Customer Reviews

The Dark Philosophers

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Based on a customer recommendation, I bought this, imagining it to be possibly, an historical fiction novel with some rather sadistic characters and their warped sensations of humor, but the circumstances of industrial exploitation of the communities in these stories was appalling. (I don't shock easily since I was exposed, when perhaps too immature, to works by John Norman & John Saul.) Saul writes about demon-possessed juvenile serial murderers. Norman writes about UFO abduction of earthlings to serve for the rest of their miserable existence on an alter earth called Gor, enslaved by the Sado-Masochistic whims of their master(-s).

Mr. Gwyn Thomas introduces us to grim personalities living in dire poverty, who, in order to survive their trials, must pass through a furnace of social taboos and loose morals to emerge with the victory of continued existence. Thomas' not only enunciates the communications and thoughts of his characters, he provides in depth rationalization of their decisions.

Thomas' work radiates a certain animosity which was hard to relate to. His writing style was yet so engaging that I paid attention to every word. My own Welsh ancestors left the Isle a couple of centuries past, so this rare bit of lightly aged fiction was compelling in it's own right. The spirit of the Welsh people isn't absent from these three short stories, though their portrayal suggests credulity, more so than the implied skepticism of the author.