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Post by kristin on Sept 11, 2009 22:26:09 GMT -5
Is this even out yet in North America? I hope so, because I read it a really long time ago and want to talk about it, already! And I think 2/3rds of my Nick Cave peeps are over here now!
I never talk that coherently about books I'm really enthused about it, hahaha, so suffice it to say, I think he was really successful at creating the peculiar, selfish world of Bunny Munro. I am totally biased, so take it with a grain of salt, but parts of this book are brilliant.
So, um. OMG hurry up and read it already so I have someone to talk about it with! Or at least say: "Yeah, that was great, wasn't it? And doesn't Nick Cave have the best weirdo turn-of-the-century-bank-robber moustache?"
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Post by leighann on Sept 11, 2009 22:50:43 GMT -5
I haven't even bought it yet! But I know it is out and I intend to get it.
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Post by wayfarer on Sept 11, 2009 22:54:28 GMT -5
I still haven't read this yet
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Post by Devyn on Sept 11, 2009 23:29:39 GMT -5
I just need to state the fact that I love Nick Cave more than most things in this world.
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Jack
Foreshink
Posts: 334
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Post by Jack on Sept 11, 2009 23:30:59 GMT -5
i thtoguth i told you to wauit!!!!
but really welcome yayayaya. so getting thsi.
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Post by Vixo on Sept 12, 2009 0:06:36 GMT -5
I got it uhm. . .a day or two after it came out, or so, and finished it the next day. Very easy read, in stark contrast to And the Ass Saw the Angel, which he basically admitted was written with impressing his [dead] father with words in mind.
I liked it but I'm not really the sort of person who can articulate thoughts on this sort of thing. I gotta wonder why Avril Lavigne was chosen to have the Valhalla of Vaginas though. I mean, I guess she's pretty, but. . .hahaha.
I'm going to get this signed by him on Monday. I'm grinning right now just anticipating it. I can tell I'm going to have this creepy Nicholson-Joker grin plastered across my face when I walk up to him too. Fuck. Well, the least I can say is I won't cry or scream like a schoolgirl.
By the way--HAD mustache. He shaved it. The picture they use in the book is pretty awesomely creepy-looking though.
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Post by Vixo on Sept 14, 2009 23:00:32 GMT -5
OK uhm, the condensed version! Walked around NYC for two hours. Came to the signing around 3-3:30 because we couldn’t imagine doing much else. Saw Nick on the escalator going the opposite way. Almost didn’t because I was staring at the back of my mother’s head. Waved shyly and squeaked “Err, hi.” Wasn’t noticed, probably because I didn’t want to be (I’d have felt like a pest). Sat down, met two people from the nickcaveandthebadseeds.com forums, made a minuscule amount of small talk. I am awful at anything social. Cue fucking houuuurs of waiting. I tried playing PSP but could barely focus. (Specifically Dissidia: Final Fantasy. . .some people probably heard my growling and cursing as this one lady kicked my ass over and fucking over again, WHYYYY?) Anyway, he comes on. Does some silly poses for the people who aren’t too shy to take pictures. . .I am too shy. I wind up taking 2-3 pictures between the heads of the people in front of me, in which you can see Nick but there’s nothing interesting about the picture at all. He interviews, makes people laugh, reads the cunt crunches bit, among others. err, I kind of don’t remember! I remember he read that, and the part where Bunny Jr. is visited by Libby’s ghost. I think there’s another part I’m forgetting! My mother, who always thought he was ugly and uninterested, concedes that he’s good-looking in the flesh, and that he’s very well-spoken and held her interest. Being that I got there super early, I was able to get a signature. He comes off as super fucking nice and completely unintimidating. Asks how I was, all I can say is “very happy”. The woman in front of me thanked him for his work and all, but I’m not that kind of person. I like his work and all but thanking him seems, I don’t know. . .like something he hears a lot, I guess. Not that “I’m great, very happy” is so unique and awesome, but whatever. If I’d had time, I would’ve said more! Maybe admitted that I’ve been playing an RP character in his image for eight years, haha. I probably would’ve disguised it as “I’m writing a book whose main character is inspired by you” though (I’m half-heartedly planning on that). Anyway, conclusions I’ve drawn: I’m very, very fond of Nick Cave. I don’t idol-worship him as I feared. He’s the sort of person I’d like as a dinner guest a few times a year. Y’know, some people’s ideal relationship would be sex partner, husband, drinking buddy, best friend, whatever. . .mine would be occasional dinner guest. Does anyone know what his favorite food is? Haha. Also, I’d love if he had some kind of fan convention. Some sort of deal where fans are free to express themselves to him, and it’s not an interruption to what he’s doing, or beside the point. He doesn’t strike me as the kind of person who’d do that, but it’d be so great. That’d be my ideal Nick Cave event. Thinking on it, I’m realizing I would probably not like a concert. All those dancing/singing strangers, all the noise, fuck! I’m not that kind of person. Lastly, I could listen to Nick Cave talk forever. Super lastly, I'm aware this isn't very condensed. I'm excited and have no one to match my enthusiasm!
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Post by etoile on Sept 14, 2009 23:26:38 GMT -5
I can't believe you're making me fly sollow to the reading on wednesday, Kay.
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Post by kristin on Sept 15, 2009 18:15:57 GMT -5
OMG, VIXO. That sounds awesome. I am so jealous. G, I don't know what I did to piss off the master of the universe, that he specifically booked that Nick Cave event the ONE NIGHT OF THE WEEK I CAN"T ATTEND IT. Aksdhshf wefiiuvberpirbbblJ!@@#^F( God. Gutted. Also, OMG THE MOUSTACHE IS GONE? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. I still love him and all, but may have to go into mourning.
