Customer Reviews

Flash and Filigree

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

 

 

"Flash and Filigree" is like nothing you'll ever read. Satirist, Terry Southern's first novel is one wild ride into the realms of insanity and obsession. The story begins with a head-scratcher of a meeting between a Doctor and a Patient, and soon has them in a game of cat and mouse in the streets of 1950's Los Angelas. I loved the way in which Southern toys with the reader: Who's crazy? Who's insane? Who's paranoid? Who's obsessed with who? Who's following who? Southern is relentless! I think I could do without the story of the nurse, which has nothing to do with the doctor's or the patient's. I also loved some of the supporting characters: The drunken detective, the pot-head bar girl, etc. This book is as sick and bizarre a novel about obsession and paranoia as any book I've read. But what a ride. HIGHLY, HIGHLY recomended. Simply Briliant!

Southern's first novel is an extended gag, following the
exploits of the dermatologist Frederick Eichner as he is led
through the strange underworld of the hipster by a series of
weird occurrences involving cancer cultures. Hilarious and outrageous (a famous scene
recounts the taping of a game show called "What's My Disease?"),
the book is an example of Southern's keenly moral
satirical sense as well as of his crafted, elegant writing.
Influenced in style by Southern's mentor Henry Green, "Flash
and Filigree" adheres to Green's theory of fiction: "If you
can make the reader laugh, he is apt to get careless and
keep on reading." Indeed.

Terry Southern is a master satirist in _Flash and Filigree_. Fans of David's Cronenburg's _Crash_ will certainly consume this book in a single sitting... simply to follow the exploits of Dr. Eichner (who would have been a nice addition to the movie; I guess Cronenburg didn't do his homework). Southern handles this whirlwind, insanely paced novel with totalitarian precision and makes every word (regardless of how trivial the word may seem) count. Southern was doing the gig that Tarrantino is now doing in the 50s. Southern also is not fearful of the controversial and he boldly depicts the daterape of Babs by Ralph. The scene is trash, but, by God, Southern writes trash perfectly. Besides, scenes such as this put the bread on the tables of MacKinnon, and Andrea Dworkin (this scene would have fit nicely into Dworkin's theoretical manifesto _Intercourse_). The characters are unforgetable (in fact, they have inspired a few characters in some of the stories that I have written). In summation: this review is chaotic, the book is not, buy it, or rot in boredom as you remain a slave to television.

Flash and Filigree is Southern at his very late-50s best,
and is the only work that can stand together with The
Magic Christian. If you can forgive the dated and
discomforting date-rape chapter, the rest of the book
will have you alternately courting hernia from excessive
laughter and horror from Southern's bizarre juxtapositions.
Where else can one find a therapist who coldcocks his
patients with a heavy glass ashtray ?

A brilliant treatise on the question of identity, reality, normalicy, obsession and sanity. Is Dr Eichner obsessed with Treevly, or is it the other way 'round? Does it matter? Can't wait for the film version.

this was the first terry southern novel i've read. the frantic irrational tone this book creates is great. the characters are right on par with o'toole's "confederacy of dunces". as well it reminds me a bit of vonnegut, without the omniscient narration. 4 instead of 5 because it was a bit open ended and short. probably would be a better movie. but of course that was southern's primary strength.