"List of the Lost" physical copy picture posted by @ariel_mcdowall / Twitter

Re: Picture of physical copy of The List of The Lost

She doesn't seem too pleased with his lack of an editor... And only 118 pages, even I might finish it before Xmas.

Dave

 

[tyronepowebottom]

Re: Picture of physical copy of The List of The Lost

I got my copy early from Amazon as well, and have been racing through it.

*WARNING - SPOILERS AHEAD*

The storyline is about four young athletes who are training to run the 100 metre relay in the Los Angeles Olympics, 1984 - their names are Steve (the charismatic hero of the novel), John, Andy and Mike. Their plans for the games start well, but come under threat when Andy gets disqualified for taking illegal performance enhancing drugs, whilst the team is further put under stress by Steve's unrequited and bitterly jealous love for John (who is much more into girls). The final straw comes when Mike finds out about Steve's sexuality, and tries to blackmail him. Needless to say, Steve has the last laugh, as on the day of the final he quits the team, leaving the others looking like idiots, and has the success he always deserved by getting the Gold Medal in the solo 100 metres, whilst his ex-teammates slip into obscurity (Mike, for instance, ends up committing suicide by shooting himself with a starting pistol when he realises he has betrayed his one-time friend).

I really enjoyed it, though some of the paragraphs lasted for several pages, which I found slightly odd.

lmao the funniest thing is that some people in this post believed this was real. Not even gonna lie, if this was what the novel is about i would totally read it

 

[AztecCamera]

We don't need to see a pic of some weirdo's hammer thumb. Anonymous-

 

[Anonymous]

Re: Picture of physical copy of The List of The Lost

thanks morran, im an obsessive reader and got excited to see

 

[Anonymous]

Re: Picture of physical copy of The List of The Lost

I'm looking forward to Benny and Bummie's reviews of 'List Of The Lost' which I'm sure were written even before Morrissey completed his manuscript.

I always enjoy Bummie's rambling, repetitive and incoherent criticisms of other people's prose styles...

 

[LizSK2]

He is a writer of brilliant 4 minute pop songs. Is ANYONE surprised that when he attempted something longer it would be hopeless? He refuses editors. This was inevitable. But I still love him more than life itself!

 

[Anonymous]

Re: Picture of physical copy of The List of The Lost

He is a writer of brilliant 4 minute pop songs. Is ANYONE surprised that when he attempted something longer it would be hopeless? He refuses editors. This was inevitable. But I still love him more than life itself!

Have you read it?

 

[I_Am_A_Disco_Dancer]

Re: Picture of physical copy of The List of The Lost

lmao the funniest thing is that some people in this post believed this was real. Not even gonna lie, if this was what the novel is about i would totally read it

omg - hahaha - that post was funny - in my defense, I hadn't read that when I posted previously.

I was kind of hoping Morrissey's novel would have a sense of humour since he's quite funny in his autobiography - so too bad this isn't likely to be what the novel is about!

Back to preparing for fiasco -

 

[Anonymous]

Re: Picture of physical copy of The List of The Lost

You can't judge a novel from a single out-of-context sentence.

 

[Sidnettle]

I blame Tony Wilson

 

[bhops]

Re: Picture of physical copy of The List of The Lost

He is a writer of brilliant 4 minute pop songs. Is ANYONE surprised that when he attempted something longer it would be hopeless? He refuses editors. This was inevitable. But I still love him more than life itself!

I'm not totally surprised but there were enough high spots and moments of genuine mirth in 'Autobiography' for me to hope the novel would be something similar. Of course I'm yet to read it but the godawful nature of sentence is worrying me, plus the reviewer sounded like a genuine fan who wanted it to be good.

 

[Sidnettle]

Editor? It's already only 119 pages long. Imagine how short it might be if all the incongruous chaff were removed.

 

[ninetimesfined]

When Penguin use words like 'extraordinary' in their promotional material, you just know it's not going to be shortlisted for the Man Booker.

I am still looking forward to reading this. I'm hoping it's not going to fall into the 'so bad it's good' category but sadly I think it's going to be universally panned.

If Morrissey had a compulsion to become a writer of novels then I think he would have done before now. It seems to be that List of the Lost has been published based on the success of Auotobiography and out of necessity - lack of a record deal.

I recommend both of Nick Cave's novels to anyone. They're fantastic. But it's not like Cave had to write because he couldn't release a record. The guy's got a real flare for the English language and the ability to tell a good story.

I'm hoping that if it's as bad as a few of the people who've read it are saying , this can be attributed to the fact that it's a first attempt. I'd enjoy reading the occasional Moz novel or short story.

I think that to follow up Autobiogaphy, Moz should consider writing a series of shorter essays and anecdotes, not unlike what David Sedaris does. I'm sure the man has some amazing stories to tell outside of Autobiography and there are thousands of people who want to read them. My one criticism of Autobiography was that it didn't tap into his phyche. It was more a list of events, especially towards the end.

 

[Sidnettle]

Re: Picture of physical copy of The List of The Lost

When Penguin use words like 'extraordinary' in their promotional material, you just know it's not going to be shortlisted for the Man Booker.

I am still looking forward to reading this. I'm hoping it's not going to fall into the 'so bad it's good' category but sadly I think it's going to be universally panned.

If Morrissey had a compulsion to become a writer of novels then I think he would have done before now. It seems to be that List of the Lost has been published based on the success of Auotobiography and out of necessity - lack of a record deal.

