Cannibals in Love by Mike Roberts

This is not a cannibal love story.  The cannibals are metaphoric.  Just try to imagine my disappointment and sadness!

So what is this?  It's a memoir of sorts...though I'm not sure if it's real or fictional.  Since it was published in 1980, I'm assuming that it takes place in the late 1970's.

I had a lot of issues with this one.  Most of it is my fault for my policy of picking up a book without knowing anything about it.  What can I say?  I like to be surprised.  Sometimes, when you open the pretty packaging, what you find is a dead rodent, though.

OK, I'm not likening this book to a dead rodent!

In all fairness, this book was written pretty well.  Roberts has a nice, natural flow to his words.

The real problem here isn't even that I didn't get what I was hoping for.  The fact is, I was just plain bored.  I was alive during the time that this book supposedly takes place (I'm assuming!), and I can't say that this is typical of the times.  You can't even pick it up and say 'Here!  Have a glimpse at what it was like to live in the past!'  This is one person's experience during the time.  He's learning to feel the world around him and figure out relationships and internalize his thoughts and emotions.  That, normally, would be enough to make this a great book for me.  However, there isn't really even a character study here either.  No time study, no character study.  What we have is a string of dull life happenings.

I do not regret buying this book, because let's face it...the title is enough to earn it a place of question among the library shelves.  I'm sure there are people out there who would really enjoy this book.  If you were a whory stoner who thought you were better than everyone else in the late 70's, you could really have a blast with this book.

In the meantime, I'm shelving this one so the title looks cool.  Could somebody get busy and actually write me a story about cannibals in love though?!  Not metaphorical cannibals!  Thanks in advance!