For those of you who weren't already aware, I'm a bit of a journalism nerd. It's all well and good using our powerful imaginations to conjure up important stories that tell us a lot about our daily lives, but if you can go out and find these stories in real life, write them into a format as readable as great fiction, and get it published, then my ears are most certainly up on end.
Jon Ronson, despite looking like a mid-life crisis edition of Harry Potter, is a great example of a writer who can pull this off. A lot of the time, when you read a story as fantastical and remarkable as this one, it normally loses a certain amount of it's credibility, validity, or relevance as a consequence. Ronson dodges this - The Psychopath Test is not only a pacy and incredibly strange read, it also has a lot of poignant observations and relevance to all of our lives, as well as being a fully credible and intelligent piece of journalism.
It starts off in a Costa Coffee in London, where Ronson is given a mysterious book that has been sent to neurologists and intellectuals around the world by an anonymous man. Asked to find the author of the book, and fascinated by the huge effect of one man's idea on hundreds of people around the globe, Ronson launches head on into an exploration of madness, and how it ties into all of our daily lives.
From the Jeremy Kyle show to the mansions of the rich men who rule our lives, Jon Ronson uses balls, brains, and Skype to explore an interesting story in the most exciting way. Not only is it a book you will storm through, and not only is it absolutely hilarious, it will stay with you, and change the way you look at things.
Pages: 286
Bottom Line: Harry Potter lookalike recounts a decade long relationship with a Haitian death-squad leader, amongst other surreal conversations.
Bottom Line: Harry Potter lookalike recounts a decade long relationship with a Haitian death-squad leader, amongst other surreal conversations.
