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Chargement... Lizard Worldpar Terry Richard Bazes
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Inscrivez-vous à LibraryThing pour découvrir si vous aimerez ce livre Actuellement, il n'y a pas de discussions au sujet de ce livre. If I had to describe “Lizard World” in one word, what would it be? “Depraved” comes to mind, possibly “revolting”, but also, undoubtedly “brilliant”. Another word could be “gruesome”, if “hilarious”. “Convoluted” at times, albeit “engrossing”. In truth, it is quite unlike any novel you’ll be reading in some time. The plot is complex but I’ll try to let you have an idea of it, hopefully without giving away too much. In 1687, a lecherous and rakish English earl, having “had his way” with his cousin Belinda and blinded her brother in an ensuing duel, gets carted off to America for his sins. There, amongst a tribe of “salvidges”, and during an attempt to seduce the chief’s daughter, he comes across an elixir of eternal life. Which works... sort of. In fact, the elixir has a nasty side-effect, as the earl soon discovers when he starts to turn into a reptilian humanoid. Back in England, he takes into his employ a promising young surgeon who excels in experimental interventions. This surgeon – and a regular supply of body parts – are the earl’s only hope of retaining a vague human semblance. Zoom forward to 2007 Florida, where the dentist Smedlow is kidnapped by a bunch of weirdos with nefarious plans, the descendants (we eventually learn) of the Earl’s personal surgeon. Smedlow’s destiny becomes increasingly entwined with that of the earl, and, appropriately, the book moves backwards and forwards with ease between the 17th and 21st Century, between Florida swamps (past and present) and Restoration London. What is most impressive is the way in which Bazes switches styles and argot; the scenes set in the 17th century, in particular, are rendered in a witty pastiche of Defoe and Fielding whilst the contemporary scenes are conveyed through the eyes of multiple protagonists, each represented by a different mode of expression (most notably, the heavy slang of Smedlow’s kidnapper Lemuel Lee). Lizard World is a daring post-modern literary mash-up: part Gothic/body horror, part historical novel, part crime-story, part comedy. If it were a film it would combine the bloody violence of a John Carpenter movie with the Baroque imagination of Terry Gilliam, the deadpan humour of the Coens with the politically incorrect, gross comedy of the Farrellys. With some Blackadder thrown into the mix. It is not for the faint-hearted, but if you stick the first 70 pages or so, you will be hooked. What is ultimately most surprising is that underneath the craziness of it all, the book raises a metaphysical query which the reader can easily lose sight of – what is it that makes us who we are? Is it our body, our mind, our soul? Or perhaps our memories and our personal histories? At this point, we might need to call in Terrence Malick as well. Book Title: "Lizard World" Author: Terry Richard Bazes Published By: Livingston Press Age Recommended: 18 + Reviewed By: Kitty Bullard Raven Rating: 5 [image] Review: A mixture of English and American humor with an equal amount of the macabre thrown in for good measure; a few scaly beasts, both reptilian and human in nature; depraved swamp people clinging to their long gone heritage; and an old journal with a dark secret hidden among its brittle pages, makes for one heck of an amazing tale. I was sent a copy of this wonderful novel after having requested it from Shelf Awareness and I can honestly say that I am beyond happy I took the advantage. Terry Richard Bazes is an amazing storyteller with the grand ability to pull you in from the very first page. “Lizard World” is a raucous tale of human/animal splicing that dates back to a time when surgery was still an extremely risky business, though when an explorer takes it upon himself to believe foolish Old World lore and partakes of an elixir rumored to keep one young and immortal there is little else to be done to save him from the horror of his predicament. A fantastic mix of macabre humor at its best! Get a copy! You will greatly enjoy this book! Read more: http://www.greatmindsthinkaloud.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board... The writing in "Lizard World" is breath-taking beyond belief in this incredibly inventive, dark tale which spans and flahes back and forth among different eras. The story line is one of a kind and the character development shows the mark of a truly gifted writer: every roundly drawn character has unique aspects and comes to life brilliantly. The narrative voice transforms according to the era of the chapter to adopt the writing style in which it takes place. The author has perfect pitch in capturing the dialect of the era with realistic dialogue and a 3D narrative style which renders the images leaping off the page. The style is truly inventive and the craftsmanship is reminiscent of Pynchon in "Mason & Dixon" and British novelists like Laurence Sterne in "Tristram Shandy," writing in the idiosyncratic voices of their own times. I found myself deeply engaged in the characters and caring about the fate of the protagonist and victims in the novel. The sense of time and place is incredibly real and is a feast for all the senses with a knack for conveying a realism which is also often uncannily surrealistic in its ultimate effect. The scope of the novel is ambitious and unravels admirably: this is a densely packed novel and I would advise you to read it slowly so that you may savour the pure beauty of the written language which is also off-the-charts. There is real genius at work in the narrative style of Terry Bazes in this novel, which is a big book packed densely into 275 pages. Obviously, the writer worked hard at the novel by virtue of its high originality and the literary craftsmanship clearly evident in the narrative. Parts of this book are truly dark but "Lizard World" is a literary experience not to be missed. If you are a serious reader of literary novels and value truly great invention in style and narration, then I cannot recommend this great novel more highly. There's genius in this writing and it has literary legs which appreciative readers will value for generations to come.
