Book Review: The Street Vein Chronicles

So I ordered this book off of Lulu.

I wasn't sure what to expect.  I like Street Vein's Vox blog, so I was fairly sure that it wouldn't be the literary equivalent of a pile of dung, but I also didn't know that it would be too much different from just reading him online.

The verdict?  It's a little like reading his blog, but without all of the thoughtful political; family; and various other posts in between the slightly raging drug and alcohol clouded stories of a past life that one can't quite convince one's self to believe.  Anyone who has read any Hunter S. Thompson is very familiar with the not-quite-suspension of disbelief that accompanies reading the memoirs of someone whose recollection is clouded by drugs, alcohol, and the Lord knows what else.  With no pause between the chapters to remind the reader that the author really isn't a totally psychotic narcissistic sociopath, the stories take on a very crazed and breathless quality.

Regardless of that fact, it's still a funny and well written tale.  The tone of the book is certainly sarcastic and a little raging, and the author's disparaging take on the human condition is painfully apparent.  If I were to let my children read the book when they are older, it would be to demonstrate to them exactly why I don't want them going out and getting drunk (especially not with hookers or thieves or hookers who moonlight as thieves) or doing a lot of drugs.

Should you read the book?  If you have a healthy appreciation for irony and sarcasm and don't mind sex and booze, do, certainly, it's a funny read!  If you find drugs and alcohol distasteful, you may want to buy just one edition to pin up on the prayer wall.

So, there you go.