by Adam Stone aka King Adz (Jacana)
This book is hard to read – it’s a cross between a diary, novel, advertising exposé and general jumble of consciousness. In fact, the author warns you that to read this book you will have to release your expectations of something conventional. At first I found the unconventional format original but this soon turned to slight irritation as he intersperses narrative with flashbacks, images and scribbles.
At times the story of a South African-born British turned South African ad designer who climbs the ladder in the advertising industry is interesting.
But his story is too often interspersed with tales of drug taking, drinking sprees and general bad behaviour – to call it hedonistic would be mild. Of course, in hindsight he does feel a minuscule degree of remorse for his reckless behaviour.
It may be just me – but there have been too many books recently about drug abuse that skim close to glorifying the media and advertising industry and its parasitic relationship with drugs and alcohol.
The most interesting strand through the story is how Stone manages at the same time to retain a sense of perspective as an outsider and spot opportunities for advertisers in the market, but also how he immerses himself in local culture and finds his “other home”.