To be honest you cannot really read a book like Larva once. It’s got so many layers and hidden meanings that the first reading is almost superficial. In essence if you strip away the wordplay , the side notes, footnotes , illustrations and pictures you get a simple romance. Man sees a woman fleetingly at a party and then spends the rest of the bash chasing her and , spoiler alert , he gets her and live happily ever after.
Now in-between that is a party of the most hedonistic proportions ever. Sex , drugs , food , fights , puppets , EVERYTHING is going on in the most crazy and insane fashion and it’s all told through tons , no millions of puns.
Larva is a book about how to make the most out of a word. It is all about punnage and nothing else. The amount of wordplay is absolutely mind boggling and a lot of them are hilarious, and this was just my first reading.Imagine what else will emerge if I pick it up again in 5 years time. Plus it does help if you know at least three languages , a working grasp of films and of London. It’s not necessary but it helps.
I know in the past I have lambasted the experimental novels in this list but this one is truly special – and unique. In fact I couldn’t put it down , which is weird as I’m quite a slow reader.
I guess I should really re read an Infinite Jest then?
The Bobsphere 