I cannot remember having been made more agitated and provoked by a book since I read The Brothers in my late 20s. I am considered a discerning writer, reader and teacher. I feel so vulnerable – writing one more word puts my credibility with all words at risk.
Yet, I will write more words about Fiend: A Novel
I wrote of starting Fiend two weeks ago as an audiobook and finished listening to it just a few days later.
I have been struggling since with its dark and light.
For those who appreciate the art and craft of fiction, Stenson wows. Characters, language, suspense, plot, all stellar. Stenson is a master of macabre, black humor. I hate myself for it but the umbrella socks made me, well, giggle.
No spoiler alerts, but caveats
Caveat one: I seek out art because I am open to transformation through radical, writhing, internal experience, however astonishing and terrible. Agh, here I step onto the proverbial about-to-break bough, outstretching my hand with this red fruit to you: I think Fiend is art.
Caveat two: Even if you’re open to a visceral experience with art, on some very deep levels, you will hate Fiend.
You will hate its subject matter – meth addiction and zombies – and its language, violence, sex, drug use and jarringly graphic detail of all of the above. Every nicety is unobserved, every social norm is violated, every taboo becomes matter-of-fact. You will feel outraged, horrified, terrified, appalled, nauseated, violated, helpless, hopeless and powerless.
You will hate the iconoclasm of universal truths you hold dear upheld by meth addicts.
If you swing this way, you’ll cringe with the discomfiting truth of Stenson’s rigorously honest parody of 12-step recovery.
You will groan at your excruciating oneness with main character Chase’s deepest feelings, profoundest thoughts, best intentions, and the omigod consequences of his choices.
And you’ll twitch and thrash desperately against the power of Stenson’s art, but sure as bugs are crawling on your skin, you’ll recognize you have it in you to be a meth addict, too.
. . . . .
My first post on Fiend was Of Meth and Zombies.
I have more words to write about the insights I have gained from Fiend: A Novel, in part inspired by author Peter Stenson’s candor about being a recovering meth addict. He shares here, here and in a video here.
