The Book of Revelation: A Novel

Beautiful and gripping not another words come in my mind to discrive this novel.

My husband enjoyed it, so I read it... and I didn't like it enough to finish it.

The concept is interesting, but I hated everything about it...

The plot was absurd. The book was badly written. There are better things to do with your time.

Thoroughly absurd but nevertheless interesting - and, even more surprising, very engaging. Added bonus: nice memories of Amsterdam.

With my brain in a state of high alertness as the credits rolled for Ana Kokkinos’ new film "The Book of Revelation", a resolution among ephemeral half-thoughts was to read the novel it came from. In one of life’s happy coincidences, a copy of the 2000 paperback edition (sporting a $10 sale sticker on account of its redundancy following the release of the film tie-in cover) found...more

With my brain in a state of high alertness as the credits rolled for Ana Kokkinos’ new film "The Book of Revelation", a resolution among ephemeral half-thoughts was to read the novel it came from. In one of life’s happy coincidences, a copy of the 2000 paperback edition (sporting a $10 sale sticker on account of its redundancy following the release of the film tie-in cover) found me from a sale table at work. Daniel, who is written with such subtle surety that, by book’s end, my mental image of his character is no longer Tom Long (who plays the role in Kokkinos’ film), is a renowned dancer to whom something occurs that is so monstrous it causes him to lose his identity. That such a thing would never occur in real-life – he is abducted by three masked and cloaked women who (ab)use him for their sexual gratification – is a strength and attractiveness of literature. This hint of the fantastic, bringing human characters into the extremes of experience and imagining their responses, has informed the popularity of the fictional narrative since before a jealous Oedipus killed his father, and certainly well before Raskolnikov was confronted by his own murderous capacity. The technique is used to devastating effect by contemporary Melbourne authors Elliot Perlman ("Three Dollars"; "Seven Types of Ambiguity") and Christos Tsiolkas ("Loaded"; "Dead Europe"). I wonder what it would be like to read The Book of Revelation without having seen the film first – without knowing the story. Even anticipating the savage final twist (perhaps because I knew what was coming?), the story affected me, emotionally and unexpectedly. Its 264 pages, all of which were read during the course of two return train trips from La Trobe University to Flinders Street, are at various times excrutiating (I felt physically ill at one point), truly happy, and indescribably sad. After the opening line (‘I can see it all so clearly, even now’), Thomson avoids clichés, even when describing love. Did I empathise with Daniel especially because of the role-reversal (if anyone were to be abducted by three members of the opposite sex, we would expect her to be a she)? More worrying is the possibility that my empathy derives primarily from our shared gender. I don’t really give that interpretation much credence, preferring to believe the story’s authenticity is invested by the brilliance of the writing.   hide

Frightening, but brilliant, expose on how sexual terror can be imposed!

Not completely convincing... MMM mmm... Pointless story... Indeed... Pointless... simply Horrible

This book is an accidental treasure to me. I picked it up at the library by chance, partly turned off and partly enchanted by what was to expect from a book talking about sexual exploitation of a male dancer by three unknown females - surprise, surprise. There were many times I almost put down the book and thought of not continuing when the depression and helplessness portrayed was palpable and...more

This book is an accidental treasure to me. I picked it up at the library by chance, partly turned off and partly enchanted by what was to expect from a book talking about sexual exploitation of a male dancer by three unknown females - surprise, surprise. There were many times I almost put down the book and thought of not continuing when the depression and helplessness portrayed was palpable and suffocating; it took me a long time to finish this book, as I read every line and every word so slowly to savour its emotion and beauty. It's just like life, you won't know what to expect until you immerse yourself and taste its full flavour.   hide