What a strange thing it is when a book affects you so heavily that you don't really want to go outside. That it eats away at you from the inside until you feel horrid and in mighty need of a shower or five.
That is what it was like to read Filth.
The book follows the stream of consciousness (Thoughts direct from the person's mind,) of Bruce Robertson, a Detective Sergeant of a Scottish police department. We follow his misadventures as he journeys down the proverbial rabbit hole, sleeping with just about anyone who says yes (Or requires some persuasion,) snorts cocaine and is an all 'round asshole to pretty much everyone he meets.
Now, while this book will invariably eat away at you, the writing device used within this novel is ingenious. This involves a tapeworm that is overlaid in the text throughout the book and the more the story progresses, the more the tapeworm eats away at Bruce. What's brilliant about this is that you feel as Bruce feels. It puts you in the headspace of a man who feels so much anger towards people he meets that when you finally understand why, you don't look upon Bruce with judgement, but with pity.
Spirals of destruction must have an end and the book ends in such a way that leaves you feeling emotionally wrecked, but at the same time, like you've undertaken a great emotional release. You've learnt something from it. You identify and yet you judge with this deplorable human being who is just as filthy as the reader is.
Though our actions are different, we are all Bruce Robertson. Broken, relatable and on our own path of destruction.
I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. Worth the read not only for the writing style, but for the very fact that it makes you feel something, which is what good books do.
Now, excuse me while I go take a shower for the 5th time today.
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