Many of us here loved Chad Kultgen's first novel, Average American Male. Now his second novel is out, entitled The Lie. Today, Jackie & Joe present us with their reviews of it.
Jackie says:
I have a sort of morbid fascination with this author after reading his first book The Average American Male. To say his writing style is saying misogynistic is like saying the Grand Canyon is a big hole. It terrified me that when I gave that book to a guy friend of mine he gobbled it up and reviewed it by saying "Ya, that's pretty much how we think". This gave me a full body shudder that I've never been quite able to shake.
Kultgen's second book, The Lie, trumps the first soundly. This is the story of three college kids--2 males, one female. One guy is relatively normal, at least at the beginning of the book. The other guy is an over-privileged fiend that goes out of his way to invent humiliating sexual situations to put women in and has an extensive catalog of offensive descriptions for, and opinions of, women. Completing the triangle is a status conscious, brainless and seemingly soulless young woman. The book tells the tale of how these 3, over the course of their 4 years at college, do their best to destroy each other.
There is some suspense, or at least a hovering sense of impending doom, that kept me turning the pages of this book. It is definitely NOT for the faint of heart or the easily offended. It is sick, twisted, dark and hypnotic. And yes, I will be giving my copy to that same guy friend to see what he thinks. I'm afraid. Very afraid.
Bret Easton Ellis and Chuck Palahniuk fans will easily fall into the Cult of Kultgen.
Joe says:
Chad Kultgen's second novel is quite possibly even more biting than his first. The story of a love triangle gone bad, then worse, then oh-my-god-how-could-it-have-gotten-even-worse-but-it-does. Some of the scenes were not only laugh-out-loud funny, they had me shaking and giggling so much it caused the folks in front of me on the plane I was on to ask what was wrong. And then I let them read it, and they then joined me in laughing as well. (All three of them were women, and I hesitated in letting them read it, as the scene concerned the thoughts of the female character while having sex. I was so relived when they started laughing!) The author doesn't shy away from delving into the horrible inner natures we harbor...and letting his characters live with the nasty debris. This book is not for the feint of heart, nor is it for someone who firmly believes in the trans formative (for the good) power of love. This book is not for any person who finds any derogatory term for women offensive. They all exist here in spades. In the world of this novel, love is a lie and can only bring hell. But if you're looking for a book to describe the inner workings of today's youth, this is the one.
This is a book I could not put down, except when I was laughing too hard, or too gut-punched by the lows each of the three characters managed to take themselves into. I recommended it to a friend of mine, a woman I have known since college, a little unsure what she might think of me as she read the book. She is enjoying the book immensely, saying that she thinks it's hilarious and sadly true.