“ . . . a magnificent capacity for invention and storytelling. . .His completely convincing pastiche of Restoration English first got me on his side; his capacity for persuasive, multi-period dialogue did the rest.” -- Vulpes Libris A crazy, bawdy world of surrealist absurdities brought to life with a dazzling literary palette. 1742, Josiah Fludd, a penniless student and would-be surgeon, joins forces with a depraved English lord, the Earl of Griswold, to acquire cadavers and eventually lands in the Florida swamps, where a certain elixir that promises eternal life can be found. In 2007, Max Nathan Smedlow, a respectable dentist traveling through these swamps, falls into the hands of some of its strange residents, among them, Lemuel Lee Frobey, an aspiring writer with a fondness for lizards. As the 18th century clashes with the 21st century by means of a kidnapping, an elixir of youth, an old manuscript, several murders, and many grisly incidents, a macabre tale unfolds that leaves everyone changed. The eccentric author of Goldsmith’s Return presents a Florida gothic fable that both amuses and horrifies as its gruesome story takes shape. VERDICT Readers fond of dark comedy and the macabre may get a kick out of this oddly compelling (and sometimes disturbingly graphic) tale. “Trust me, dear reader, this is black humour of the highest order. . . .This is one of the most surprising, funny and curiously satisfying books I’ve read in ages.” -- Novel Suggestions “earthy and gloriously raucous . . . a rollicking read, whose greatest pleasure comes from the deliciously juicy, cantankerous prose . . . a comic triumph.”
A dentist from New Jersey, marooned at midnight in the Florida swamps, makes the mistake of falling into the clutches of a hilariously depraved family of amateur surgeons devoted to a seventeenth century libertine whose discovery of an elixir has kept his evil presence alive for the past three-hundred years. Aucune description trouvée dans une bibliothèque |
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Google Books — Chargement... GenresClassification décimale de Melvil (CDD)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999Classification de la Bibliothèque du CongrèsÉvaluationMoyenne:
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The plot is complex but I’ll try to let you have an idea of it, hopefully without giving away too much. In 1687, a lecherous and rakish English earl, having “had his way” with his cousin Belinda and blinded her brother in an ensuing duel, gets carted off to America for his sins. There, amongst a tribe of “salvidges”, and during an attempt to seduce the chief’s daughter, he comes across an elixir of eternal life. Which works... sort of. In fact, the elixir has a nasty side-effect, as the earl soon discovers when he starts to turn into a reptilian humanoid. Back in England, he takes into his employ a promising young surgeon who excels in experimental interventions. This surgeon – and a regular supply of body parts – are the earl’s only hope of retaining a vague human semblance. Zoom forward to 2007 Florida, where the dentist Smedlow is kidnapped by a bunch of weirdos with nefarious plans, the descendants (we eventually learn) of the Earl’s personal surgeon. Smedlow’s destiny becomes increasingly entwined with that of the earl, and, appropriately, the book moves backwards and forwards with ease between the 17th and 21st Century, between Florida swamps (past and present) and Restoration London. What is most impressive is the way in which Bazes switches styles and argot; the scenes set in the 17th century, in particular, are rendered in a witty pastiche of Defoe and Fielding whilst the contemporary scenes are conveyed through the eyes of multiple protagonists, each represented by a different mode of expression (most notably, the heavy slang of Smedlow’s kidnapper Lemuel Lee).
Lizard World is a daring post-modern literary mash-up: part Gothic/body horror, part historical novel, part crime-story, part comedy. If it were a film it would combine the bloody violence of a John Carpenter movie with the Baroque imagination of Terry Gilliam, the deadpan humour of the Coens with the politically incorrect, gross comedy of the Farrellys. With some Blackadder thrown into the mix. It is not for the faint-hearted, but if you stick the first 70 pages or so, you will be hooked.
What is ultimately most surprising is that underneath the craziness of it all, the book raises a metaphysical query which the reader can easily lose sight of – what is it that makes us who we are? Is it our body, our mind, our soul? Or perhaps our memories and our personal histories? At this point, we might need to call in Terrence Malick as well.
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