I recommend both of Nick Cave's novels to anyone. They're fantastic. But it's not like Cave had to write because he couldn't release a record. The guy's got a real flare for the English language and the ability to tell a good story.

I'm hoping that if it's as bad as a few of the people who've read it are saying , this can be attributed to the fact that it's a first attempt. I'd enjoy reading the occasional Moz novel or short story.

I think that to follow up Autobiogaphy, Moz should consider writing a series of shorter essays and anecdotes, not unlike what David Sedaris does. I'm sure the man has some amazing stories to tell outside of Autobiography and there are thousands of people who want to read them. My one criticism of Autobiography was that it didn't tap into his phyche. It was more a list of events, especially towards the end.

Someone posted some of Cave's lyrics on here once in an effort to prove he was good at writing them. Unfortunately it only achieved the reverse as they were excruciatingly bad. If I believe what you say, maybe Cave is better suited to writing books, while Moz should stick to writing songs (I take the point another poster made about how his lyrics have worsened -he did say he would run out of ideas at so I some point). I did actually refuse to read autobiography, partly on the basis of his obvious bitterness and partly because I read an excerpt (about Bryan Ferry?) and found the style horrendous.

 

[ninetimesfined]

Re: Picture of physical copy of The List of The Lost

Someone posted some of Cave's lyrics on here once in an effort to prove he was good at writing them. Unfortunately it only achieved the reverse as they were excruciatingly bad. If I believe what you say, maybe Cave is better suited to writing books, while Moz should stick to writing songs (I take the point another poster made about how his lyrics have worsened -he did say he would run out of ideas at so I some point). I did actually refuse to read autobiography, partly on the basis of his obvious bitterness and partly because I read an excerpt (about Bryan Ferry?) and found the style horrendous.

I don't think you can compare Moz and Cave's lyrics. But I can see where the opinion of their quality can come from. Cave dabbles in writing the songs too, sometimes lyrics mean more when listened to over the music, rather than viewed from a computer screen. It's all about context!

In Cave's second novel 'the Death of Bunny Munro', he describes Kylie's 'I'm Spinning Around' as a 'paean to buggery' which amused me no end. (pun intended?)

 

[Anonymous]

Re: Picture of physical copy of The List of The Lost

I don't think you can compare Moz and Cave's lyrics. But I can see where the opinion of their quality can come from. Cave dabbles in writing the songs too, sometimes lyrics mean more when listened to over the music, rather than viewed from a computer screen. It's all about context!

In Cave's second novel 'the Death of Bunny Munro', he describes Kylie's 'I'm Spinning Around' as a 'paean to buggery' which amused me no end. (pun intended?)

The Death of Bunny Munro was one of the worst books I've ever read.

 

[NealCassidy]

Surprised there are no review online yet, given that it's out tomorrow. Don't they send out advance copies to journos? And no signing..

 

[Anonymous]

Re: Picture of physical copy of The List of The Lost

He is a writer of brilliant 4 minute pop songs. Is ANYONE surprised that when he attempted something longer it would be hopeless? He refuses editors. This was inevitable. But I still love him more than life itself!

well i did really like auto bio even with its style so i did though writing about your life is different than writing fiction so i thought and still think it up in the air. the thing is classic literature, which i dont know how much you guys read of it is full of run on convoluted sentences and sometimes over alliteration. to the lighthouse by virginia wolf, absalom absalom by faulkner, dickens with tale of two cities, swans way by proust, the count of monte cristo by dumas and of course melvilles billy bud and other stories all contain this kind of stuff. to me its the over alliteration that is the impediment but to me that makes sense that hes essentially written mostly poems for the last forty years and this will take some time and work to break. he will have to learn just like all the rest who try there hand at writing novels. good god ulysses penelope is full of it

 

[evennow]

Re: Picture of physical copy of The List of The Lost

Well...Morrissey -Solo better get ready to make the transition from concert tours to book tours. How exciting

 

[ninetimesfined]

Re: Picture of physical copy of The List of The Lost

Surprised there are no review online yet, given that it's out tomorrow. Don't they send out advance copies to journos? And no signing..

There is a strict embargo involved, the same as with 'Autobiography'. No hype is the new hype. Precious nothing has been given officially regarding the plot, Moz's own blurb generated more questions than answers, and the same with the brief excerpt.

Plus I believe there is a smugness within those who review books, who will take great pleausre in savaging this, rightly or wrongly. I think that's what Penguin would be worried about if they let advance review copies go out.

 

[Sidnettle]

Re: Picture of physical copy of The List of The Lost

well i did really like auto bio even with its style so i did though writing about your life is different than writing fiction so i thought and still think it up in the air. the thing is classic literature, which i dont know how much you guys read of it is full of run on convoluted sentences and sometimes over alliteration. to the lighthouse by virginia wolf, absalom absalom by faulkner, dickens with tale of two cities, swans way by proust, the count of monte cristo by dumas and of course melvilles billy bud and other stories all contain this kind of stuff. to me its the over alliteration that is the impediment but to me that makes sense that hes essentially written mostly poems for the last forty years and this will take some time and work to break. he will have to learn just like all the rest who try there hand at writing novels. good god ulysses penelope is full of it

I've read a lot of Woolf for example, and though some of the writing is obscure, it is never bad. At the end of the day, all that matters is whether it is well-written or not. Gratuitous use of alliteration can just look silly and facile.