Candy - Book Club November '10

Thanks for choosing this, Pete. It means a lot to me. Luke Davies is one of my favourite writers, and this books I magnificent. It's a great introdction to Australian Literature, and i hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I do. Australia wants some loving from the literary world, and when we have writers this good, i don't know why more people don't have an aussie book in their hands.

Okay, guys. As some of you already know, I'm super fucking busy at the moment: doing the Craig Clevenger Intensive, major assignments (two 50% weighted essays) due in the next two weeks, re-writing my novel so it's ready for Write Club, working and somehow between all of that finding the time to have a rest and say hello to my girlfriend. So, with that in mind, i'm probably not going to be as actively discussing Candy as much as I would have liked.

It's one of my favourite books. Not just from an Aussie author but from anyone. This is a blinding debut. So strong. Compelling. Emotional. Oh, how it's emotional. This book is like Australia's answer to Bukowksi--or so i've always thought. The voice is raw, real, and so honest you kind of wish he would stop talking at times. And the only thing you have to do to stop him talking is to close the book, but you can't seem to do that either because you need to know the young couple's fate. But that's what makes it so incredible for me.

Let's just start with you guys chiming in with whatever you want. General comments. Did you like it? Didn't you(If so, we probably can't be friends)? That kind of thing.

I love the opening of the book. I generally don't like seeing prologues because it seems out-dated to me. It feels like it could just be the first chapter. But as there is always an exception to the rule, this is it for me. I love how the Example of the Good Times is Candy O.D'ing for the first time. Like, you class that as good? Something's wrong here.

From there it just comes out firing, doesn't it? The Example of the Bad Times is pretty raw. Honesty exposing himself as a selfish liar. I mean, hiding it from Candy, the girl whlo is meant to be the love of his life, who is suffering just as bad as him, but he can only think of himself, and then nothing. he get's no buzz. and that's what this book is about. this struggle between their love for each other and their irrevocable love for smack. And it's heartbreaking.

I wonder if anyone was just so frustrated at the narrator that they stopped caring for him? Even though through the whole book I found myself saying, "no, don't do it. fuck. stop it. just stop being a selfish prick. get your fucking shit together. can't you see you're spiralling down to oblivion" I was still rooting for him. I still wanted the best for him. And that's a quality in the character that I hope everyone got. Someone that can be so repulsive, so horrible, but for some reason, you still care for him. You still want the best for him. You want him to get off the junk and live his life, him and candy, together and happy. But deep down you know that's not gonna happen. It builds and builds and builds, everything get's worse and when you think it can't get any worse it does. It steps it up to a whole other level of fucked up.

Also, let's talk about the Australian voice. Did you like it? I love the balance that Davies has. he doesn't go over-the-top by using dialectial language but he definitely uses an austraian voice. And i guess, having it set in Australia really sets that tone as well. If you guys have any questions in regards to the language, as in, slang terms, words etc. you didn't understand, just bring it up here and i'll clarify. He doesn't use a very thick australian voice, as in, he doesn't use too many slang terms because they're quite cliche here. So yeah, any Q's in regards to that side of things just let me know, I'll be happy to answer them.

Okay, let's get started! Come in and talk about the book in general, or talk about a couple of the points I have brought up. And please don't be shy. You mustn't worry about what other people thought. You read it, and your opinion is just as valid as the next fellas.

So hop to it, mates.

I got it in the mail, Matt!

I have more to say, but I want to see what other people post.

But I wanted to just agree with you here on the love/hate thing. The whole time I really cared for the characters. I wanted them to be successful. And every time the screwed up I would think - You deserve what you get you fucks!

Then it would take me a little bit before I started caring again. It was a real tug of war.

That was one of the things I didn't like about the movie, but it really worked in the book.

Come on, Pete. You're holding back. You're the leader of this whole tribe. if you start posting your thoughts everyone will follow. Give me more, mate. You've obviously got a few opinions on the novel. Good or bad. I want to hear them. I don't really expect Americans to completely "get it" because it is very australian, but I just really hope that the themes break through all that cultural shit. That's what's important to me.

Matthew, I'm a slow reader and already have a few books going, but based on your passion and your all around knowledge of literature and writing, I went ahead and got this. I started it today. So I'm not sure how helpful I'll be as for as contributing feedback -what I'll do is comment as I go unless I can finish it within the next week. Seems like a quick read. But the opening "In the beginning: Sydney, summer" pulled me Right in. I'm going to like this. Addiction hits home for me, but more than that, sticking to the story, he writes "It's weird how you can be going along, and all you're thiking about is heroin, and then you meet someone, and other thoughts get in there."

