Customer Reviews

Spurious

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a novel that is deeply in love with philosophy, but acutely conscious of the inanities of human thinking and the seductive void of the aphorism. Iyer's protagonists - provincial academic philosophers who aspire to Nietzschean heights - are exemplars of Pessoa's definition of decadence: "total loss of unconsciousness". Relentlessly self-aware, they differ from each other only in the strategies they have adopted to cope with their perceived failures. 'Lars' anaesthetises himself with food, alcohol, and 'chav mags': W., his inseparable friend and foil, swinging between rage and despair, jabs and dodges and consoles himself with the thought that however inadequate he may be, his friend offers a horrible example of the further depths to which it is still possible to sink.

Meanwhile, in Lars's flat, the damp extends its empire, as though the whole world were beginning its return to a primal condition of wateriness. The disaster has already taken place...

In 'Spurious' Lars Iyer has managed a difficult trick: he has written a book that is intelligent and unconventional but readable, serious yet funny, and not a sentence too long. Laurel and Hardy butt heads with Levinas and Blanchot, Kafka and Rosenzweig in a way that should seem arch but gives birth to a strange poignancy. Readers of Beckett, Cioran and Pessoa will find themselves at home. I highly recommend the experience.

If you never thought you'd find yourself laughing out loud at the prospect of human extinction, then Spurious is the book to make you do it. The interchanges between its two characters range from anticipating the coming of the apocalypse, that is, of financial and environmental collapse, to W.'s berating of Lars's constant snacking; from bemoaning the impossibility of thinking like the thinkers of "Old Europe" used to think, to W.'s advice on the importance of always carrying wipes in your manbag. The juxtaposition of grand themes, spoken about with an earnestness too close to the themes to be illuminating and too hyperbolic to ever be enough, and the minutiae of the character's minor illnesses and sartorial choices, the effect of alcohol on their mental life and the pattern of their digestion, feels like a comedy sketch in which you're constantly having the rug pulled from under your feet. But the minute sensibility of hypochondria in the face of disaster is, it turns out, seriously funny, in that dark way that death is sometimes funny: almost everything else is, by contrast, ridiculously unimportant, and nothing important avoids being utterly futile. Maybe humour is the only way we have of being true to the fact that we are only human. If so, then Spurious is, more than anything else, a very human novel.

An engaging and witty read with laugh out loud moments. I was initially concerned that a deep understanding of literary concepts or philosophical ideas would be required to appreciate this book, but that is not the case! The balance between the character's ideas and discussions on life and the reality of living with mould is well written and hilarious! Looking forward to the sequel next year...

I devoured this book in a few days with a smile on my face! The sardonic musings of the two characters, W and I, are humourous throughout. A great read!

When I first started reading this, I was of the same opinion as the book's charcter 'Sal' - the individuals and their story are 'vague and boring'. Feeling frustrated, particularly since I studied Philosophy, I read on. I almost had a sense that 'W' was mocking me. 'Its like rain hitting a tin roof, he says. Nothing goes in'.

As the narrative continues between these two inseparable characters, I find a love for them. And moreover, a love for their discussions about Lars' dubious clothing choices, discounted stale sandwiches and of course, his fascinatingly damp flat.

For me, this tale of companionship and misfortune draws parallels with Beckett's 'Waiting for Goddot'. A novel too, about a pair of characters musing on religious and philosophical matters. One holding slightly more intellect, therefore able to prompt his friend, who is preoccupied in more mundane matters. A book that also of course, shares a theme of messianism.

Overall, Spurious is an accessible and humbling read, with regular moments of hilarity that increase and develop throughout the book.

I look forward to now reading the sequel.

At heart this is a comic tale of the friendship between two provincial academics who feel they are failures in life and in their quest for original philosophical thought. I was worried at the start, however, as the characters seemed disembodied, separate from anything in the real world, lost in the whiteness of the page and the abstraction of their philosophy. I know nothing about philosophy. Was I in for pretentious, indecipherable boredom? Thankfully not; slowly and satisfyingly the characters emerged and were themselves admitting their incomprehension of the philosophy they were trying to read like 'moths repeatedly butting up against a window'. That has certainly been my own experience but luckily it is quite the opposite to reading this accommodating book.

Lars, the narrator (and who knows how much this character shares with Lars, the writer?) is the butt of W.'s banter, somehow kindly meant despite its harshness. Lars is barely revealed except in the distorting mirror of his friend's constant criticism: he is a fat drunk, an idiot, an ape, an eater of stale discounted sandwiches. W. does not spare himself, either, but he believes he is just that tiny bit cleverer, just enough to be aware of his own stupidity. Somehow their studies in messianism (and I'm not sure it matters what that is) have led them to see the apocalypse in all things, or perhaps their sense of the oncoming apocalypse has driven them to their hopeless studies. The gloom, depression, sickness and rising damp that permeate the book make for a surprisingly warm comedy that's easy to relate to, but still intelligent. Well worth reading.

This book has already been very positively reviewed and established its reputation but there are horses for courses. The story is about two academics who strive to establish their academic reputations. To date they evaluate their careers as ones of "under-achievement and must do better".

For most readers these academics' preoccupations will seem to marginal to the issues that face everyday folk. But maybe their strivings are similar to those of other high achievers such as musicians, sportspeople etc. but only in a different context.

It just did not work for me.