To The Last Page

Zeroville comes as some relief after the impenetrable stream-of-consciousness of Our Ecstatic Days , and surprisingly just so happens to be Steve Erickson's most accessible book yet. That's providing you are well-versed in classic Hollywood and international cinema. If so, you're in for a treat. Vikar is a troubled young man who arrives in Los Angeles in the late sixties, bearing a tattoo of his favourite film on his shaven head, trying to escape from a strict religious upbringing and an oppressive father through his love of movies. Through his relationships with maverick characters in the movie industry, his obsession with movies and an encounter with a mysterious bit-part actress who may just be the unacknowledged daughter of Luis Buñuel, Vikar delves into the mythology of Hollywood filmmaking and, as a film editor, starts to formulate and put into practice his own unique vision of the world as a movie. Not quite as hallucinatory or visionary as the author's best wor...