Some kinds of stories you
just outgrow and don’t have the same effect on you at 29 that they did when you
were 19, as is the case with Katherine Faw (Morris)’s second novel
Ultraluminous. Her first novel, Young God, is a startling debut of immense
power; written in short bursts detailing one young woman’s fight for survival
in a brutal back country world is a quick read but leave a lasting impression. For
her second novel, Faw takes quite a step down. While never boring, this novel
about an unnamed girlfriend experience prostitute feels very immature and I don’t
think a lot of work went into it. It shares a similar layout to her previous
book, with an immense number of chapters, themselves broken up into seemingly
unrelated and directionless scenes, but there is very little in the way of
plot, and it is impossible to really care about anyone or anything described in
the brief 196 pages of this novel. As I said, there really isn’t a linear plot.
Over 52 chapters, we get a harsh glimpse into the world of a woman who trades
in sex with rich men in Manhattan. They don’t have names and are described by
what they do with, for and too her (Calf’s Brains Guy for his obsession for
weird food, Art Dealer Guy, Junk Bonds Guy, Guy Who Buys Me Things, etc.). The
one person she sleeps with is an ex-Army Ranger whose only different from her
other clients due to his lack of wealth. This book reminded me a lot of Bret
Easton Ellis’ Glamorama, from its setting, to the extreme and comical
descriptions of sex acts and drug use, to what is eventually at the heart of
what the unnamed prostitute wants. And like that book, it is engaging and dare I
say fun, but as a work of art, it’s not something I think of that highly.
Rating: 4/5
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