The Metamorphosis | Guy Portman's Blog

My Book Prizes Must Be Won

Mar 16 2018

I am excited to announce that my prize draw starts today. As I am an avid writer and reader of dark humour, I have opted for prizes that reflect this.

1st PRIZE: A rare, signed, flawless, first edition, hardback copy of Haunted (2005) by Chuck Palahniuk (Worth: £122.21/$170.70). Haunted is one of the most provocative and controversial works of fiction ever written.

Two Lucky Runners-Up will receive the following three darkly humorous books, all of which I highly recommend. Post Office by Charles Bukowski, The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka and Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach.

To enter all you have to do is sign up to my humorous, monthly, book-related newsletter. Click on this link to enter – MY PRIZE DRAW

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If you want to enter My Prize Draw but are already signed up to my newsletter, just sign up again. I will get rid of any duplicates.

Good luck!

Terms & Conditions: The contest’s duration is 16/03/18 – 15/04/18. Entries close at midnight GMT. Prizes will be sent by recorded/special delivery. Participants from any country are eligible. The runners-up prizes are new paperbacks sourced from Amazon. Winners will be selected at random using a random number generator. Winners will be informed by email on the 16/04/18. Subscribers can unsubscribe to my book-related newsletter at any time. All queries should be sent to info@guyportman.com

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6 Nihilistic Works of Fiction

Mar 03 2017

Nihilism Definition: A philosophical doctrine that suggests the lack of belief in one or more reputedly meaningful aspects of life. Most commonly, nihilism is presented in the form of existential nihilism, which argues that life is without objective meaning, purpose, or intrinsic value…(more)

In literature the term ‘nihilism’ was first popularised by 19th Century Russian author Ivan Turgenev in his novel Fathers and Sons.

This week’s post is dedicated to six works of fiction that could be described as nihilistic. They are presented in the order in which they were published. Click on the links to read my reviews.

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (1899)

Heart of Darkness is a disturbing, multi-layered story about what can occur when man exists outside of civilisation’s constraints. Readers are challenged to question the existence of being.

My Review: Heart of Darkness is a novella about a steamship sailing up a river through the jungles of The Congo, in search of Mr Kurtz, a mysterious ivory trader, who has reportedly turned native…(more)

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka (1915)

The Metamorphosis is a bleak, existential nihilistic tale that comments on the human condition and the futility of life. This reader appreciated its dark humour.

My Review: Protagonist Gregor Samsa wakes up one morning to find that he has been transformed into a beetle. This awkward situation is exacerbated when Gregor’s boss turns up at his house…(more)

Novel with Cocaine by M. Ageyev (1934)

Novel with Cocaine is a nihilistic novel about adolescence and addiction that has been described as Dostoyevskian, due to the thorough psychological exploration of its main character.

My Review: Set in the years immediately before and after the Russian Revolution, Novel with Cocaine follows the life of Vadim, a Moscow adolescent and student. Vadim is prone to self-loathing…(more)

The Plague by Albert Camus (1947)

Viewed by many as being an existential nihilist classic, The Plague is a philosophical work that explores absurdism; the human tendency to try and find meaning in life, but failing to find any.

My Review: In the Algerian coastal town of Oran, an explosion in the rat population has not gone unnoticed. The infestation soon comes to an abrupt halt with the mysterious demise of the rats…(more)

Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis (1985)

Easton Ellis’s debut novel is a nihilistic account of life in 1980s L.A. Utilising social commentary and plotless realism, Less Than Zero is a graphic and disturbing novel that is unrelenting in its bleakness.

My Review: Set in 1980s Los Angeles, the story follows eighteen-year-old Clay, returned home for Christmas from college in New Hampshire. Clay immediately falls back into the L.A. social scene, spending his time…(more)

Choke by Chuck Palahniuk (2001)

This nihilistic novel is about our innate craving for attention and the fundamental nature of addiction. Its protagonist has a penchant for purposely choking on food at expensive restaurants.

My Review: The protagonist, Victor Mancini, is a sex addict employed at an eighteenth-century historical re-enactment park. Victor attends various sexual addiction support groups, where he meets many…(more)

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6 Great Books Initially Underappreciated

Sep 11 2015

This week sees the latest instalment in my popular famous book series. The following 6 books are presented in the order in which they were published.

Walden by Henry David Thoreau

First published in 1854, Walden is about Thoreau’s time living in a cabin that he built in the woods near Concord, Massachusetts. Life in the Woods (Walden’s original name) only sold 2,000 copies in its first 5 years. However this manual for self-reliance went on to become extremely popular. The emergence of the environmental movement is undoubtedly one reason for Walden’s belated success.

The Metamorphosis and Other Stories by Franz Kafka

The Metamorphosis is about a man who wakes up one morning to find that he has been transformed into a beetle. It was first published in a literary magazine in 1915, 9 years before its author’s death. The story did not garner much interest. Today The Metamorphosis is regarded as one of the most important works of fiction of the 20th Century.

Click here to read my review.

Moby-Dick by Herman Melville

The story follows the quest to exact revenge on a white whale, who had previously destroyed Captain Ahab’s ship. Moby-Dick was something of a disaster for its author. The book was lambasted by most reviewers and sold merely a few copies. When it was published in England, a mistake led to the epilogue being omitted. Moby-Dick became popular during the Melville revival of the early 20th Century.

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

When Brave New World was published in 1932 most critics disliked Huxley’s dystopian view of the future. Even fellow author and futurist H.G. Wells was critical of the book. The bad press resulted in only a few thousand copies initially being sold in America. Brave New World was ranked 5th in Modern Library’s 1999 list of the best English-language novels of the 20th Century.

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

This dystopian novel is about a group of boys stranded on a deserted island, who attempt to govern themselves. Lord of the Flies was rejected 20 times before Faber and Faber accepted it. The book sold only about 3,000 copies in the United States before going out of print. In 2005 the novel was chosen by TIME magazine as one of the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to 2005.

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

Set during the Great Depression, The Grapes of Wrath is about a poor family from Oklahoma, who trek to California to start a new life. People were so outraged at its controversial depiction of the poor that the book was banned and even burned in Steinbeck’s hometown of Salinas. The Grapes of Wrath went on to win a National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize. In 1962 its author won the Nobel Prize.