Thanks for writing about “The Book That Eats People.”
I’m glad you found it in a bookstore in (of all places!) Sydney. Your nieces might well have had trouble finding it in a Virginian outlet since, to my increasing chagrin, it’s apparently quite hard for a book to get shelf space anywhere.
Fundamentally “The Book That Eats People” is about the unparalleled power of books. While my book (it is, of course, very substantially Mark Fearing’s and Abigail Samoun’s–I don’t assume they endorse this interpretation) literally devours readers, the ideas in other books genuinely consume people in ways that are often subtle, frequently insidious and, sometimes, epochal.
Anyone with a little reading can think of numerous examples of books that contain ideas and beauty that can profoundly alter the souls and minds of those who read them. Books called “Sacred” such as The Bible, The Koran, and the huckster Joseph Smith’s tome, fit the bill, as do works on economic theory such as Adam Smith’s “An Inquiry Into The Nature And Causes Of The Wealth Of Nations” or Karl Marx’s works. An unwary, uncritical, youthful or credulous person can read any one of the above and conclude, unfortunately, “This is the only book I will ever need.” Worse, many of these people come to believe their favorite book is the only one anyone needs, the last-and-best Word on everything under the sun.
When “The Book That Eats People” eats books in the reference section, it’s destroying some of its competitors.
While “The Book That Eats People” is an awful, anthropophagous monster, the narration unequivocally recognizes it as such. “This is a bad book,” it says, and goes on to encourage the reader to grind or burn the book.
Finally, as a father of two girls I couldn’t agree with you more that “children being harmed in the real world is the most horrific crime imaginable.” Think what dreadful, frightening tales are commonly rehearsed to children in the interest of “moral instruction”: Noah’s Ark describes the destruction of all humanity by an angry God; the Hebrews escape from servitude after God’s Angel of Death kills all the first-born of Egypt, to cite a couple. I’m happy to say that Sammy, Victoria, Isabel, Joey and Juan are safe and whole in their absurd, imaginary, cartoon world.
Thanks again, whoever you are, for your thoughts. Good luck with your nieces. Mostly I hope kids just get some big laughs and fun from “The Book That Eats People.”
Yerz,
John Perry
The Daily Tyrant may indeed be tyrannical, but is most definitely not daily.