Rebels suck. I mean, they came to suck. It's very hard to write a good rebel, because most of the time you'll write a self-righteous turd instead. My top ten of best rebels in literature also would have sucked, because it would have consisted in most protagonists that you often read about in my top tens: Edmond Dantes, Jay Gatsby, Henry Rollins, these guys. Instead, I'm going to catch up with a week I missed. I'm not sure why I missed the top ten debut novels week, but it's an interesting enough topic to make me want to think about it. It's been hard because I haven't read the debut novel from that many writers, but here's what I could come up with.
Top Ten Tuesdays is hosted by The Broke And The Bookish
1-Chuck Palahniuk - Fight Club: By far his best novel (to me anyway) and one of the books I'd bring on a desert island. It's a book that transformed a generation of young men, me included. A great story, a corrosive point and perfect delivery. Fight Club is one of those perfect objects, frozen in time.
2-David Foster Wallace - The Broom Of The System: It's funny, charming and loaded with Wittgensteinian thoughts to the point of making your skull crack. There's a fine balance in between Lenore's fun loving, bubbly nature and a cold, calculating, almost mathematical style. A mind-blowing read.
3-Dashiell Hammett - Red Harvest: If your first novel is also your best one, that can mean two things. First, you other novels suck or second, all your novels are really good. In Hammett's case, it's the second option. By far his darkest, most haunting book.
4-Heath Lowrance - The Bastard Hand: "When the going gets weird, the weird turns pro" said Hunter S. Thompson. Charlie Wesley, Heath Lowrance's protagonist lives up to this dogma of contemporary literature. Big time. A peak at the apocalypse.
5-Alan Moore - V For Vendetta: It's a graphic novel, I know. And it was more of a project than a novel in itself. It was pieced up into a graphic novel over time. But it's fuckin' V For Vendetta. One of the best, strongest and most fluid dystopian novels out there.
6-Dennis Lehane - A Drink Before The War: The Kenzie/Gennaro novels are all about disturbing crimes. This is the one that started it all. It's violent, depraved and it features the crazy wits of Patrick Kenzie. And it introduces Bubba. The first of the series and still one of the bests.
7-Stephen King - Carrie: The first, yet one of the bests. Carrie is fucking visceral. It's the story of a distressed young girl, who struggles to understand the changes she's going through. Because she's special, you know? But unlike other stories where the protagonist is "special", shit hits the fan. Hard.
8-Raymond Chandler - The Big Sleep: One of the best, if not THE best Philip Marlowe novel. It's been taken for inspiration over and over again. It's somewhat of a blue print for a detective story. Marlowe is as charming, smart and witty as ever.
9-F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby: Yeah, discussed to death, I know. Sorry about that. But it's THAT good. Fitzgerald wrote a few novels after that, but could never quite live up to the monster he created when he wrote Gatsby, which is still what he's remembered for.
10-Hunter S. Thompson - Hell's Angels: A Strange And Terrible Saga: The first mind-bending publication of this demented genius. He wrote an earlier novel, but it was published posthumously. Thompson terrorized the well-thinking of the sixties and managed to piss off the bikers while doing so.
Top Ten Tuesdays is hosted by The Broke And The Bookish
1-Chuck Palahniuk - Fight Club: By far his best novel (to me anyway) and one of the books I'd bring on a desert island. It's a book that transformed a generation of young men, me included. A great story, a corrosive point and perfect delivery. Fight Club is one of those perfect objects, frozen in time.
2-David Foster Wallace - The Broom Of The System: It's funny, charming and loaded with Wittgensteinian thoughts to the point of making your skull crack. There's a fine balance in between Lenore's fun loving, bubbly nature and a cold, calculating, almost mathematical style. A mind-blowing read.
3-Dashiell Hammett - Red Harvest: If your first novel is also your best one, that can mean two things. First, you other novels suck or second, all your novels are really good. In Hammett's case, it's the second option. By far his darkest, most haunting book.
4-Heath Lowrance - The Bastard Hand: "When the going gets weird, the weird turns pro" said Hunter S. Thompson. Charlie Wesley, Heath Lowrance's protagonist lives up to this dogma of contemporary literature. Big time. A peak at the apocalypse.
5-Alan Moore - V For Vendetta: It's a graphic novel, I know. And it was more of a project than a novel in itself. It was pieced up into a graphic novel over time. But it's fuckin' V For Vendetta. One of the best, strongest and most fluid dystopian novels out there.
6-Dennis Lehane - A Drink Before The War: The Kenzie/Gennaro novels are all about disturbing crimes. This is the one that started it all. It's violent, depraved and it features the crazy wits of Patrick Kenzie. And it introduces Bubba. The first of the series and still one of the bests.
7-Stephen King - Carrie: The first, yet one of the bests. Carrie is fucking visceral. It's the story of a distressed young girl, who struggles to understand the changes she's going through. Because she's special, you know? But unlike other stories where the protagonist is "special", shit hits the fan. Hard.
8-Raymond Chandler - The Big Sleep: One of the best, if not THE best Philip Marlowe novel. It's been taken for inspiration over and over again. It's somewhat of a blue print for a detective story. Marlowe is as charming, smart and witty as ever.
9-F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby: Yeah, discussed to death, I know. Sorry about that. But it's THAT good. Fitzgerald wrote a few novels after that, but could never quite live up to the monster he created when he wrote Gatsby, which is still what he's remembered for.
10-Hunter S. Thompson - Hell's Angels: A Strange And Terrible Saga: The first mind-bending publication of this demented genius. He wrote an earlier novel, but it was published posthumously. Thompson terrorized the well-thinking of the sixties and managed to piss off the bikers while doing so.