Lux the Poet by Martin Millar

Subject: Lux the Poet by Martin Millar Thu Jun 04, 2009 12:59 am

Our June selection (once Bittner finishes Outlander and I come to the end of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies) is a quirky book from a quirky author. I've read two of his other books, Lonely Werewolf Girl and The Good Faires of New York, two of the most awesomely bizzare books of my vast collection. So, here's hoping Lux is good enough to tempt you!

Here's the review from Amazon:

Quote :

There is something about Lux. He’s a thief and a liar; he is selfish and self-absorbed and hopelessly vain. But while he looks like Lana Turner and romances like a true Casanova, Lux is actually more like a bumbling, oblivious Mary Tyler Moore.

Amid shouting mobs, police shields, and the hurled bricks of the ’80s Brixton riots, Lux is searching for Pearl—the love of his life. Her home has been burned down by a stray petrol bomb, and she’s searching for sanctuary along with her friend Nicky. Nicky is traumatized after having killed her computer—her best friend—and is herself being followed by Happy Science PLC. It is their plan to breed a superior next generation by implanting the sperm of genius men inside beautiful women. She knows too much about the plan. Lux is helped in his quest by Kalia, a castaway of Heaven attempting to get back in God’s good graces by performing one million good deeds over countless lifetimes. There’s also a thrash metal band, a riot-party, past lives, and KY. Lots of KY

And, since I'm feeling ambitious there might be a second June book, but I'll try not to get ahead of myself. Summertime is here, head out to the pool or beach with your dear book club selection grasped in your suntan lotioned hands!

Subject: Re: Lux the Poet by Martin Millar Mon Jul 13, 2009 11:47 am

I really enjoyed this book. I like Millar's style, even though it can be chaotic and quirky, that's actually what I like about it. Lux as a character was such a trip! He could be charming and lovable, but also annoying and idiotic, which is exactly how the other characters think of him in that book. He was so clueless, and I felt a bit like Kalia in the book, whom was amused by Lux and cared about him but could become exasperated by his unawareness. I particularly liked Kalia's character as she was the only one that I liked without reservations.

I liked that despite the shortness of the book and the chapters and the scenes, you really got to see several sides of each character. Nobody was perfect. There's a tendency in writers to create a character called a Mary Sue, which is basically a perfect character, or despite them not being perfect they get everything a person could want. As much as I love Twilight, Bella and Edward are kind of Mary Sues. Basically they are the authors wish fulfillment characters. Which isn't always a bad thing, sometimes it's nice to read about a Mary Sue, because we need the escapism. But Millar is never going to be accused of filling his books with Mary Sues. His characters have flaws, and very few perfections. He reflects society's stereotypes, but still manages to give each character a unique voice.

The time jumping was weird in the book, but I still liked it. I loved the past lives, especially the perfume smelling contest. And Lux's death at the end felt right, even though it was sad. I'm glad he got to spend his last moments with Pearl. Equally glad that his last poem was a beautiful and moving piece. I was sad that Pearl didn't love him back, but in all honesty it wouldn't have been true to the characters. Lux was at his best pining for Pearl, a real relationship is not something he was ever capable of having.

Lots of little stuff in the book brought me pleasure too. Bittner and I have discussed loving the name of the band, Jane Austen Mercenaries. The descriptions of Lux's hair, the overuse of KY Jelly, Nikki getting the new computer, Lux doing all that cocaine...

I still think Lonely Werewolf Girl and The Good Faires of New York are better books, but only because they are much longer. And both were written after Lux- this is just a re-release of it which I did not realize until the author's note.

Subject: Re: Lux the Poet by Martin Millar Wed Jul 29, 2009 1:19 pm

I really hated this book. I even looked back on all the books we have read and I can honestly say that this was my least favorite book out of all of them!!!
I actually finished weeks ago I just haven't had time to get on and write about it, but I do remember the day I was finishing I got down to the last 8 pages and had to put the book down. I was so bored and frustrated and just really past the point of caring that in that moment I couldn't bring myself to gather up the momentum to push through to the end. I put the book down, watched Steven Colbert and then finally picked it back up just to be done with it.
I really didn't care about any character in this book. Now, I do respect and author's ability to create a leading character that is flawed and not just this poster child for perfection. But usually in a book where there is a character who is flawed or unlikable there are side characters that you begin to care about. And those characters will hold the audience to the end of the story. But in this book there wasn't one character worth anything. I mean I guess maybe Kaila but even she got to be annoying at times.
To many points in the story were just too unrealistic and far-fectched.
There were too many characters, too many story lines, too many decades.
It reminded me of the movie Funny Farm. In that movie Chevy Chase is writing a novel and at one point he gives it to his wife to read and tell him what she thinks. She hates it, and I wish I could remember the exact quote but I do remember that she yells at him through her tears something like "In the first chapter alone I counted 3 flash-backs 2 flash-forwards and on page 15 there was even a flash-sideways!" I remember always laughing at that line as a kid and at least now I actually understand what a flash-sideways is!
The thing that made all the different story lines so frustrating was that they were all in different time periods, some being a with in a few weeks others being a few centuries. And there were times where he would only write for two sentences on one of the plots so it was hard to remember everything that was going on. I had to go back and find the last time he mentioned certain storylines just to remember how that related back to the book as a whole.
I'm sorry, I know Kate likes this book and likes this author but I was really not impressed!