Considering Suicide by Andy Nowicki

Now that I’ve published my own book, I’ve decided to spend this week reviewing books by some of my favorite authors and bloggers, starting with Andy Nowicki’s debut release, Considering Suicide. I mentioned his books in passing before, but I’ve pulled that post (along with my other “Book Reviews in Brief” articles) because they didn’t do him justice. I’m now going to re-review all of Nowicki’s books once a week, leading up to his most recent (and fantastic) novel, Heart Killer.

Considering Suicide is exactly what it sounds like; an epistolary novel by a man contemplating ending his own life. This may sound like your typical nihilistic drivel, but if you think that, it’s because you don’t know Andy Nowicki. He’s a master at co-opting the language and structure of modern literature for the express purpose of mocking modernity, like a cross between Chuck Palahniuk, Louis-Ferdinand Céline and Augustine. Watching the descent of his nameless protagonist—a despondent, jobless, loveless washout—into gibbering lunacy is both funny and poignant:

Is this what all those highfalutin faggots mean when they talk about “postmodernism?” What a fucking bore. To them, it’s just parlor talk. A way to score in academia. A way to show yourself to be a thoughtful person. Faggot poseurs with goatees and black sweaters and cushy jobs sitting in an office jacking off during “office hours” and teaching useless beer-swilling bong-smoking brats another two hours a week. Faggot intellectuals. Smug, mediocre pussies. Fuck your postmodern ethos, with your futuristic architecture at your galleries and your unreadable academic essays about “semio” this and “meta” that. Fuck your trendy post-structuralist, solipsistic, opportunistic, sycophantic so-called theories. You all think you’re wild-eyed nihilists out to stick your dicks up the asses of Middle America, don’t you? You’re pathetic. You’re far more pathetic than the bourgeoisie, the object of your ridicule. At least the bourgeoisie are consistent. Their lives may be dull, and they may be stupid, but they aren’t full of themselves like you are…

I’m not a big fan of the way the book is set up, as it’s somewhat difficult to follow the action, but given Considering Suicide’s subject matter, it’s more than appropriate. If you’re looking for a dark, hilarious skewering of modern America, this novel is a must-buy.

Click here to buy Considering Suicide.

Read Next: Krista Jane Heflin’s Suicide Was a Hoax