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Jarett Kobek (and all the people YOU like)

Started by Mobbd, July 30, 2019, 10:41:25 AM

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Mobbd

I mentioned his Only Americans Burn in Hell in the "newish fiction" threat but nobody gave a fuck or a tuppence.

He is clearly friends with Stewart Lee, Alan Moore, and Iain Sinclair -- a power triumvirate/hairy throuple who clearly see him as a kindred spirit.

There are clues throughout the novel that this is the case, but there's also an enjoyable conversation between Kobek and Moore on YouTube, which confirms it. Watch the whole thing if you're not a NINNY, but skip to the 35-minute mark (or thereabouts) to hear about his relationship with Lee. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcK-Hb29-2M

Funcrusher

Iain Sinclair has written approvingly of I Hate The Internet in his recent book. Not read anything by Kobek myself.

Mobbd

Quote from: Funcrusher on July 30, 2019, 10:48:41 AM
Iain Sinclair has written approvingly of I Hate The Internet in his recent book. Not read anything by Kobek myself.

Ah, cool. Was that in Dark Before Dark?

I saw him speak of I Hate the Internet in an LRB video about a year ago. He adopted a surprisingly warm, paternal tone. I think Jarett Kobek might be their three-way baby.

Pranet

I've read I Hate the Internet and really liked it. It is the only I have read because it is the only one I can get from the local library. Thanks for the Alan Moore interview I'll listen to that.

Funcrusher

Quote from: Mobbd on July 30, 2019, 05:06:24 PM
Ah, cool. Was that in Dark Before Dark?

I saw him speak of I Hate the Internet in an LRB video about a year ago. He adopted a surprisingly warm, paternal tone. I think Jarett Kobek might be their three-way baby.

Wasn't aware of the existence of Dark Before Dark. I think it must have been in The Last London.

Mobbd

Quote from: Funcrusher on July 30, 2019, 09:01:25 PM
Wasn't aware of the existence of Dark Before Dark. I think it must have been in The Last London.

Thanks Funcruncher. I'll check it out.

kittens

liked i hate the internet but found the future won't be long boring and didn't finish it. i'll read another one, sure

Mobbd

Quote from: kittens on August 05, 2019, 11:35:11 PM
liked i hate the internet but found the future won't be long boring and didn't finish it. i'll read another one, sure

Only Americans is the only one I've read so far and I really liked it. It's also full of funny/arrogant remarks about the success of I Hate the Internet and the failure of The Future Won't be Long, so if nothing else, the author agrees with you!

kittens

finished it today and it was terrific! normally takes me ages to read a book but zipped through this one in 2 or 3 days. thought it was great.

Mobbd

Quote from: kittens on September 05, 2019, 10:30:15 PM
finished it today and it was terrific! normally takes me ages to read a book but zipped through this one in 2 or 3 days. thought it was great.

Hooray! Did you like the way Fairyland lesbianism was discussed as though it were an agricultural crop? "It was a poor year for lesbianism," etc. I did.

Small Man Big Horse

I finished this last night and originally posted this short review in another thread, but then found this one and so thought I'd put it here instead.

A very weird, very meta satire on America (and the rest of the world) involving the Queen of Fairly Land searching for her daughter, along with the antics of a Saudi Prince, though as the author admits very early on that's all an excuse for him to discuss a number of subjects including how Trump became president, #MeToo, the state of the publishing industry, cinema, war and the all round misery of the 21st century, it's an often fascinating read but there were some aspects I just didn't get (
Spoiler alert
Fern and the Whitney Biennial stuff for instance
[close]
) and some of it is a bit repetitive. It's a book I'm glad I've read, and he makes some very funny and very intriguing observations about existence, but it's not one I'll return to. 3.25/5

It's a book I often found very funny, but also slightly frustrating, though I put that down to my lack of intelligence than anything Kobek did wrong, well, bar the repetition of certain elements, like his last book's failure, which started out funny but then got boring.

amputeeporn

I thought I Hate The Internet was a revelation when I first read it, though was bored a little by The Future Won't Be Long. His book about problematic and murdered soundcloud rapper XXXtentacion is terrific, though. Do Everything Wrong, I think it's called. Really points the way to a thrilling new kind of writing.

I began by really enjoying Only Americans but must admit I find the parable element tiring/frustrating/patronising. This is a line he knowingly and often brilliantly walks but he's tipping over a little for me here. I'll persevere, perhaps scanning the more fantasy elements to get to the withering criticism of everything else in sight.

Mobbd

Quote from: amputeeporn on December 01, 2020, 07:16:11 PM
Really points the way to a thrilling new kind of writing.

This. "Points the way" is right. It might not be all the way there yet, but it is new. It's experimental but not willfully obtuse and that's very refreshing to me. It's also just funny, slightly trolling maybe.

"We heard you like books" is conceivably a Kobek self-publishing initiative or at least an indie publisher in which he is involved. In Only Americans Burn in Hell he mentions a few novels he sees as worthy in the footnotes. Girls Gone Old was one and Death and Facebook was another. They're both published by this concern along with some of Kobek's novels. The emphasis on not using Twitter is very Kobek. They did an Iain Sinclair book too. https://weheardyoulikebooks.com/

Mobbd

Quote from: Mobbd on December 03, 2020, 09:52:14 AM
This. "Points the way" is right. It might not be all the way there yet, but it is new.

That sounded a bit damning-with-faint-praise or something. What I really mean is that it's new and it's not yet exhausted.

Whoever they are, they're building something great at We Heard You Like Books.