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Post by sbr on Sept 15, 2009 19:32:34 GMT -5
I want to check this out, but I still have 100 or so books on my bookshelf to plow through before I think about buying anything else.
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Post by Lickitung on Sept 15, 2009 21:05:00 GMT -5
The Ass saw the Angel was awful and every review of this book I've read says the same about Bunny Munro. I think Nick Cave's writing style is prefectly suited to lyrics, but he's a terrible novelist.
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Post by kristin on Sept 15, 2009 22:19:51 GMT -5
The Ass saw the Angel was awful and every review of this book I've read says the same about Bunny Munro. I think Nick Cave's writing style is prefectly suited to lyrics, but he's a terrible novelist. I hope these reviews aren't seriously comparing a novel he wrote twenty years ago to this one? It's probably not to everyone's taste, but it actually is a good novel that can hold it's own with others.
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Post by Casey on Sept 15, 2009 22:21:04 GMT -5
The Ass saw the Angel was awful and every review of this book I've read says the same about Bunny Munro. I think Nick Cave's writing style is prefectly suited to lyrics, but he's a terrible novelist. Yep. I can get through pretty much any book but this was particularly horrible.
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Post by Vixo on Sept 15, 2009 23:23:13 GMT -5
The Death of Bunny Munro is not written like And the Ass Saw the Angel at all. No big pretentious words, no words he pulled out of his ass, no annoying phonetic writing. It has a clear series of events rather than reading like he wrote a bunch of different parts and clumsily formed them into a book. I'd give it a chance even if you hated that book like plague. I personally didn't like And the Ass Saw the Angel very much, thought it had some parts of nice writing in it but was ruined by uh. . .many things really. He did "nothing good ever happens to anyone in this story" better with The Proposition, heh. I think I would've liked hearing him read it all instead, really, because then my eyes wouldn't suffer the ridiculous spelling.
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Post by leighann on Sept 17, 2009 19:47:36 GMT -5
I really loved And The Ass Saw The Angel. The writing style was really weird, but I think it was perfect for the character. I've never seen someone convey complete insanity that well before. I actually liked it too. I struggled for maybe 15 pages figuring out the phonetic writing and then all was well, and I liked how it was written.
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Post by Vixo on Sept 17, 2009 21:42:24 GMT -5
Oh, considering this is the resident Nick Cave thread about stuff other than his music, here's this:
A short animation he narrated called The Cat Piano. I must've watched it a dozen times by now, I really like it.
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Post by Vixo on Sept 18, 2009 12:44:41 GMT -5
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Post by kristin on Sept 18, 2009 20:10:29 GMT -5
Awesome; thanks for posting!
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Post by sbr on Sept 19, 2009 10:34:24 GMT -5
So, apparently, they've released a pretty nifty iPhone friendly version of this book that I'd definitely consider, had I the extra $24.99 right now.
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Post by Vixo on Sept 19, 2009 10:38:43 GMT -5
Yeah, that makes me super jealous of people who have iPhones.
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Post by kristin on Sept 21, 2009 18:54:45 GMT -5
That e-book package looks awesome. I totally want to invest in the book on cd version, but I'm sure it's all snapped up everywhere. I loved the chapter readings Cannongate was putting on the website, hahaha. Even better when it's read by him.
Um. We can probably talk about other Nick Cave stuff in here, too. Now that I have recovered from the blow dealt by the loss of the turn-of-the-century-bank-robber-moustache.
I was trying to drown out the hateful, incompetent sawing of my neighbour today, with my new noise-canceling headphones, and listed to the The Firstborn is Dead twice through.
Is there anything better than 'Tupelo'?
Edit: Wait! I'm dumb and it's taking awhile to sort out the forums. I'll see if there's a thread in the Music section, and will post in there.
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Post by Vixo on Sept 23, 2009 12:45:48 GMT -5
Oh, speaking of And the Ass Saw the Angel and some of its worse qualities, I completely failed to realize that it had been edited and re-released. I think it's actually already out! ( ) Here's the relevant parts to an interview, where he pretty much agrees with some of the assessments in this thread, haha. blog.oregonlive.com/books/2008/09/interview_literate_rocker_nick.htmlI'm guessing it's out since that interview was from before Bunny Munro was completed and released. I need to keep up!
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Post by Nick Taxidermy on Sept 26, 2009 10:34:08 GMT -5
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Post by Vixo on Oct 4, 2009 1:19:39 GMT -5
Came back here to say something about one silly passage that sticks with me as an interesting way to approach what he's describing.
I seem to like stupid random bits of text that don't really mean anything relative to the book as a whole, haha.
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Post by Nick Taxidermy on Oct 4, 2009 16:22:49 GMT -5
this book was fucking crazy. I just finished it like 10 minutes ago. the way reality just completely collapses as the story goes on. his encounter with the thing towards the end...wow.
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Post by kristin on Oct 4, 2009 19:36:41 GMT -5
Haha, I know, right? It's like...the air leaking slowly out of a big balloon, and then, right at the end, it's all sucked out in a rush and the remnants go flying around the room, or something.
There are so many weird bits I just love. Like, Bunny Jr. and the eye infection is such a great detail, and for such a weird little detail, it crops up at just the right moments.
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Post by Nick Taxidermy on Oct 4, 2009 20:54:30 GMT -5
I like how Bunny Jr. just hops from foot to foot when he gets excited.
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Post by kristin on Oct 5, 2009 17:04:56 GMT -5
Yeah, for sure. It's all in the details.
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