(2.25 Stars)

I started this book and when I got to 20% was completely lost... I figured I must have zoned out and not paid attention to something, so I started from the very beginning again. It didn't help, I felt like that upon the second read-through. I won't say that I didn't enjoy the book, but I will say that I didn't love the book. I really liked Boxer, Beetle and was hoping to like this one as much, but it just never really clicked for me. With that being said, I will read this Author again.

The Author seems very intelligent and clever, but maybe too vague in some parts and too wordy in others. The thoughts of the characters go off in tangents and you're not quite sure where one ends and the next begins, or if it is a tangent inside of a tangent. The story is about a hidden temple, that after being discovered wants to be dismantled and moved by one faction while also being used as a movie set by another. Only the factions use shared resources and the leaders are indiscernible from insane.

Readers of the Johannes Cabal series would like this book, also readers of Warren Ellis, and maybe even Donald Barthelme. ( )

Ned Beauman is a fascinating author. I love his books, but I just couldn’t get into Boxer, Beetle for some reason, even though it has a similar feel to both this and The Teleportation Accident.

Beauman seems to alternate between madcap ensemble pieces and solo adventures, all populated with weirdos and scumbags. Madness is Better than Defeat is an ensemble piece with a generous helping of metafiction thrown into the mix to keep things interesting.

It’s a novel about an investigation into a failed expedition to make a movie about a failed expedition, and the layers of self-reference only increase from there.

Considering Beauman’s batting average so far, I’ll probably give Boxer, Beetle another chance some day. ( )

It was only a few pages into Madness is Better Than Defeat that I realised I'd made a mistake. This was just terrible. It's perhaps the closest I've ever come to breaking my iron-clad rule to finish every book I start; it was only by dipping into it in short doses over the space of a month – while reading other, actually competent, books as a restorative – that I could finish it. My iron-clad rule has always been based on the idea that some books take a while to warm up, that otherwise I might get lazy and never commit to anything remotely challenging, that even bad books have lessons (even if only in what not to do). But from first page to last, Ned Beauman's book gave me absolutely nothing.

It is remarkable that Beauman can write in English and make it seem like you, the reader, are an alien trying to decipher a strange language. The book has no plot, no protagonists for orientation, no character or flair or sense of place, no anything – just a grey slab of words forcing itself against your skull. About three-quarters of the way through (by which point most people will have given in), there is a slight whiff of method in the madness, but it is still buried in Beauman's verbose, tedious, contrived word fungus. There is not one genuine moment of fillip for the reader; only the sort of zany, oh-so-clever prosing that makes you wish harm upon the writer. I began to look at the author photo on the book jacket in the way you might look at a photo of a serial killer or mass murderer, trying to fathom how such an unassuming and mild-looking person could bring such pain and misery into the world.

I'm really thankful this is over. I don't even want to dissect the book to show how bad it is; I only want to write my review (another iron-clad rule for every book I read) and kick it to the kerb. When the coronavirus lockdown started and people were hoarding toilet paper, I joked that, given how many books populate my shelves, if it ever really came down to it, it shouldn't become a problem for me. It was a joke, but with this book it might be an improvement in its utility. I would put the book into a time capsule of things to survive the end of the world, if only to show the race of beings that comes after us that we deserved to fall. ( )

I tried, I really tried. This book seemed to have everything I love in it - the weirdness, the far-flung locations, the mysterious circumstances. But alas, I just didn't care enough to finish it.

Reading Madness is Better Than Defeat by Ned Beauman is like playing with a kaleidoscope. The book is made many tiny pieces. At first, I try to keep the pieces distinct, and that is truly challenging. I finally decide that for me, keeping the details straight does not matter in this book. I step back to let go of the details and enjoy the bigger picture of this completely unbelievable, outlandish, but at the same time entertaining situation.

Read my complete review at http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2018/03/madness-is-better-than-defeat.html

Reviewed for Penguin First to Read program. ( )