So Basic but yet So Well Said, and even more than that, Unpredictable. Either he's not that fargone into the "stuff" yet, or he has depth -usually the heroin addicts don't have time for Anything but the heroin. And I like how he sets up the whole Bonnie and Clyde deal -yeah I like the writing style and the opening so expect me to contribute more to the conversation in the comiming couple of weeks for november.

"We drive silently to Dirty Julie's, suspended inside the terrible tension in the car like little pieces of fruit in gelatin."

No one wants to bite on this one?

I've posted plenty of points for discussion.

It's a shame this seems to be the fate of the book club. And, honestly, I can't wrap my head around it. How is it that we have a community of people here passionate about literature, passionate about reading, yet no one wants to discuss it? Are you afraid your opinion is the wrong one or something? Because the thing is, it's completely subjective. There is no right or wrong, only what you feel. What did the text do for you? The characters, did you hate them, feel bad for them?

I don't know where to go from here.

How about just chiming in if you actually read the book, and just stating whether you liked it or not.

I would chime in more, but I usually don't have the books that are being discussed.

I would Definitely chime in more -because I'm Reading it. My problem is, I don't finish in time. I can tell where I'm at Now and maybe comment on that -but I hate to because I don't have a clear picture of the story yet. They Just schemed a guy out of his credit cards -they're newly weds. He's pretty much handling the drug connections while she sells herself. They're doing drugs every chapter and they can't really look at each other anymore when they're not.

I imagine this is going to end badly, but do things start going south soon or not until the very end? Right now they're just getting high and figuring out new ways to get their hands on cash for it, but that's been going on for a few chapters.

I Will say that I"m wrapped up in these people's lives and I care and the writing has me wanting to keep reading. So I like it.

But these are basic comments, so yeah, I feel a little silly saying anything. Maybe I just should, eh? I just can't speak to the story arcs, the ending, themes, and none of the advanced stuff Quite yet.

But I'm enjoying the read.

If you chime in a month late it's no big deal. I've seen discussions suck until a month or two later. No biggie. That's why I have a list of the past book club picks with links to their threads stickied at the top here. That way you can always chime in whenever you want.

There are no rules about that here!

Thanks for letting me know that! Seriously. Good to know. Your name's Pete? I'm Nathan by the way -you can see that already but... Yeah I keep the book at work so I can have something to keep my mind engaged. (It's a shitty job). And I'm making some good progress so I should say within a week I'll have that thing close to finished. Since it's the holidays though I'll probably bring it home on Wednesday. What am I doing? Babbling, that's what. But hey thanks again for letting me know -Book Clubs are great and I would like to see the one at The Cult thrive. Every month, I mean. So I'll do my best and I'll be back soon with some good feedback.

Yeah my name is Pete.

Nice to meet you Nate.

And feel free to check into any of the past book clubs whenever you want.

I have yet to read Candy, but the film adaptation arrived via Netflix this past Friday. On Saturday I purchased the DVD.
I'm looking forward to picking up a copy of the book and seeing how the two stack up.

It seems common among the Americans here to not really like the film. I, being an Aussie, loved it. But it was an independent Australian film, so maybe I'm being biased. I just thought, although not completely true to the text (which is funny considering Luke Davies adapted it), it was a great adaptation. And a great film. Fantastic acting by Heath and by a young girl from Singleton, a town not to far from where I live.

Planning ahead, here . . . I just discovered the Book Club, and am elbows-deep in a research proposal for the next week or two. However, if I know ahead what the book is for December, I can get a start. Is there anyone out there with the inside info I seek?

Randy

Hi, long time browser, first time poster here. I've had this book on my shelf for a while now, buying it used after seeing a recommendation from this site way back, I've been really looking forward to it.

I loved this book. I thought it was beautifully written and easy to read. It's so dirty, so funny, so mischievous, so sad. It felt real, the author no doubt did a ton of research. I really sympathized with the characters and wanted them to succeed, which is strange because I generally loathe these people who aggressively panhandle and occasionally break into my car. I thought the prologue/epilogue worked nicely. The Truth chapters were a nice contrast, a poetic, internal struggle with reality. I liked the scams, I thought the detachable heads #2 was hilarious, and the crabs... that was some of the craziest shit I have ever read. Also having been to both Sydney and Melbourne years ago it was nice to return to Aus in some way.

Anyways, that's my two bits.

I really should read this book one of these days - I've only seen the film, but I thought it was fantastic. Great performances from Ledger (of course) and Abbie Cornish.. and Geoffrey Rush was good as always.

Hi Randy, I believe you can find the information you seek in this thread - http://chuckpalahniuk.net/forum/1000029/six-months-of-book-club-books

Thanks, Kit. I was just about to link that. Nice work.

I really enjoyed the film and as I was looking for the book at my local library turns out they only have the film.

Go to Amazon, Jazz. They have it, for sure.