The Last Book You Read (Paperback)

This is not like any book of short stories I've read before. All the stories link up. It's like a novel in disguise. I don't want to get into this and that about this favourite story etc etc. The one thing that come across in every one is that the characters are so YOU. That's freaky. You have been there or you can see yourself going there. The sex scenes are the funniest and saddest I've ever read. It's like you tell yourself - that's so real! (what does that say about me?). But because of the quality of the writing and the humour and straight to the heart honest truth of it all, it's totally uplifting. Morrison reminds you that you used to have a heart and a brain. And that is very upsetting. It's not an easy read (emotionally - but it is a page turner stylistically) But it's like sometimes you don't want to turn the page cos it's all just too much. But you do (I did) I read the whole thing in two days and was gutted when it was finished.

I laughed out loud on the subway. And cried in the loo at work. This book won't change your life but it will remind you that you're still breathing. Oh yeah and Stoop was my favourite one.

I love to read many books on self-destructive patterns socially, raw thoughts and profound feelings. These are not new subjects to me in the least, but I was completely enthralled with Ewan Morrisons method of writing. His expression of the characters is not by description but through their thoughts. In my opinion, he does not need to ‘set the scene’ or give any background information, all you need to read is the thoughts and feelings of each of the characters to know what is going on and how they are coping or not coping. This is what makes this book so compelling. Yes, it’s the things we all think and are faced with each day but dare not say. Dare not tell others, dare not be honest to ourselves because of the social standards that are put on us every day to conform. They are only human thoughts so why are we so scared to talk about them? This is what Ewan Morrison does he talks about them and he does it beautifully. Each character is a cry from inside all of us. There is no distance from the suffering as we are placed in the heads and minds of the sufferer.

I was going to write, that unless you have experienced any of these scenarios that the characters are facing first hand, then how can someone say there is no depth, but the truth is you may never have had an affair, or been depressed, or done online dating but you don’t even have to relate to the characters to understand what they are going through.

Last of all, if someone was to ask you ‘what was the last book you read?’ would you be so abrupt as to say ‘the last book you read’, unless you wanted to make someone who went out of their way to make conversation with you feel awkward. This should be a great conversation piece of ‘well actually it was called…..’

I found this book completely absorbing, liberating and honest.

The voyeuristic nature of this book is what is both compelling and frustrating. We see these people through the windows of hotel rooms, bars, even computer monitors. We see them, we may even be them, yet the bubbles that surround them are so air-tight that even we, the readers, cannot penetrate them. We identify deeply, but are deliberately distanced from their suffering. This is the quality that merits one less star in this rating. Morrison paints pain for us, but doesn't allow us to live it. Perhaps the author did this to spare us the discomfort we would feel if we could connect more deeply with his creations.

My sense is, however, that he cannot, as a new writer, go deeper yet. He should trust to let it unfold naturally. Too much is stated to us directly, maybe for fear we wont see it on its own. The suffering in his book is placed "just-so", perhaps a tiny bit forced or scripted, and not always surprising. A first-time rendez-vous in a hotel room IS awkward. Waiting for a blind date in a bar IS harrowing. For any first-time writer, I imagine that writing itself is territory visited with terror.

Nonetheless, Morrison visits these scary places with a fresh eye, sly wit, and compassion often missing in the world around us. With this author's guidance, I'd visit these places again and again.

Besides, how much fun is it to say at a party, when someone asks you, "What's the last book you read?" and you respond, "The Last Book You Read."