1.
A wise friend of mine rejects the idea of there being such a thing, because it suggests that novels are like horses and the race makes assessment into a simple matter of comparison in a single field of endeavour.
Continue readingIs Wuthering Heights the Best Novel Ever Written?
Posted in Observation, Reading with tags book-review, books, Emily Bronte, gothic, gothic novel, In Search of Lost Time, literature, Pyramids, Robert McKee, Taj Mahal, War and Peace, Wuthering Heights on March 22, 2026 by Jarrod Boyle
The Monk
Posted in Observation, Reading with tags Ambrosio, Angel Clare, books, Breasts, Fiction, Matilda, Matthew Lewis, poetry, short-story, Tess of the D'Urbervilles, The Monk, Thomas Hardy, writing on February 25, 2026 by Jarrod Boyle
2.
Certainly, this is high drama, and skilfully rendered by Mr Lewis. I have not chosen to recount it here for that reason, however. I reproduce it because the breast, probably the only breast Ambrosio has encountered – aside from his mother’s when he was an infant – appears to him as an enigma of overwhelming power.
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The Monk
Posted in Observation, Reading with tags book-review, book-reviews, books, Fiction, Gothic literature, literature, Matthew Lewis, The Monk on February 9, 2026 by Jarrod Boyle
1.
A very literate friend of mine once described The Monk as the most boring book ever forced upon him by an educational institution. Any book that comes to take up that kind of notoriety is often contingent on timing: my friend was 19 when he encountered The Monk, and it may have become his central focus of regret in signing up to study Gothic literature.
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Black Rabbit
Posted in Film, Netflix, Real Men with tags Abel Ferrara, Black Rabbit, book-review, books, Catholic, Fiction, Jason Bateman, Jude Law, Martin Scorsese, Netflix, New York, reviews, writing on January 22, 2026 by Jarrod Boyle
2.
The golden rule of commercially successful narrative art is that the writer has to push their characters into insoluble situations, and have them find their escape. Those escapes are the watermark of quality.
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Black Rabbit
Posted in Film, Netflix, Real Men with tags Abel Ferrara, Anora, Benny Safdie, Black Rabbit, Jason Bateman, Jude Law, Netflix, New York, Sean Baker on January 16, 2026 by Jarrod Boyle
The eponymous Black Rabbit is a restaurant, a ‘nightclub for grownups’, to quote protagonist Jake Friedkin. While the business is a hit, proprietor Jake (played by Jude Law) is painfully over-extended.
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ABC Mornings with Steve Austin
Posted in 'John' Wayne Parr with tags 'John' Wayne Parr, ABC Mornings, Brisbane Writers Festival, Jarrod Boyle, Steve Austin, The Fighter on October 4, 2025 by Jarrod Boyle
Yesterday, ‘John’ Wayne Parr and I were interviewed at the 1:35:20 mark of the embedded audio clip as a warm-up for our Brisbane Writers Festival appearance, which will also be chaired by the illustrious Mr Austin.
Listen up – and enjoy!
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Carldav13 Writes:
Posted in Film, Pretensions toward cultural theory, Real Men with tags Barack Obama, Betsy, gun reform, Iris, Martin Scorsese, Rambo: First Blood, Robert De Niro, Sandy Hook Elementary School, Taxi Driver, The Wild Bunch on August 2, 2025 by Jarrod Boyle
2.
Technology, specifically the railroad and the telegraph, is shrinking the West into a place where bandits can no longer freely operate. The Bunch are trying to make one last score so they can afford to retire, but the brutality central to their existence is catching up with them.
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Carldav13 Writes:
Posted in Film, Pretensions toward cultural theory, Reading, Real Men with tags Dionysus, I Don’t Want to Talk About It: Overcoming the Secret Legacy of Male Depression, Iris, Jesus, Joseph Campbell, Martin Scorsese, Mithras, Narcissus, Odysseus, Orpheus, Paul Schrader, Peter Attia, podcast, Robert De Niro, Sam Peckinpah, Siddhartha, Taxi Driver, Terry Real, The Drive, The Hero of One Thousand Faces, The Tim Ferriss Show, The Wild Bunch, Tony Soprano, Travis Bickle on July 31, 2025 by Jarrod Boyle
J.G. Ballard: Kingdom Come
Posted in Reading, Real Men with tags book-review, books, fascism, Fiction, J.G. Ballard, Kingdom Come, politics on June 14, 2025 by Jarrod Boyle
2.
I thought it was time to pay him a visit and see if he could freak me out like he used to.
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Theme Park at its Darkest 