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Douglas Rushkoff
The Ecstasy Club
E Douglas Rushkoff (Sceptre £10)
*x**
: At one time the Grateful Dead were 3 the nucleus for the free-form i assooation of mind expanding drugs
and psychedelic musrc, hedonrsm and
art on America’s West Coast. Now it is
cyberculture. The drugs are still mind-
: expanding and the mUSIC essentially psychedelic, but the hedonism has
.' become darker and the art is in
maintaining your place on the cutting
edge of the underground. Set in San Francisco at the time of
Jerry Garcia's death, The EcstaSy Club rs
a well chronicled, if slightly over- written Journey into the heart of the mat hrne that rs (‘ybei't'ulture The novel
is seen through the eyes of a grOup of . twentysomethings, who set up a club in a deserted warehouse where they
3 descend into a paranoid fantasy land
of crritdom and control.
Rushkoff's first novel allows hrrn to explore the peripheral areas of a culture, itself already on the periphery, to which hrs pr'evrous Journalistic books only alloy-ted hrrn factual access. (TD)
Enduring Love
‘ lan lvlcEwan (Jonathan Cape £15.99)
A ballooning accr-tlent on the Chiltern
Downs ends in tragedy for one bystander and sends another, Joe Rose, into a swirl of inrsunderstanding and
: obsessive love which Will all but destroy
his life.
lxlcEwan writes ‘.'/rth unsettling intensity about the area of the human mind where cognition meets perCeption
, He grips you from the first page,
plunging you into dark places of paranoia lt's compelling stuff, sorrietrirres so po‘.'.'ei'fully \.‘.'llii(.‘l) that you inform? caught hetv-reen desire to turn the page airfi the need for respite i.‘rtE'.‘.rarr's (lr-tiii e of professions for his protagonists - Rose is a ‘s(1(_‘ll(,(‘\‘/lli(.’l and hrs partner, Clarissa, a Keats specialist - proyrdes a vxerghty intellectual balance to the obsession at the novel's heart But the intellectualisatron lessens the impact of
the brooding quagmire of emotion, alternate perceptions and lost wrll, rather
than {)IUJI’llIlt] relief from It (TD)
Apaches
Lorenzo Carcaterra (Century £15.99) * it *
After the controversy surrounding his book Sleepers — a reputedly true story adapted for a film starring Robert De Niro and Brad Pitt — Carcaterra has interviewed retired NYPD officers for a crime thriller that is part fake biography and part bullet-strewn cat and mouse escapade. Geranium, Boozer, Dead-Eye, Pins, Mrs Columbo and the Rev Jim are ex-cops, experts in their fields but pensioned off following various disablements suffered in the line of duty. They band together to smash a drugs smuggling syndicate that uses dead babies to transport cocaine.
Carcaterra writes fluently and the early character studies, each a chapter long, are tour-de-force portraits, laced wrth insights into inner city police work and psychology. It just gets silly and predictable when they Join forces to combat the crack menace. You keep wishing they had formed a regular drinkrng club instead, where their frustrations and long-term iniuries could underpin an exploratron of their mid-life crises. But that's another story. Shame. (DM)
PAPERBACK REPRINTS
Danzrger's Britain
Nick Danziger (Flamingo £7.99)
‘k at ‘k t
In June 1994, inspired by Orwell's Down And Out In Paris And London, Danziger travelled the length of pre-mrllennium Britain, studying the state of the country’s ’margrnalised' societies amid the death throes of the Conservative government. Although ethnic minorities, the long-term unemployed, criminals and drug-users make uneasy bedfellows, this rs an illuminating handbook for the more fortunate. (SM)
Alias Grace
Margaret Atwood (Virago £6.99)
‘k at *k it
Published to a mrxed reception, Atwood's Booker shortlist nominee is a doorstop of a teaser, based on a true story beginning
in the mrd 19th century. Grace Marks is a
sixteen-year-old maid convrcted of murdering her beloved master and hrs equally besotted, and pregnant. housekeeper. But what was her motivation? Did she actually do it? (SM)
Making Waves
Mario Vargas Llosa (Faber and Faber £9.99) 1c 1r it it
An eclectic selection of Vargas Llosa's writings from the 60s to the 90s, this is an intrigurng and engrossing volume. A masterful detangler of political spaghetti and insightful literary commentator, he also brings his wrsdom to subiects as diverse as the World Cup and the John Wayne Bobbitt case. Sharp and occasionally self-deprecatrng writing (SM)
REVIEWERS THIS ISSUE: Thom Drbdrn, Rodger Evans, Susan Mackenzre, Deirdre Molloy, Damien Love.
STAR RATINGS t t it t * Outstanding it t it it Recommended * it a WOrth a try I * So-so it POOr
books
EVEDlS
Glasgow
Silent When I Should Be Screaming Wed 3 Sep. 6pm. Glasgow Women's Library. 109 Trongate. 552 8345. Women-only event. A series of events marking the new anthology of poetry and prose Silent When I Should Be Screaming (Smeddum Press. £5). part of a global campaign for women‘s human rights. with readings by some of the contributors. Stan Bell, Tim Cloudsley, Stewart Conn, Alistair Paterson and Tessa Ransford Thu 4 Scp. 7.30pm. Alliance Francaise dc Glasgow. 7 Bowmont Gardens. 339 4281. An evening of poetry to launch the special edition of the French literary magazine [11 Fabriqiw containing work by these poets. Silent When I Should Be Screaming Fri 5 Sop. 8pm. Kinning Park Complex. Kinning Park. 419 ()329. £3 (£1.50). A fundraising event with Poetry and music.
Ray Davies Thu 11 Scp. 8pm. £4 (£2 oil book price). (ilasgow Royal Concert Hall. Sauchichall Street. 2875 51 1. Tickets from Waterstonc‘s. 45 Princes Square. 221 9650 or Watcrstonc's. Union Street. 221 ()890. The former frontman ot’Thc Kinks will be playing an acoustic set and reading from his new book Waterloo Sunset (Viking £14.99).
Edinburgh
Poems And Pints Fri 5 Sop. 7.30pm. £1.50
(£1). The West End Hotcl. Palmerston Place.
337 8277. Poetry readings. cabaret-stle with Hugh Healcy.
Richard Ford Tue 9 Sep. 7.30pm. Watcrstonc's. 83 (ieorgc Street. 225 3436. The Pulitzer prize-winning author will be reading from his new book Womm Willi Melt (Harvcl “4.99).
David Icke Wed IO Scp. 7.30pm. £7 (ticket from 220 4349). Assembly Rooms. 54 (icorgc Street. 220 4348. The author will be reading from his new book.
Elizabeth George Thu 1 I Sep. 7pm. Watcrstoiic’s. 13—14 Princes Street. 556 3034. The author will be reading and signing copies other new novel [)t’t‘t’ptitt/t ()it His Mi/u/ ( Hoddcr L‘ l 6.99 ).
BOOKS
the bookstop cafe
drink the latte eat the muffin read the book
Chew the cud
never has retail been so good for the soul
4 teviot place, edinburgh 0131 - 225 5298
opening times 10 - 8 mon - sat 12 - 8 sun
Waterstone’s
83 George Street, Edinburgh
Richard Ford
Pulitzer Prize Winning author of
INDEPENDENCE DAY
will be reading from his new book of short stories
WOMEN WITH MEN at 7.30pm
on Tuesday September 9th 1997
Free tickets available from the branch
Quint“; 1) \ep l99/ THE “5113