The Tunnel by William H. GassNot really recommended unless you're interested in what the literary equivalent of suffocation feels like. And have prior familiarity with other maximalist works (e.g. Gravity's Rainbow/Infinite Jest, with a dose of House of Leaves).
This one is much more cynical than the others though in that the narrator basically would fit in with the Neo-Nazi sympathizer crowd today. It shows a lot of the kind of mentality that leads to such a worldview, digging (literally and metaphorically) deep into past childhood and adulthood grievances that led to this moment where he feels the need to override his life's work with his frustrations and lack of fulfillment. I get it. It's fascism of the heart.
I also feel like it's a bit much after a while. It's basically total whiplash going back and forth between insightful (and quite honestly, sometimes beautiful) prose and and then just overwhelming dread and cruelty. But honestly at one point I just wanted it to end already cause I'd seen enough. The middle section of the book is more palatable than the beginning/end.
On the plus side, the experience of reading this is making me appreciate coming back to reading just about anything else right now.
