Reading both books this month the parallels between the two is surprising, agree that no two people can write the same book which is a really wonderful thing
I finished reading NUTCRANKR as the second of the Androgenic literature you've recommended, and I must say I loved this book. It successfully towed a fine line between horror and comedy, which both revolved around the main character Spencer's total inability to properly assess other people's thoughts and reactions, his over-the-top view of himself (I loved that the line kept being repeated that he was "a graduate of one of the nation's more highly esteemed liberal arts colleges") and contrasted with his actual willingness to accept the thin gruel of the bottom of society (a relationship with a formless, unattractive, politicized ultra-feminist who he repeatedly calls, hilariously, the piglet - but only to himself). I think society's unrelenting atomized nihilism was mostly incidental to this story, whereas it formed a key component of "Incel" - here is mostly a character study along the lines of a Don Quixote mixed with an Ignatius J. Reilly updated for the modern era. Both approaches work.
This paragraph stood out to me: "It was much better to conceive of woman as a nighty piglet. Does one raise the piglet to the sky and bow down before its squealing form? No one towers above the piglet, giving it a pat on the head and a swat on the side. And if the porker tracks mud or waste into the home? Then the farmer takes the belt to her fatty rear! For the piglet is by nature buoyant and mischievous, given to chaos if untended or untrained. Treat a piglet like a princess and one's home will more resemble the sty than the castle. And where goes piglet, so goes woman. Provide woman the same discipline one provides the pig and one shall see a happy union. And what's more, Western man shall stride one step closer to final victory over the Marxists in our midst."
The scene where Spencer tries to get his NUTCRANKR account back and is quizzed by the receptionist was a standout of comedy, I think.
Lastly, a couple other points: I didn't like the title nor the cover art, as I think neither captured the core of what the novel represented (you nailed both with Incel). Also, it was interesting to see the novel told in third person vs. Incel's first person narrative - I think first person here would've been stronger. The ending was hilarious and unexpected.
Reading both books this month the parallels between the two is surprising, agree that no two people can write the same book which is a really wonderful thing
100% - if language is infinitely generative, then so is literary fiction!
I finished reading NUTCRANKR as the second of the Androgenic literature you've recommended, and I must say I loved this book. It successfully towed a fine line between horror and comedy, which both revolved around the main character Spencer's total inability to properly assess other people's thoughts and reactions, his over-the-top view of himself (I loved that the line kept being repeated that he was "a graduate of one of the nation's more highly esteemed liberal arts colleges") and contrasted with his actual willingness to accept the thin gruel of the bottom of society (a relationship with a formless, unattractive, politicized ultra-feminist who he repeatedly calls, hilariously, the piglet - but only to himself). I think society's unrelenting atomized nihilism was mostly incidental to this story, whereas it formed a key component of "Incel" - here is mostly a character study along the lines of a Don Quixote mixed with an Ignatius J. Reilly updated for the modern era. Both approaches work.
This paragraph stood out to me: "It was much better to conceive of woman as a nighty piglet. Does one raise the piglet to the sky and bow down before its squealing form? No one towers above the piglet, giving it a pat on the head and a swat on the side. And if the porker tracks mud or waste into the home? Then the farmer takes the belt to her fatty rear! For the piglet is by nature buoyant and mischievous, given to chaos if untended or untrained. Treat a piglet like a princess and one's home will more resemble the sty than the castle. And where goes piglet, so goes woman. Provide woman the same discipline one provides the pig and one shall see a happy union. And what's more, Western man shall stride one step closer to final victory over the Marxists in our midst."
The scene where Spencer tries to get his NUTCRANKR account back and is quizzed by the receptionist was a standout of comedy, I think.
Lastly, a couple other points: I didn't like the title nor the cover art, as I think neither captured the core of what the novel represented (you nailed both with Incel). Also, it was interesting to see the novel told in third person vs. Incel's first person narrative - I think first person here would've been stronger. The ending was hilarious and unexpected.
Thanks for recommending it.