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Thanatos
Dust jacket art by Ginger Giles. His first book about prison life.
319 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1971
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 27, 2019
Imagine Holden Caulfield. All of the angst, all of the questioning of society's bullshit, all of the contempt, insecurity, honesty, and occasional kindness. Now imagine that he came from a far worse home, one where his PTSD-driven father torments and beats him while his mother turns away. Imagine Holden getting bigger, stronger, turning the tables on the father to torment and beat him in turn; imagine Holden turning into a monster. He kills a man "in a fog of despair" (thanks, book synopsis). This Holden sees red when he encounters fakeness and hypocrisy; he flies into a murderous rage, laying waste to innocent and guilty alike. He goes to jail. This Holden yearns to not just escape the hypocrisy of society, he yearns to escape the literal bars enclosing him; he tries and tries again. This Holden becomes a predator, a manipulator, a person to be feared, a survivor. This Holden clings to another man, to remind him that decency still exists, that warmth between two humans can survive it all, that escape is possible. Poor Holden Caulfield Kirk Whelan! He is destined for disappointment.
Frank Hilaire apparently wrote this while he was serving time. If my digging online can be trusted, he's out now and has perhaps been out for a while. He lives south of the border. He's still writing. God bless the guy.
The book is intense, to say the least. Hilaire writes in an emotionally escalated style and Kirk Whelan is capable of surprisingly poetic trains of thought. At times there is a certain self-indulgence to the writing, a pretension to the prose, a hackneyed quality to Kirk's questioning of moral standards. But that's often the case when the young are aged before their time and begin lashing back at the ways of the world. Portentousness is a part of the package. And so Kirk is a nihilist, a smart and uncompromising one. The reader roots for him while nervously awaiting his next bleak smile, condescending put-down, or worst of all, his red haze when he just wants to smash, pulp, and kill. Fellow prisoners must be careful what they say around him; he has the brawn, brains, and vindictiveness to hurt them in all sorts of ways. But no matter: the reader roots for Kirk still. Watching Kirk's friendship develop with the pretty, kindly, very queer Leslie is incredibly endearing. Kirk's words are insensitive; the reader, much like Leslie, must put up with a hell of a lot of "stupid fag" and "little fruit" type comments. That's the way Kirk talks when mad, sad, glad, or just relaxing with his best friend. And later, his lover. Kirk himself is not queer. But prison will make of you what it will. The reader sees this relationship develop and roots for them, for tenderness and a place free of bars, for an escape to something better. The reader is destined for disappointment.
Frank Hilaire apparently wrote this while he was serving time. If my digging online can be trusted, he's out now and has perhaps been out for a while. He lives south of the border. He's still writing. God bless the guy.
The book is intense, to say the least. Hilaire writes in an emotionally escalated style and Kirk Whelan is capable of surprisingly poetic trains of thought. At times there is a certain self-indulgence to the writing, a pretension to the prose, a hackneyed quality to Kirk's questioning of moral standards. But that's often the case when the young are aged before their time and begin lashing back at the ways of the world. Portentousness is a part of the package. And so Kirk is a nihilist, a smart and uncompromising one. The reader roots for him while nervously awaiting his next bleak smile, condescending put-down, or worst of all, his red haze when he just wants to smash, pulp, and kill. Fellow prisoners must be careful what they say around him; he has the brawn, brains, and vindictiveness to hurt them in all sorts of ways. But no matter: the reader roots for Kirk still. Watching Kirk's friendship develop with the pretty, kindly, very queer Leslie is incredibly endearing. Kirk's words are insensitive; the reader, much like Leslie, must put up with a hell of a lot of "stupid fag" and "little fruit" type comments. That's the way Kirk talks when mad, sad, glad, or just relaxing with his best friend. And later, his lover. Kirk himself is not queer. But prison will make of you what it will. The reader sees this relationship develop and roots for them, for tenderness and a place free of bars, for an escape to something better. The reader is destined for disappointment.
December 20, 2016
Vivid and cruel. Also beautiful. A love story between two inmates in an American prison loosely based on Folsom that occurs some time in the 70s. Frank Hilaire, the author, was.incarcerated while he wrote this book if what I read online is to be believed.
The details are gruesome. The story is full of violence but there is something about the narrator Kirk, although he is classified as a sociopath, that was addictive and seduced me into reading on.
Of course this is crude but not pornographic at all. There is a lot of homophobic insults that are hard to read and disturbed me until the end, but this is the story of a killer who is full of self hatred and the language is real and a reflection of the setting and minds that are imprisoned in that terrible system of male hierarchy.
Pathos and mayhem but also love and a little redemption. First, in friendship and then in love, Kirk finds a bit of his humanity with Leslie, the brave and persecuted almost hunted gay man he runs away with.
There were some amazing side characters like Sam, Kirk's best friend until heroine and prison antics seperate them and Yancy the big somewhat sympathetic guard who plays
a tragic role in this book's grim end.
I'll try to find a cover and proper blurb for this book because it deserves one.
I'm glad I stumbled on this tattered paperback!!!
The details are gruesome. The story is full of violence but there is something about the narrator Kirk, although he is classified as a sociopath, that was addictive and seduced me into reading on.
Of course this is crude but not pornographic at all. There is a lot of homophobic insults that are hard to read and disturbed me until the end, but this is the story of a killer who is full of self hatred and the language is real and a reflection of the setting and minds that are imprisoned in that terrible system of male hierarchy.
Pathos and mayhem but also love and a little redemption. First, in friendship and then in love, Kirk finds a bit of his humanity with Leslie, the brave and persecuted almost hunted gay man he runs away with.
There were some amazing side characters like Sam, Kirk's best friend until heroine and prison antics seperate them and Yancy the big somewhat sympathetic guard who plays
a tragic role in this book's grim end.
I'll try to find a cover and proper blurb for this book because it deserves one.
I'm glad I stumbled on this tattered paperback!!!
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