When Locke Vinetti gets angry, bad things happen. When the venom takes over, he feels fantastic and all-powerful:
It welled up inside me, like tears well up in your eyes--only this thing was pure, liquid hate, anger and rage and depression, all in a physical manifestation. This was no simple emotional response; this was a real, honest-to-God, all-over change. It percolated up in my head, bubbling, bubbling, and then bursting, overflowing. I felt it burning in my veins; every part of my body was so alive, more alive than I'd ever felt it before. And once the feeling, the substantive emotion, had filled me and solidified, it took control. But the worst part about it was that I enjoyed it--Fuck, I loved it.*
...but once it is gone he is left shaken, weak, ashamed and often in tears. Now, over ten years since it first manifested itself, Locke has realized that he needs to get rid of the venom once and for all -- both because of the effect it has on his family and his friends and because he's getting the feeling that the venom is ready to take over permanently.
Each chapter is followed by a full page black-and-white comic-style illustration by Kelly Yates paired with an installment about Blacklight, Locke's imaginary superhero alter-ego. Those passages parallel Locke's real-life story, are pulp fiction to the max, deliberately over-the-top (I assume) and great fun. Venomous is by turns fast-paced, slow-paced, violent, tender, frightening, funny, joyful, sexy and angsty. It is always gritty. I read Christopher Krovatin's first book, Heavy Metal and You, back when it came out in 2005**. I hands-down adored it in every way. Venomous, I had a harder time with. I identified much more with Randall, Locke's best friend, much more than with Locke -- as this book is a first-person narrative, I found myself extremely frustrated with Locke on an almost-constant basis. Like Randall, I just didn't get the venom. I'm still not sure if that was my problem or the book's problem. The book, and even more so, Locke himself, reminded me very strongly of another angry book and another very angry character -- it's a problematic comparison because of the associations so many people have, but I'm going to go for it anyway: Locke Vinetti and his journey reminded me very much of James Frey's character and his journey in A Million Little Pieces. Do with that what you will. __________________________________________________ *This text was taken from an advance copy of the book. **When the author was a junior in college! Cross-posted at Guys Lit Wire
I'll give it a try. I liked Heavy Metal and You and I am intrigued by this concept of rage, etc and the idea of channeling it. I also haven't read A Million Little Pieces so maybe I can give a different perspective.
Posted by: chrissy | 05 September 2008 at 01:53 PM
I also felt more of a connection to Randall than Locke, but to be fair that's because Randall is based on me. I absolutely love this book (and not just because I'm in it). Even the real parts of it have a comic book feel.
Posted by: DoctorBatman | 08 September 2008 at 12:27 PM
Oh, that's interesting DoctorBatman -- I wondered if any of it was based on real life stuff. A lot of it had that feel.
Posted by: Leila | 10 September 2008 at 06:45 AM
I was wondering if anyone knew the ending song in the book. I like to try to find the songs to get the feel of the moment the author was trying to portray, especially with scenarios like the one at the end. if anyone could tell me that would be a big help. Thanks.
Posted by: Mars | 17 May 2010 at 08:48 PM
It's Devil Inside by INXS. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlkarj6uJdE
Posted by: DoctorBatman | 23 June 2011 at 03:02 PM
i absolutly love this book. I picked it out becaouse the title just kind of jumped out at me. i have read this book four times in a row for this semester of school!!
Posted by: Kain | 09 March 2012 at 04:42 PM