Shooting Europe is comprised of three main sections. In the first part, Mike writes to Holly and includes his version of what occurred during their time together. The second portion of the book includes Holly’s response to him. The final section, again penned by Mike, allows him to respond to Holly’s writing and her thoughts. As you will learn, Mike and Holly’s relationship is taking place as they are working on a series of films to be shot on locations throughout Europe. Many of the chapters are devoted to summarizing some of these films.
Unfortunately, prior to meeting Holly, Mike was in a volatile relationship with Mopsa. Mopsa is consumed by her world of art exhibitions. She is also unafraid to seek revenge whenever she feels unappreciated. How will Mike and Holly’s relationship unfold? What will become of Mopsa? What will be the outcome of Mike and Holly’s letters (epistles) to one another?
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This novel is about love and revenge; however, it is much darker and more disturbing. In fact, parts of the book are often grotesque. This satirical theme of revenge made the movie Misery seem like a children’s story. Anytime Mopsa appeared in the story, the language immediately became vulgar. Intimately familiar with every curse word available, Mopsa delighted in consistently spouting an assortment of them. Also, her idea of art was not what I had anticipated. While I was imagining sculptures and paintings, Mopsa was sitting in a coffin with chicken giblets up to her neck. At other times, she observed other members of her art world seeking to express themselves by cutting off body parts. And, I will not even comment on the more absurd “Excremental Kinetics”. (I will let you read about this art medium on your own.)
The author did a thorough job of developing his characters. Holly was someone I did like and could identify with. She was portrayed realistically and I enjoyed reading her perspective on love and relationships. Mike was also a believable character, but certainly lacked backbone in his dealings with Mopsa. However, I did appreciate the sense of protection that he demonstrated toward Holly.
Most of the movies that they planned to film exhibited a dark tone. If you love a good revenge story, you will certainly enjoy the film Avril Trethowan's Secret. This film gives new meaning to the phrase “revenge is a dish best served cold”. However, be advised that this particular story is definitely not for the faint of heart.
I did like that the book appeared to be very well edited. However, given the consistent grotesque factor, the strong language and the unnecessarily lengthy dialogue, I award Shooting Europe by Simon Potter 2 out of 4 stars. I can only recommend this book (in its current form) to readers exceptionally fond of satire and not offended by consistent coarse language, grotesque and graphic descriptions and occasional racial slurs. Readers sensitive to these issues will want to avoid this story. Hopefully the author can justify removing much of the explicit language (as it does not take that much to get the message across regarding Mopsa’s personality). Additionally, the book could easily be shortened by editing much of the dialogue that seemed unnecessary to the storyline. These changes would definitely up the appeal factor.
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