It took me a whopping two days to finish this books. Two days for 288 pages. I savored this book in a way that I usually don't, trying to extract meaning from every word. For someone who can tear through a 1,000 page book in 4 hours, reading slowly isn't something I'm used to. This time, I enjoyed every moment of it.Crooked Little Vein starts as abruptly as it finishes, already neck deep in the dark humor that permeates the entire story. As it gets deeper, the kinks get weirder, the luck turns worse, and as much as I hated Michael McGill, the protagonist, in the end I was happy for him. Like him, I could forgive the book's sins and look the other way, as long as it came back to me in the end. And though the plot was contrived (As it had to be!), and the main characters weak, I found myself strangely attracted to the minor players, the pilot, the serial killer, the pimps and junkies and freaks that made up the backbone of the story.
This book is not for the faint of heart. It's a dirty, harsh, humorous look at our country and our lifestyle. It details the extremes of the fetish world, humanizes it, puts your face on the man with the green foam glove or the saline IV. It made me hate myself when I could empathize with Trix. But it also inspired me to start drawing at a time when I haven't picked up a pencil for months. And for me, that may be the highest praise of all.
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