And The Ass Saw The Angel by Nick Cave
I’ve been a long time fan of Australian indie rock veteran Nick Cave’s music (for those who may not know, he has had a very long career starting with The Birthday Party and then with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds (here’s something totally bizarre I just found out-Nick Cave actually has a myspace page ) I’d also like to say that, although Nick Cave has created some fascinatingly solid albums, I view him at the height of his career right now with his double album, Abattoir Blues / The Lyre Of Orpheus being my favorite. He also puts on an amazing live show (see God is in the House dvd as he’s not currently touring)
To anyone who is familiar with Nick Cave’s music and lyrics, this novel won’t really surprise you. If I could describe it with only three words, I’d say: dense (it’s almost Hawthorne-ish in the level of descriptive detail at times), dark , and Biblical. Nick Cave sets the tale inside a Puritanical Ukulite society in which the Bible is often used and abused. Amidst prostitutes and homeless men, the main character Euchrid (who by the way doesn’t have the ability to speak, which is probably the most ironic thing Nick Cave thought of) watches cruelty and murder and the raising of a young girl the townspeople are convinced will conceive the next Messiah.
The complexity of the prosaic thought processes (which are, at times almost schizophrenic) of Euchrid make it a challenging read to say the least. One wholeheartedly wishes to just have the ability to get out of Euchrid’s head at times. Add the fact that the perspectives keep changing, especially towards the end, between the first person perspective of Euchrid and his hallucinatory and delusional thoughts and a third person narration describing what actions Euchrid is taking and you have one very difficult to follow story. I’m sure I will benefit from a second and third reading later on in life.
And if you are more into films than literature, fear not because soon the Nick Cave written film, The Proposition will be released in the states with a great soundtrack of Nick Drake and Warren Ellis to accompany it.
March 16th, 2006 at 6:07 pm
Nick’s career actually started before The Birthday Party. He was in a band called The Boys Next Door beforehand. They were much more straightforward and less arty than The Birthday Party. In fact, the Birthday Party collection Hee Haw that was released in 2000 (before that it came out on 4AD as their s/t album although it’s really a collection) consists of late-period Boys Next Door recordings.
March 16th, 2006 at 6:48 pm
That’s true..thanks for adding that as I had forgotten all about that somehow. I don’t actually have any records by The Birthday Party ot The Boys Next Door (just quite a few Nick Cave albums) but I do find the band title rather amusing…maybe in Australia he’s just one of the boys next door? scary indeed!
July 27th, 2007 at 4:11 pm
[...] if many people that love his music have also read And the Ass Saw the Angel, which I wrote about here. Never while I was reading did I think I might be able to tell him how I felt about the [...]