Nice review - I was wondering what happened to this novel after all the marketing that surrounded it. I heard he got a movie deal so I suppose it worked out for him.
I got sent this book and was intrigued by the premise but had a lot going on and didn't get too far. how you describe it reminds me of Spring Breakers! have you seen that?
Tangent question to this post: would you recommend Tao Lin's Taipei, which you mentioned with Ellis? I loved Less Than Zero. Are they related artistically?
When this novel was first published a couple of years that, I read some stories about how it was originally supposed to come out like a decade before but Kazemi just never finished it in time. Is this an instance where this book would've been a lot better had it come out earlier?
Yeah, it was originally picked up by MTV Books (remember them?) in the mid-2010s after an excerpt went viral on Tumblr. No idea why it took so long or why it ended up on Permuted--if I recall correctly, Kazemi said he was doing extensive research for all the pop culture references and that the book went through lots of revisions. I guess that took a decade.
As for your question, do you mean would the book have been more relevant 10 years ago? I don't think so. If anything, the purported themes have become more relevant.
Nice review - I was wondering what happened to this novel after all the marketing that surrounded it. I heard he got a movie deal so I suppose it worked out for him.
Thanks! Yeah, if your aim is to get a movie deal then getting a movie deal is definitely a win
Review more books pls
I got sent this book and was intrigued by the premise but had a lot going on and didn't get too far. how you describe it reminds me of Spring Breakers! have you seen that?
I haven’t seen Spring Breakers since it came out, but Kazemi definitely loves Korine
fascinating he does - SB always stuck with me as something where being deliberately bad doesn't make it worth watching
I thought this was going to be a breakdown Phil Collins epic song, alas not to be.
Hmm, maybe for the next one…
Tangent question to this post: would you recommend Tao Lin's Taipei, which you mentioned with Ellis? I loved Less Than Zero. Are they related artistically?
They’re pretty different books but Taipei is definitely a worthwhile read. (Even though I like Trip more.)
The dialogue excerpts read like an under-baked 90s sitcom script.
When this novel was first published a couple of years that, I read some stories about how it was originally supposed to come out like a decade before but Kazemi just never finished it in time. Is this an instance where this book would've been a lot better had it come out earlier?
Yeah, it was originally picked up by MTV Books (remember them?) in the mid-2010s after an excerpt went viral on Tumblr. No idea why it took so long or why it ended up on Permuted--if I recall correctly, Kazemi said he was doing extensive research for all the pop culture references and that the book went through lots of revisions. I guess that took a decade.
As for your question, do you mean would the book have been more relevant 10 years ago? I don't think so. If anything, the purported themes have become more relevant.