And the Ass Saw the Angel

As a long time fan of Mr. Cave's my expectations of his debut novel were high. Considering this I never would have thought it would draw such emotion from the reader. His hero is a demon who begets empathy unwillingly. This novel is strong enough to provoke nightmares and make the hardiest reader reflect on the human condition at it's worst and most pathetic.

...read it again. This book is complicated. One of the hardest I've ever read. Most of it is written in sort of a southern accent mixed with gothic poetry. I don't think I've ever read anything like it. Parts are so disgusting you almost have to "look away." I was basically blown away by this book. The way he describes the scenery and the things that go through the main character, Euchrid's mind is amazing. Admittedly, I am a huge fan of The Bad Seeds. But I am also a fan of thousands of other music groups and I don't think you necessarily have to be a fan of Nick Cave's music to appreciate this book. However, I stress this again: it is very graphic.

I eventually came upon this book while idly enquiring about it in a small second-hand bookshop, of which the hugely generous store owner immediately led me around to the cluttered 'Australian Fiction' section and promptly sold me his only copy -- a '90 soft-cover edition for a measly $AU7.50. A vast theft it seems on my part.Written with the expertise of a long-hardened author, Nick Cave, a decade ago in Germany, trotted out an astonishing debut (and only) novel of incredible depth and literary vigour, an almost entirely character-driven narrative, born God-Sent in the Deep Southern Wastelands of 1940's America. A recommendation obviously goes to listening to Cave's/Bad Seed's albums, and further filling out the atmosphere that is exuded from the intricate world that he forms through words, and invented vocabulary -- the opening chapter is enough in itself to draw the reader into fly-over visions of sloping valleys, tiny village squares and lone teetering shacks residing roughly on bare hillsides and gullies. As previously stated by many before, if you find it, wrap your fingers around the damn thing and don't let go.

Do not hesitate to the buy this piece of art, a stinkin gangrenous stump of angels thigh.. a force of the blackest applejack inked art you'll ever hear screeched. Nick Cave writes like a combine harvester running over fields a bodies, beautiful..