Customer Reviews

In Awe

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

As a fan of horror movies and overall 'eerie-ness' I thoroughly enjoyed Heim's second novel (after the also recommended MYSTERIOUS SKIN). IN AWE is certainly one of the most original, poetic, amd menacing gay novels outside of Dennis Cooper's work in recent memory. It's a moody and atmospheric horror movie with deep literary significance (Imagine a Gen-X Faulkner on acid writing a horror novel - and toss in equal parts Shirley Jackson, Dennis Cooper, and David Lynch). This meticulously crafted novel follows a season in the STRANGE lives of 3 Lawrence Kansas misfits. The completely absorbing and slightly surreal plot defies succinct description but includes mutilated mannequins, a vile of urine, and numerous other surprises. Suffice it to saw IN AWE is one hell of a ride. Demented, evocative, descriptive, deeply profound, and not recommended for the squeamish...big ole GORE ALERT...and I'm not talking former VP Al or his wife Tipper. The characters were a bit tough for me to get a handle on...but the strongest presence in this novel is that overall menacing mood and that holds it all together.

Personally, I couldn't finish it. The prose had moments of beauty, but was mostly florid and overbaked. I don't mind unpleasantness in fiction, but how much is too much? I thought "Mysterious Skin" was intermittently great and full of potential -- let's hope this was a sophomore slump. I love to see a young gay writer putting out novels, especially ones set outside the NY-LA-SF triangle. I'm already looking forward to Scott Heim's next novel, and here's hoping it's a little more . . . down to earth.

When I started reading this, I was immediately reminded of a book from my grade-school years called "Painted Devil" by Michael Bedard (Not to say "In Awe" was childish.) "Painted Devil" stood out from many other books targeting that age-group because of its unusually depressing writing style. There wasn't a single spot of humour anywhere to be found; everything the character looked at reminded them of death, disease, poverty or ghosts. "In Awe" was similar in that every sentence was completely lacking in happiness. Everything was about sorrow, longing or death. Some may like that stuff (I do), others might find the book to be just a bit too dark for them.

Cons:
<RAIN> I personally don't know anything about Kansas, but one incredibly annoying cliché that SOAKED and SATURATED the book was that during every incident/event that occurred in the story, it was either raining, was about to start raining, or had just finished raining. If it rains a lot in Kansas, then Heim is being faithful to the meteorology of Kansas; if not, then he certainly DROWNED the story with that metaphoric device.</RAIN>

The main downfall of the story exists as the extreme-exaggeration of Boris' (one of the protagonists) puppy-love for a fellow schoolmate. This obsession didn't just border on the creepy and disgusting, it made the creepy and disgusting look Saintly. Not to mention that after a while, you just get sick of hearing about it (much like real life; we've all had those friends with mad crushes). Being a gay author, Heim also made sure that his story contained at least one surviving gay-male protagonist to keep the gay-theme going throughout his writing. Forget diversity! Why a gay author feels that he has to consistently write about homosexuality is beyond me.

Pros:
Scott Heim is an incredible writer. There were actually a few passages I read over and over because they were just too descriptive and real to skip over once. He described things in a very specific way that sometimes reminded me of the strange irrelevant thoughts that cross our own minds from time to time. His writing talent added quite the human element to this book.

Scott Heim's writing is at times beautifully visual and graphic, and yet in this novel, the story is so preposterous his art is obscured. The characters all engage in completely ridiculous behavior that is meant to be read with grim shock and guilty, ghoulish pleasure, but which will make more discerning readers roll their eyes. This book also personifies the laughable trend in gay fiction: if there is death and depravity and self-loathing, then it's lit. If there is not, then it's not. The finale of this book is especially outrageous; you can feel Heim reaching for the most grotesque things possible in order to top himself. One part of the book I did love was the female character's past as one of those dirty little girls in class who doesn't even realize why she behaves the way she does. More character study on that line would have improved this book immeasurably.

I'd not recommend this book. When I put the book down today for the last time I was angry. Angry that I wasted my time with a juvenile story of twisted desire and obsession. IN AWE did keep my attention with an interesting main character. However, the plot is ridiculous and reads like a made for TV movie. I'm ready for novels that say something new, and this one does nothing but entertain the masses. Skip it.

