Sunday, December 14, 2014

Consumed by David Cronenberg

Have you ever watched one of filmmaker David Cronenberg’s newer movies, such as A Dangerous Method or Eastern Promises, and wished he would go back to making movies more like his older, weirder films? Okay, while you probably haven’t, I definitely have. But while I don’t necessarily dislike his newer stuff, I do prefer his earlier, weirder titles such as eXistenZ, The Brood, and Scanners. So I was anxious to see what Cronenberg would come up with when he made his debut as a novelist with Consumed.

This book leans heavily toward the strange. Consumed’s plot revolves around the radical French philosophers Celestine and Aristide Arosteguy. Celestine was recently found murdered and the French police believe Aristide, her husband, murdered and then ate some of her before disappearing. One of Consumed’s main characters, freelance reporter Naomi, tries to locate Aristide in hopes of scoring a big article on the murder. It might actually get weirder from there, but I won’t give any more away.

Consumed is an impressive debut for Cronenberg. The bizarre plots come together in a surprisingly neat manner, and it’s definitely not a book where you spend much time thinking, “Well, I knew that was coming.” I do think it would have made for a better movie, but it’s definitely a novel that will appeal to Cronenberg fans, fans of weird horror, and readers who just want something weird.


John

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