This book is a total messed up creation – much like its gay anti-hero, named after its author Tom Lesniara.
I’M guessing it’s at least partially autobiographical which makes it all the more alarming as it’s a roller coaster of drug-crazed sordid and tawdry episodes.
Indeed it reads like some thing written under some kind of chemical influence. I couldn’t decide if the author/lead character’s English was poor or whether it’s just a lousy translation but the tenses and phraseology are all over the place, mixed tenses, hanging adjectives and adverbs. You get the idea?
Tom comes from a sleepy part of Krakow in Poland and ends up via Bristol in sunny Bethnal Green.
And chapter by chapter we go round parts of London or back in time to Poland and share his completely suicidal life history which comprises drug raves in the forest, clubbing in Vauxhall and regular visits to McDonalds at 11.30pm on a Friday.
Characters come and go and all of them basically as big a shit as Tom turns out to be. The one regular character is Pete, son of a wealthy ambassador who leads Tom astray and up several metaphorical garden paths. We kind of like Pete but he too is pretty much part of a lost generation.
When Tom thinks he’s met the love of his life Magnus, things go from bad to worse, ending with Magnus blocking him on social media – including Grindr – Oh dear reader, the shame of it all!
Though only 69 pages long, so much more could have been made of the story and characters and the title – though eye-catching, is irrelevant to the story which haphazardly unfolds, then folds back on itself.
When really serious violence rears its ugly head, we actually feel sorry for Tom but annoyingly, the book just ends matter of factly. It’s as if the author lost interest in his hero and his fate. Or is there to be a sequel ? I really hope not.
The book is available on Kindle and on Amazon priced £6.15p
Reviewed by Brian Butler
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