Publisher’s Weekly recently published an article discussing how this book broke the standards of self-publishing works in terms of marketing and overall success. Do you think his language and writing style are typical of what society perceives as a male advertising executive?ģ. Despite current trends, many professions still have a designated stereotype attached to them. Given his country of origin and the overall candidness of many British persons, do you think this contributes to his tendency to be more direct and vulgar in Chapter 1?Ģ. Thank you, Jennifer, for sharing them with LitLovers!ġ. These questions were developed by Jennifer Johnson, Reference Librarian for the Springdale (Arkansas) Public Library. One of the most interesting and controversial encounters I’ve made through a book. It actually makes for a more satisfying experience." ( Excerpted from EV Grief.)įirst he steals the oxygen from you, then he spits it right back in your face. Because we can’t Google anyone we’re forced to make up our own minds about what’s happening in the narrative. "Also writing anonymously allows me to inhabit the reader more effectively. I love that there’s no cheesy photo on the backcover and that we don’t have to hear about how the writer lives in Connecticut or San Francisco or Brooklyn or wherever with his two dogs and a cat. Currently-lives in New York, New York USA.The narrator also admits that he experiences bouts of paranoia, further problematizing the relative truth of his narrative.Say there was a novel in which Holden Caulfield was an alcoholic and Lolita was a photographer’s assistant and, somehow, they met in Bright Lights, Big Cityĭiary of an Oxygen Thief is an honest, hilarious, and heartrending novel, but above all, a very realistic account of what we do to each other and what we allow to have done to us. It is also easy to believe that the narrator has blown his so-called relationship with Aisling way out of proportion, and that the reason she acts so cruelly towards him is because he is a creepy older guy who becomes obsessed with her. As such, the audience is disinclined to believe some of his suppositions about how deeply he hurt these women, especially when the narrator himself sometimes slips up and admits that this may not be the case. He believes he is the most important person and thinks that other people believe this as well. ![]() Similarly, he is also incredibly narcissistic and believes that the world revolves around him. The narrator does not seem to be trustworthy, mostly due to his apathy towards other people. While this retrospection allows the narrator to reflect on various aspects of both his behavior and his relationships, it also is partially responsible for the disbelief the audience feels towards the narrative. The narrator’s writing of the novel takes place eight years after his entry into AA and about two years after his alleged relationship with Aisling has been terminated. The novel is told retrospectively, as the narrator looks back at his actions after he has been hurt. He writes this book in the hopes that it will be published before her photos, to palliate the humiliation he feels. The narrator realizes that she hates him. At the end of their so-called relationship, she takes him to a bar and has a male friend humiliate him and try to get into a fight with the narrator, which she photographs. ![]() He believes she is toying with his emotions and using him as the tragic subject of her art, a book of photographs. Once in New York, and still at the job that he hates, he begins to pursue her shamelessly, and she treats him very coldly. He claims she convinces him to move to New York, although there doesn’t seem to be any evidence to support this. After they have sex, he falls in love with her, although she seems lukewarm at best towards him. He starts looking for a way out on one business trip to New York, he meets Aisling, a beautiful, young photographer’s assistant. He buys a house there and ends up getting stuck, realizing that he hates this job, as well as Midwesterners. He works on improving his career, eventually moving to Saint Lacroix, Minnesota to do so. The narrator enters into AA, finds a stable job as an advertising executive, and stays away from women for five years.
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