Malcolm Lowry's Under the Volcano: Bookmarked

The prose of this book, much like it's predecessor the short story collection "Animals in Motion", is the gentlest and most soothing wander along the ring-dyke-like equivalent for the intermission-dropped-but-prepared-to-rise-for-the-second-act curtain which is all that stands between us and the multi-mirrored refraction of chaos that only she who dons a spray-painted horse mask (while dictating the flaws of said horse mask) knows the nickname for. To say this another way: Ryan's Malcolm Lowry's "Under the Volcano" is the reason the intentionally misplaced comma in the preceding sentence is neither ironic nor needed. I now have a second reason to cry in this world: the first reason has put down her horse mask and raised this book. The finality of that reality in relation Ryan's achievement pales only in comparison to the whisper of each ghost I've persisted in trapping between the pages as a last-ditch method for maintaining the otherwise-only-somnambulantly-achievable clarity of the work within the radius of the only and ever-almost-vanishing "at bay" position which allows said clarity to remain inalterable even when said whispers sleep. (This book is best read cold.)

So much mental masturbation over such an over rated piece of writing.

This book is absolutely beautiful. Part memoir, part writing theory, part analysis of Lowry's Under the Volcano, I am traveling in Japan as I read it but I cannot seem to put it down. David Ryan's writing calls the reader in, placing strange beautiful memories in her mind that are infinitely intriguing, maybe sublime in their address of how close we are to death, our own and other people's--how odd and unpredictable the moments of our life are--people falling off balconies, or part of a plane falling off mid air. It has the quality of a lyric essay, such careful sentences mixed with the grit of a brutal and beautiful band tour. I know I will read this book many times as it's both a pleasant experience as well as kindly instructional.

David Ryan’s prose is dreamy, laden with memory, fear, hope, desire, just like the text he references. As you enjoy the art, don’t forget to take notes.

Gave a good explanation of the book and author.

My second read from this author. Passionate writing. Speaks to parts of my own youth and a great essay on Malcolm Lowry's book. I don't usually read essays but loved Ryan's Animals in Motion I picked this one because of the author and was not disappointed. Hoping for another novel from David Ryan soon.

I was surprised by how good this was - one don't usually expect rock stars to double as astute literary scholars. In his intimate, exacting essay, Ryan says that Lowry, likes so many alcoholics and addicts, never developed a healthy self-identity, remaining wrapped in a state of infantile narcissism. Drawing on Lacanian theory, he claims that Lowry’s behaviour as an adult, his mammoth drinking binges and voluntary ‘disappearances’ suggest an inability to distinguish between himself and the world around him, resulting in chaos with every misconceived utterance and every gesture. That would certainly be true of his Consul, Geoffrey Firmin. A good read.