Waiting for the End of the World - Softcover

Madison Smartt Bell

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0349102902 ISBN 13: 9780349102900

Publisher: Abacus, 1986

Synopsis

Larkin is a drunk, an epileptic, a drifter. And yet, as he slithers along the underbelly of Brooklyn and lower Manhattan, Larkin has an almost messianic mission, which may well bring the towers of the city crashing down. His motive? In these times, does he really need one?
'When it comes to imaginative nastiness, the precociously talented Mr Bell (he's 28) could teach Martin Amis, Ian McEwan and lain Banks a thing or two. But his darkly- brilliant narrative, sidling through the mean streets, empty days, spare-time jobs and demon-worshipping sadism of present-day New York, has a sardonic edge that's all his own. Dreamy, poetic and ruthlessly realistic in delineating the process of brutalisation, the book can also be read as a pacy thriller. It's the best American novel I've come across since Machine Dreams' London Standard
Front cover illustration by Barbara Lofthouse

Larkin is a drunk, an epileptic, a drifter. And yet, as he slithers along the underbelly of Brooklyn and lower Manhattan, Larkin has an almost messianic mission, which may well bring the towers of the city crashing down. His motive? In these times, does he really need one?
'When it comes to imaginative nastiness, the precociously talented Mr Bell (he's 28) could teach Martin Amis, Ian McEwan and lain Banks a thing or two. But his darkly- brilliant narrative, sidling through the mean streets, empty days, spare-time jobs and demon-worshipping sadism of present-day New York, has a sardonic edge that's all his own. Dreamy, poetic and ruthlessly realistic in delineating the process of brutalisation, the book can also be read as a pacy thriller. It's the best American novel I've come across since Machine Dreams' London Standard
Front cover illustration by Barbara Lofthouse

About this title

From Library Journal:

Bell is the author of one previous novel, The Washington Square Ensemble ( LJ 2/15/83). His new work is an odd compendium of the trendy and the obscure. A terrorist cell that has the bomb, spontaneous human combustion, street people in Times Square suffering from radiation poisoning, and human torture by devil worshippers are some of the ingredients in this awkward stew of a novel. Anti-hero Larkin, an epileptic who sees demons and hears apocalyptic voices, careens through the plot like a loose cannon on the deck of a sinking ship. Larkin is a barely appealing main character; other members of the motley crew are even worse. Motivations are muddy or nonexistent. There is some good writing and narrative drive, but too many philosophical concerns compete for space. For large fiction collections only. A.J. Wright, Univ. of Alabama at Birmingham Lib.
Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Abacus
• Publication date: 1986
• ISBN 10: 0349102902
• ISBN 13: 9780349102900
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336