My Numero Cinq review of Bret Easton Ellis and Other Dogs by Lina Wolff ...

... now on the Numero Cinq website. This novel (or is it a collection of short stories?) is causing quite a stir over in Europe, and I was happy to be asked to review it here. Wolff's prose and structure will prove a challenge to anyone overly comfortable with linear narrative and the pat executions of theme. There are many provocative scenes of sex, violence and corruption, and they all come bundled in a style that feels very sharp and contemporary. Here's a sample from my assessment:

Men are dogs. This is the prevailing theme of Bret Easton Ellis and the Other Dogs, a debut novel that has already turned Sweden’s Lina Wolff into a literary sensation. Wolff’s project – a text at once fragmented enough to pass for a short story collection and yet untraceably centred on the character of Alba Cambó, a writer of violent, horrifying tales who has been diagnosed with terminal cancer – draws a connection between the canine-like nature of human males and the limitations of revenge against their more animalistic natures by women. Setting Alba’s story mostly in colourful Barcelona, Wolff renders it into a kind of narrative kaleidoscope, told through the eyes of her friends, lovers, and acquaintances.

Anyway, read the full review here.