Kockroach by Tyler
Knox (2007).
Have you
ever read Kafka? The Metamorphosis? In Metamorphosis, the
main character Gregor wakes up in the morning and finds himself turns into the
giant bug. And then his life as a giant insect starts. In Kockroach. The
opposite happens...
A
cockroach wakes up in the one morning and discovers that he turns into his arch
enemy a HUMAN. Pure craziness but so incredibly twisted and funny. Dark as
hell.
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layers. – The name of the cockroach
which turns into the human is actually KOCKROACH. Now, what does the
cockroach do? They eat, fight, intercourse (lots of sex. no pleasure here. Just
do it to reproduce) and eat more for only one reason. Survival. So this is what
Kockroach is doing throughout the entire novel.
First he
teaches himself how to walk with to legs instead of four which is no simple
task for the insect, mind you. And from there, slowly, how to speak, how to
wear himself clothes and ultimately how to survive. And does he ever know how
to survive! He is cockroach after all. His instinct and lust for everything in
life help him cruise through the dark dungeons of criminal under world,
politics and business. And again, sex. Lots of them.
All his
behavior and quite different from all other characters around him cause they
are all purely based on his cockroach-instinct and this makes people either
attracted to him or extremely afraid of him. No mercy. Business is business. No
emotion is ever involved in his decision making because he doesn’t really have
one. Well, of course this starts change once he gets involved with more people
but once cockroach is always cockroach.
There is
one more character here who matters in this book and his name is MITE.
He is the first person Kockroach ever talk to. Actually, it was Mite who first
talked to Kockroach trying to sell knock-off goods. Sensing something is wrong
with K and smelling a huge opportunity, Mite sticks with K and that literary
defines his life. For better of worse. He calls K “Boss”.
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lace. – New York city. What other place in earth has
everything so dark and bright and twisted, even cockroach can survive with
ease? Ok maybe Tokyo too but New York’s Mafia underground is just so
perfectly suites the human cockroach’s need, I must admit the writer knows what
he is writing about. Good choice here.
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lot. – Now, this is kind of
interesting. It is basically grimly and bizarre satire of human society. The
author filters the problem of the society trough the no-nonsense eyes of
Kockroach and tells us what makes us human being today. This sounds really
serious and heavy but it is actually not. This book is delightfully funny and
incredibly hilarious.
There
are quite bit of action and comedy here, and they won’t let you get bored. No
chance. Pairing with couple of big twist at the end, this is a perfect book for
someone looking for something different to explore.
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erdict. – Crazy and bizarre. The author’s
experiment works out fine. The most unique and experimental noir I’ve ever
read.
Imagination
is the wonderful thing if it works and it does in here with full force.
