"List of the Lost" review by Ed Cumming in The Observer

List of the Lost by Morrissey review – the publishers should be ashamed of themselves - The Observer
by Ed Cumming
The singer’s dreadful debut novel is plotless and written in sixth-form prose

Summary: "Morrissey can’t be blamed for believing in his own brilliance. But the spineless mandarins at Penguin who brought this to print should be ashamed of themselves. At a time when the traditional fiction market is under attack from all sides, publishers need to reassure us that their judgement is still valuable. This fiasco of a novel does precisely the opposite."

Shot of page from today's newspaper:


click to enlarge

 

[Qvist]

Yep, Ed Cumming is on meat-industry payroll.

What?

 

[ACTON]

Bullshit. LOTL is f***ing shite. Morrissey is a twat and you diehard fans are deluded as f***.
LOTL is really, really bad.

People who think that Morrissey is a twat have no place on this site. Fair game to disagree with what he does, his views, his music, his band, whatever, but branding him a twat means you don't like him. If you don't like him then why are you here? I am all in favour of fans questioning Morrissey and not thinking he is infallible, but if I thought he was a twat and his fans are deluded then surely I'd be wasting my time on this site? I don't see why you care enough to not care, or pretend to. Really brave of you not to login.

 

[Surface]

People who think that Morrissey is a twat have no place on this site. Fair game to disagree with what he does, his views, his music, his band, whatever, but branding him a twat means you don't like him. If you don't like him then why are you here? I am all in favour of fans questioning Morrissey and not thinking he is infallible, but if I thought he was a twat and his fans are deluded then surely I'd be wasting my time on this site? I don't see why you care enough to not care, or pretend to. Really brave of you not to login.

I think the poster is one of those twats who simply come on here to provoke, similar to those who post that venues were half full, even though they weren't there. Bit sad really, that their lives are so empty that they feel the need to do it.

 

[Mr Delaney]

Yes, there are some clunky passages, but the cries of "unreadable" are way over the top.

Ezra and Eliza's verbal tennis match had me laughing out loud.

The intense images of athleticism juxtaposed with inevitable death quite powerful.

I've read the book once now, piecemeal as somebody else said they did as well, since it digests easier that way for me at least. (By the way, one of the critics said there were no chapters. This is not true, there are chapter divisions, indicated by an athlete "avatar". Not particularly aesthetically pleasing, but there you go.)

I'll need to read it once again to form a final opinion but currently it stands at "not as bad as the critics say, even if some editing was called for". I liked the interplay between E&E as well, not only with the tennis-match metaphor. Also noted the youth-versus-ageing contrast. I think stuff such as the two-bottle approach was meant to be over the top (I'm being deliberately vague here so as not to spoil anything.)

One thing that does rankle, even if possibly intended as not-quite-natural, is the language of the characters at times -- stuffy and unrealistic. I've yet to come across the first American to say "shan't" (Anglophiles excepted).

It'd be nice to see them at least acknowledge that he's writing in established literary traditions

Most of all, in the tradition of one of his favourite books, Elizabeth Smart's "lyrical prose" work By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept. Which I tried to read since it was a prime source of inspiration for all those Smiths songs but gave up on. Unlike A Taste of Honey, which think is great.

 

[Anonymous]

I've read the book once now, piecemeal as somebody else said they did as well, since it digests easier that way for me at least. (By the way, one of the critics said there were no chapters. This is not true, there are chapter divisions, indicated by the athlete "avatar". Not particularly aesthetically pleasing, but there you go.) I'll need to read it once again to form a final opinion but currently it stands at "not as bad as the critics say, even if some editing was called for". I liked the interplay between E&E as well, not only with the tennis-match metaphor. Also noted the youth-versus-ageing contrast. I think stuff such as the two-bottle approach was meant to be over the top. One thing that does rankle, even if possibly intended as not-quite-natural, is the language of the characters at times -- stuffy and unnatural. I've yet to come across the first American to say "shan't" (Anglophiles excepted).




Most of all, in the tradition of one of his favourite books, Elizabeth Smart's "lyrical prose" work By Grand Central Station I Sat Down andWept. Which I tried to read since it was a prime source of inspiration for all those Smiths songs but gave up on. Unlike A Taste of Honey, which think is great.

interesting. somptow kinda did that with his divisions as well though he had chapter breaks but when it would cut to another character a nickname was used to indicate whos perspective it would be seen or told from with the nick name, vision seeker etc, to give some insight into the character. am interesting device ive yet to see mentioned

 

[Mrs. Phyllis Torgo]

Ed Cumming was gonna be my porn name. Shit.

 

[Anonymous]

I must read this book for myself. Hopefully, a local library will have it - I'm not going to pay for it, if it is garbage...

 

[Anonymous]

I must read this book for myself. Hopefully, a local library will have it - I'm not going to pay for it, if it is garbage...

go into a barnes and noble buy a coffee and start reading it there to decide. if you don't care for it put it back on the shelf and save your money and if you do like it buy and save yourself some time and travel

 

[Anonymous]

I like Cumming.

 

[TheBoyWithTheDragonTattoo]

I do believe Penguin were in a tough spot... apparently there was some bidding/negotiating to release Autobiography. Maybe, in their desperation to get Autobiography, they inked a deal to buy/publish his debut novel as well? Seems reasonable to guess that's what happened and it's probably stipulated in a binding contract what they could or couldn't do with the finished manuscript of both. They probably just banked on it (LOTL) not being utter crap.

EDIT- That said, I haven't read it yet so I don't know if it's any good. The passages that have been posted in reviews and on this site don't give me much hope though.

 

[Mr Delaney]

Maybe, in their desperation to get Autobiography, they inked a deal to buy/publish his debut novel as well?

Yes, seems that's what happened. Just hoping the revenue and plaudits on Autobiography would outweigh the loss of List of the Lost. Loss in credit, that is. Financially, I think it sold reasonably well to his fanbase (us, that is) anyway since we wanted to have it regardless and many of us bought the book on pre-order.

Update - just popped over to Amazon UK to check the current statistics:

Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 378 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

#1 in Books > Fiction > Romance > Gothic
#64 in Books > Fiction > Literary Fiction
#146 in Books > Fiction > Romance > Contemporary


Not bad at all to be #64 in Literary Fiction (that's all novels) and #378 in Books overall (that's including hugely popular categories such as cooking, travel and children's books), two weeks after going on sale. I should have thought it'd bombed in the second week, after all of us loyal fans had bought their copies.

 

[Anonymous]

Yes, seems that's what happened. Just hoping the revenue and plaudits on Autobiography would outweigh the loss of List of the Lost. Loss in credit, that is. I think it sold reasonably well to his fanbase (us, that is) anyway since we wanted to have it regardless and many of us bought the book on pre-order.

yeah it for sure made up its cost and probably did some profit unless that person talking huge advances comes back with the figures only he seemed to know

 

[Anonymous]

Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 378 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

#1 in Books > Fiction > Romance > Gothic
#64 in Books > Fiction > Literary Fiction
#146 in Books > Fiction > Romance > Contemporary


Not bad at all to be #64 in Literary Fiction (that's all novels) and #378 in Books overall (that's including hugely popular categories such as cooking, travel and children's books), two weeks after going on sale. I should have thought it'd bombed in the second week, after all of us loyal fans had bought their copies.

It doesn't seem very possible that "literary fiction" means all novels. If that were so, surely the 145 contemporary romance novels that are selling better than lotl would be above it in both categories.