What do You think about Grey Area (1997)?
Will Self's laconic, intellectual style is highly readable throughout this collection of stories which are often surreal and always absurd. Rather than deconstruct each story individually, it's interesting to note the common themes which unite them all. Alienation, physiological disgust and shared experience run through these stories like a vein and it's this latter theme which is the most interesting.'Between The Conceits' is either about eight people who control the lives of every man and woman in London, or at least about a person who is deluded enough to believe that he controls them. 'The Indian Mutiny' about a boy who convinces his classmates to rise up against his long-suffering teacher. 'Chest' is about a health-obsessed population living in an atmosphere of deadly pollution, while the titular story 'Grey Area' considers a Groundhog Day-esque repetition of time, albeit time repeated in the already repetitious and dull world of a large office.All suggest a collective madness which probably has its greatest expression in 'Inclusion', in which a new anti-depressant causes people to experience an over-whelming desire to know everything about everything, to the point at which they begin to include other people's psyches into their own.My favourite however would have to be the thoroughly strange 'Kettle' which tells the tale of a morphine addict with an all-consuming passion for motorways and the model village next to his house. It's a real flight of fancy around ostensibly tedious subject matter.Taken as a whole, 'Grey Area; is a more than fitting title as it takes in the lives of drab people and their dull little desires and lets them play out their private madnesses on the stage of Self's distinctly left-field imagination.
—Robert
They're all great, but Great Apes and The Book of Dave can be overwhelming. Easing into him with some of the short story collections would be good, I'd guess. Quantity Theory of Insanity or Cock and Bull or Grey Areas.
—Christopher Roth
Short stories, like comedy sketch shows are a bit troublesome to rate because they're always going to contain a few good ones, a few bad ones and everything in between. I've split this review up into the respective short stories to make it a bit easier to figure out how much I liked the book overall. :PBetween the conceits: Seven individuals have the power to control the population of London - doesn't really go anywhere from the initial concept. 2/5Indian mutiny: Students rebel against a teacher - better story development but could be more believable. 3/5A short history: A couple of people having an argument about literature find many aspiring authors around London. Pretty funny and I'm starting to enjoy the book now. 4/5Incubus: A research assistant considers seduction by her professor. A nice bit of character development. 4/5Scale: Multiple themes relating to the word 'scale'. Winced at a few of the drug bits, but still very interesting. 4/5Chest: In the future the air is so polluted that everyone requires a respirator to go outside. Probably my favourite of the lot. 5/5Grey area: Monotony surrounding an obsessive office worker. It was good, but made my think about work too much, so I didn't enjoy it as much as I could! 4/5Inclusion: Medical trial of a new drug called Inclusion. Really cool format for this story, so that you get to see things from several perspectives and are kept in the dark about other things. 5/5End of relationship: Just lots of people breaking up really, but actually hilarious to read about. 5/5
—Thomas
