Customer Reviews

Vera & Linus

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Ball and Bjornsdottir have made a hell of a thing. The book is written using a vague and methodical exquisite corpse technique which heightens the surrealism that is deeply imbedded in the core of this fine book. The "plot" (if you you want to call it that) of this thing centers around a beautiful, deranged, and extremely murderous pair of lovers who engage in all manner of butchery, carnage, torture, and unwilling bodily modifications in a strange and serene place. At one point in the book one of the authors (either Ball or Bjornsdottir, it's hard to tell without referring back to the decoder ring they invent in the book's preamble) break the fourth wall of the novel so as to threaten you, the reader, with the act of getting your face cut up with a razor.

The book is written with a highly effective brick-in-your-face style reminiscent of Borges' early short stories about cowboys and knife fights.

Highly recommended!

Before I began reading Vera & Linus, I was struck by the physical beauty of the book. The pages are extra thick with a nice rough feel. The edges are roughly cut. It is as if my book was hand made with care. In today's age of mass produced books, it is easy to forget that the book itself can be as much a piece of art as the words inside.

The story continues in the tradition of Mr. Ball's first publication, the March Book in that it uses vibrant language to describe a world that we can't quite be sure is real or in the imagination of the author.

The passages in the book are beautifully descriptive while often describing very painful scenes. I am reminded of one of my favorite stories, Patriotism by Yukio Mishima where the author descripes Seppuku in the most romantic of terms. I am so taken in by Mr. Ball's world that it is hard to remember if the author is speaking of the evil of the world or the most beautiful that life has to offer. In the end, I believe that we are to know that such a dichotemy does not exist.