Draining the Sea... I think this might be the most disturbing novel I've ever read.

[otherlander]

Anyone else read it? I'm only about halfway through Book One of Five and it's creeping me the hell out. I mean, 1984 was dark, but this is darker.
:scared:

[truedelphi]

1. Can you describe some of what it is about

In a way that doesn't become a total spoiler??

[otherlander]

2. A man talks about killing a girl

and collecting dead dogs, about the lynching of this black man in the 1930's, but mostly about killing the girl, and it's not really clear whether he was actually the killer or whether he only imagines that he was because of his guilt over something else.

[Catch22Dem]

3. From Amazon

From Publishers Weekly
Marcom (Three Apples Fell from Heaven; The Daydreaming Boy) looks at the Guatemalan civil war through the eyes of a former American soldier complicit in the killing of civilians in this circuitous novel. As the unnamed narrator, a descendant of Armenian genocide survivors, drives through Los Angeles and goes through his daily routines, he's awash in memories, mostly about Marta, an Ixil prostitute whom the narrator both loved and possibly killed. In a florid stream of consciousness, the narrator continually revisits several themes, events and images: black flies, Marta's brother's murder, Marta's torture and death among them. Throughout, Marcom weaves references and imagery from religion, mythology and Guatemalan, Armenian and American history, and indicts the powers-that-be for turning a blind eye toward the slaughter of indigenous people. Though some may find that Marcom overly romanticizes Ixil life and is ham-fisted in her critique of American consumerism, the novel's evocative imagery and explicit prose can move as well as chill. In the end, though, the book is more demanding than enlightening. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

http://www.amazon.com/Draining-Sea-Micheline-Aharonian-Marcom/dp/1594489734/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1211675843&sr=8-1

[truedelphi]

4. Thanks for the descriptions. The mention of the book dealing

With Ixil life mean I might try and read it - but I suppose it is awash in a lot of death imagery.

HAte buying things and then putting off reading them because I can't always stomach darker things.

[otherlander]

5. Ok, first it was disturbing

and now it's just disgusting. If anyone else has read it, tell me: Does this man actually do anything useful, make any attempt to redeem himself, or does he just wallow in self-pity for the rest of the book?

"Boo-hoo, I killed a girl in Guatemala and now I have to feel guilty about it, fucking woe is me..."