I certainly would recommend this book. It is hard to put down and very evocative. Now, which Rupert Thomson novel should I read next ?
Our male dancer endures a cruel and humiliating ordeal after being abducted by three random strangers - through no fault of his own. His total powerlessness and inability to identify , never mind get revenge on his captors leads to a chain of events which destroys the dancer's career, relationships and identity.
"The Book of Revelation" is superbly written and Thomson describes the emotional turmoil of the central character perfectly, from the dramatic effect of his ordeal on his sexual behaviour, to his desire for solitude and his disconnection from society.
However the main issues which this book tackles are broadly "Apocalyptic" , metaphysical ones. The author's Amsterdam (which is a symbol of secular Western society) is decadent and its inhabitants and their lives transitory. Love doesn't last, careers come first and families don't exist. The dancer's family in England are introduced as a symbol of the Old Society, that which is being lost. The New Society which brutalises , traumatises and destroys our dancer is one in which traditional sexual roles are reversed, where extreme cruelty and torture is a form of entertainment and where justice is forever elusive. The New Society and its amorality would not be unlike the End Times as portayed in the Bible.
However on another level this is a harrowing account of the insidious effects of mental and physical torture on an individual and the consequences of it. How much more terrible it is when the victim is unable to articulate his suffering for fear of disbelief.
I would recommend this book. It is hard to put down and very evocative. Now, which Rupert Thomson novel should I read now ?
I have recently finished a degree at one of the UK's top 5 universities for English. Read more
cliche after cliche. badly constructed. Read more
Why can't one award zero (if not minus) stars?
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