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Read Grey Area (1997)

Grey Area (1997)

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Author
Rating
3.67 of 5 Votes: 3
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ISBN
0871136732 (ISBN13: 9780871136732)
Language
English
Publisher
atlantic monthly press

Grey Area (1997) - Plot & Excerpts

This second collection of stories is a technical improvement over its predecessor, Self's debut The Quantum Theory of Insanity. Here the stories develop at a much faster pace and because of such are often shorter than the aforementioned earlier stories. The second half of this book is stronger than the first, mainly because Self wrote these latter pieces with this particular collection in mind, and so they share interleaved (a favorite word of Self's) characters and themes. Most of the stories are focused character studies that lean towards the internal minor slouch towards slight realization rather than dealing with a stage metaphorically swamped with blood and cadavers by last act's end. However this isn't necessarily a negative since most of the stories deal with cultural stagnation and emotional disconnect. Oh, and drugs. Anywho, great concepts abound throughout this collection: a drug company does illegal testings of an anti-depressive called Inclusion - made from the fecal matter of an obscure parasitic bee mite - which lead to disturbing, mind-bending results. Another story relates how London is controlled by only eight unremarkable people who do little more than worry and wheedle about social status. A night of drunken debauchery leads to a middle-aged philosophy professor learning the limits of "free will" when he is possessed by an Incubus. A recently dumped woman - a self-pity party on legs - seeks comfort in couple after couple, only to infect each relationship like an "emotional Typhoid Mary." A sci-fi-ish tale of a near-future London blanketed with a corrosive fog, where the quality of your gas mask is dependent upon your class.With Grey Area, Will Self keeps up the good, verbose work of creating satirical stories about just how sad of a fucking excuse for a species humans are. I approve.

I haven't read any Will Self for a few years now. After reading the slightly disappointing The Book of Dave a while back, it left me feeling that perhaps this author doesn't have much more to offer me. Well, I didn't know about this collection until Jayaprakash recommended it to me. When I eventually got hold of it, I was suprised to find it contained the short story Scale which I happened to have read many years ago and had always loved. I was happy to read it again and had by appreciation of that fine story re-affirmed.Other great stories in this collection include: Grey Area - An almost Aickmanesque story in it's execution. A weird, dark tale of the apparent dissolution of change in a corporate setting.Inclusion - A new anti-depressent drug is illegally trialed on some unsuspecting patients that while at first promises to be a miracle cure turns out to have some unanticipated effects. Reminded me of Flowers for Algernon in it's structure.End of the Relationship - A bleak tale of a woman who seems to be a blight on her own and everyone elses relationship who she comes into contact with.As usual, not all the stories herein were up to the same standard but enough to make this deserving of a five star rating. Now, perhaps I need to track down one of his other short story collections...

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

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