There was a lot going on in this book... sometimes too much for me to keep up with. And some of the violence seemed gratuitous. However: the human relationships hold the book together. As with Mysterious Skin -- this is a story of very real characters on a very fantastic journey. The novel is really a backdrop for a fearless examination of human pain, desire, love, self-sabotage, coping, strength. Even though "the" main character happens to be male, I particularly appreciate that Heim's female characters are REAL people -- not just hollow sidekicks. Say what you want about Heim's [] depiction of gay life... All I know is that there are not many writers (male, female, gay or straight) who manage to transcend the sexist prejudice of our culture and allow female characters to be as human as their male characters. This one does. Bravo, Heim!

Having greatly enjoyed Mysterious Skin, I found this book disappointing. The last few pages are engrossing but the earlier parts of the book are confusing and I wonder how many readers persevere to the end.

As in his other work, Heim's descriptions are graphic: you can almost taste and smell the scenes. Some are onomatopoeic, e.g. `the wipers squeak their rubbery swath, stamping leaves and June bugs further into the flotsam at the windshield's bottom'

In common with his previous book are disappearings, thunder storms where something awful happens, prostitution and sexual abuse. Additionally, we get a teenager siphoning off a love-object's urine from a toilet with a test tube and drinking it - talk about taking the piss. There is also a scene of necrophilia which I found disturbing and sad by turns.

It is a tale about revenge by people who don't fit in. But the revenge goes too far.

A little background: The first novel I read by Scott Heim was "Mysterious Skin" and it blew me away. Then I read his third novel, "We Disappear," and I was quite disappointed. I put off reading "In Awe" because it wasn't easily available (it's out-of-print) and because the reviews weren't that great. Well, I've finally decided to get it and I just got finished reading it.

I quite liked this novel. It kept my interest throughout and I felt like all the characters were pretty well-rounded and believable. The story itself was pretty interesting and kept me reading in the late night/early morning hours. There were many little things that the characters did that made me go "Yes! I've done that!" The only complaint I have is that the writing is loaded with imagery that completely went over my head most of the time. There's a lot of birds and plants mentioned that I have never heard of. He also used some words I've never heard/read before. I'm not really a "stop-and-check-the-dictionary-kind-of-reader" so I just kept on reading.

Overall, this novel would have been amazing if the author had used a more accessible writing style, but either way it was still pretty good. The story and the characters are what kept me reading and I believe it was worth the effort in the end. It's not an easy read by any means, and it does go to places that some readers might not want to go. He makes some of the most unnerving things sounds so beautiful, and that takes real talent.

I believe this is a worthwhile novel. I recommend it if you keep the above in mind and are okay with reading something that's different. Be prepared to be exposed to some extremes. But, more importantly, be prepared to be exposed to some genuine human emotion.

It's not until halfway through the book that one discovers the yellow stuff in the test tube on the cover is urine, and if the notion of that disgusts or outrages you, this book probably isn't for you. It's about a trio of misfits in Lawrence, KS: a teenage gay boy living in a halfway house for kids, a 30ish woman whose gay best friend (Marshall) dies from AIDS, and Marshall's 60ish widowed mother. Each has "issues" and is to various degrees an outcast in the heartland, and over a few months, the book weaves each person's problems with their persecution, climaxing in an unsatisfying showdown with their tormentors/issues. There's a subplot about two college girls who go missing and turn up dead, and excerpts from the boy's revenge-fantasy zombie novel-in-progress, both of which only serve to distract. Heim loads plenty of inconsequential detail in a attempt to give his writing a more haunting or literary tone than it can naturally achieve--he fails. There are a few nice elements here and there, but the book reads like an unfinished, unedited mess.

Well, perhaps not. It did, however, hold a mirror to some aspects of my own life. I, like Boris, was hopelessly in love with a beautiful, savage, and, unfortunately, unobtainable objet de desir. As such I am perhaps prejudiced to vote in favour of this novel, but I do know good writing when I see it. Dripping with poignant imagery, the plot serves as a static background upon which we can examine Heim's multi-layered characters. The copious amount of detail serves the purpose of enhancing this. Please, you critical reviewers, try reading the book dispassionately and you'll see what I mean. I await Heim's next attempt with bated breath.