Resumo de If Kisses Were Bullets...

As a first novel If Kisses Were Bullets? is a daringbeginning for H.X. Sin. Before you evenpick up the book the title and name of the author give the misleadingpresentation that you may be morally obliged to burn it. The book is further cursed with an unusualformat which for a casual reader could cause a headache. You are presented with what seems like twostories (not counting the appendix); one is printed on the left side of thebook and the other on the right side.Reading the author?s note at the beginning of the book you are told thatyou have the choice of Reading the two stories one after another like any otherlinear book or to read them simultaneously.Written from the perspective of themain character (who remains nameless throughout the book) as events unfold infront of him we listen to his internal processes that vary from sarcastic quipsto long wandering ideas. It?s the maincharacters internal dialog that carries you aimlessly through the book untilmuch like him you have no idea what is going on any more.The first story begins with themain character, twenty six years old, living in California and has become jaded by his lifeexperiences of good and evil. To explainhis attitude and life as he lives it now he flash backs to tales of his uselesslife filled with drinking and irresponsibility, he talks about the people inhis life that have torn him down and built him up. Often it feels like you?re reading poetrywithout the rhyming though beaten with a heavy rhythm. After a story or two of girls cheating onhim, the death of loved ones and his involuntary incarceration in a mentalinstitution you begin to understand why he thinks the way he does.In the second story we jump forwardsix years and the main character has become a successful novelist. Now more than ever he is bitter andangry. He has conquered his personaldemons and taken control of his life to do the one thing he loves most in theworld. Yet still he find him self underthe control of popular public opinion and in a world where a person who sticksto his morals isn?t as important as having a bestseller. It?s in his fame and money that the maincharacter returns to his aimless and irresponsible life. Though he only gives hints (and later we readbriefly about it in the appendix) we have to take it as given the in the sixyear interim that he was a better person and now he?s back where he started.It all comes together as you beginto see that the two stories overlay each making it seem like he?s living thesame things again. At first glance thebook reads like a coming of age story where the character has to ?come of age?twice because he messed it up the first time.This is ironic because as you come upon the plot, a series of murders,in the late stages of the book you begin to wonder if you missedsomething. Re-reading the book for cluesto the murders makes you feel a bit like the main character having to startover. The best and worst thing aboutthis book is that it relies heavily on the assumption that you will read itagain but if you?re willing to ignore the standard conventions you?ll find yourselflost inside the pages.The end of the book may leave youwanting for more which is either a short coming of the author or a well playedintro to the sequel. As you wait for thenext book you may find yourself reading the appendix, even against the author?ssuggestion. The first of these storiesturns out to be an alternate version of his life like the alternate endings ona DVD. The second story gives a cursoryexplanation of his mysterious six years between being an unemployed twenty sixyear old and a famous author. The thirdindex is filled with pictures some representing aspects of the book while otherleaving you wondering why they?re in there to begin with. In fact if you read the book again you?llfind a random assortment of comments and elusions that seem out of place thoughsome how vitally important to understanding everything giving you with the impressionthat the placement of everything in the book has been carefully structured.H.X. Sin, while a writer, is aboveall and artist which may be the downfall of this book every becoming popfiction. If Kisses Were Bullets? is not for the average reading. When picking up this book you have to beprepared to peal away the layers of pop, anger and diatribe to find out what isunderneath. If you don?t intend to readthis book multiple times there?s no point in reading it a first time.

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