Preincarnate Discussion and Badger Appreciation

[Thrillho]

What the thread title says, basically.
Spoilers an' shit all up in this area.

[sottovoce]

I'm up to about chapter 11 now I think. I'm thouroughly enjoying it so far! I love the courtroom transcript with the changing judges and the Dutchman, that just sounds like it should be a sketch from the Micallef Programme, haha!

[Thrillho]

"Francis Gary Powers Room"

I swear, I could hear Shaun winking when I read that.

[sottovoce]

Just finished 'Preincarnate'...it was so freaking awesome! But I think my brain hurts now...

[sezzarucchi]

I just finished it today too.

OMG what's not to like? The footnotes throughout were wonderful. I especially liked the interplay between the author and the editor in some of them ;D

There's just so many things I liked about the story (eg Tom Cruise, Dan Brown and his chin of genius) I just can't list them all.

[camthefool]

Does anyone know anywhere good to get it online?
Amazon says it's out of print, and froogle only lists one store, which still says it is preorder :/

[Thrillho]

Try Booktopia: www.booktopia.com.au/preincarnate/prod9781740669818.html
Borders should have copies, and they ship free across Australia.
If you have no problem with getting it cheaper in exchange for a longer wait, The Book Depository will have it in February (again, free shipping, and damn fast. I highly recommend them): www.bookdepository.co.uk/book/9781740669818/Preincarnate

[camthefool]

Thanks, looks like I'll be waiting until February.
booktopia want more for shipping than they do for the book, and borders apparently don't ship internationally.

[p1cklepepperpiper]

Just finished reading both the book and some scathing reviews of the book. Where to begin?

Firstly, it's entirely not what I expected.
Secondly, I think it's a work of narrative genius, and is immeasurably rewarding.
As someone who likes to think they're an expert on writing, having attended a semester course in creative writing at a dodgy bogan university, I think his manipulation of tense and timeline is really something that should be singing praise from academics everywhere, but isn't. Why? People think it's supposed to be a funny novel, or a spoof. Here's the thing:
The humour does not drive the story - it's not supposed to be a laugh-every-minute gag fest (though I found it to be).
What it is:
A pure, undiluted piece of Micallef genius (and also !Chronoloco!). There's nothing quite like reaching the end of the book, only for something to transpire that renders the entire events of the book meaningless. It's truthfully what I should have expected, but didn't, and I was still marvelling at the book's simple genius for days after.
I've read it twice now, and on the third read I'm going to go chronologically through the chapters, just to spruce things up. I consider it to be money well spent - it will no doubt demand another 3 reads on top of that before I put it down for a couple of months and return to read it for the seventh time.

Now I've heard quite a bit of negative feedback from a few people, mainly people I know who like to take stabs at Micallef because they realise it cuts me deep. They tell me they couldn't finish it, it wasn't narrative, it was "Shaun's collection of things he's interested in cobbled over a feeble premise"... and it's time like these where I back hand them all and utter the immortal phrase I stole from a blog two years ago:

"If you don't like Shaun Micallef, then you probably don't deserve to."

With that, I finish by saying I loved Preincarnate, and it's up there on the top shelf with the Discworld series, To Kill a Mockingbird and Twilight*.

-PPP
*Only to keep the dust off the other books.

[sottovoce]

I'm almost half-way through Preincarnate for the third time, there's still parts of it that confuse me but it's all in the best way!

I'm also doing a creative writing course and in one assignment, we have to talk about a character from a novel we have recently read. I thought, gee I know it's a novella, but it still qualifies, haha. I found it a very awesome experience writing in essay form about the work of Shaun Micallef.

But I think I need to invest in a latin and a french dictionary to fully understand some parts of this book. Micallef does have a tendancy to speak about three languages at once, and that's not including hosting tayg

[yorkshiremoorsviv]

I went at this book like a bulemic in a chocolate factory & had the lot in one sitting. I'm now reading it again & taking time to actuallly enjoy it. Basically, what John Clarke said.

[Thrillho]

A paperback version will be released August 1. Make this your "Lend to page-tearing, dog-earing, coffee spilling, cigarette ash-burning friends" copy.

[sottovoce]

Thanks again Thrillho!

So much Micallefy news for August! The only time a month seems to take forever these days!

I'll definately be picking up a copy! Having read Preincarnate 4 times, it is starting to show it's age already! Lucky I put nail polish on the ribbon to stop it fraying

It was most awesome being able to tell Shaun in person that I have read it 4 times, he replied with a surprised "Really?!" then thanked me for reading it