Reviews for The Gas

The average rating for The Gas based on 2 reviews is 2.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2009-10-05 00:00:00 Judy Taylor This novel is notoriously obscene. In 1970 copied were burned! With fire! Even in 1980 when it was reissued police raided the publishers and seized 3000 copies. Obscenity is sometimes said to be in the mind of the beholder, but I would suggest that if you don't think a lot of the sex & violence in this novel is obscene you might need to get help NOW. Therefore, those of a nervous disposition may wish to LOOK AWAY NOW as there may be some vulgar language ahead. The blurb summarises the plot: An accident at a secret germ-warfare laboratory allows an aphrodisiac vapor to infect all of Southern England, and within 24 hours the British countryside has exploded into an uncontrollable nightmare of lust, perversion, violence and insanity. As Woody in Toy Story might say, "ah ha, ha ha ha, ha haaa. Nice one, Potato Head." So, let me give you a flavour of the cascading geyser of vari-coloured bodily fluids we find in here. p70 : He was wasting time buggering an old insane priest p84 : "FUCK!" chanted the nuns. "FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!" p109: The budgerigar had been silent during the last hour's fucking and sucking p153 : Most girls in the pews were masturbating themselves and each other, caught up in a euphoria of blood lust and sex worship as they bounced up and down on the cassocks and hurled Bibles onto the stage. p160: 'Cut the explanations,' said Vincent. 'There're a thousand sex-crazed girls in that church!' Now maybe because they couldn't find any regular typesetters for this 166 page spurt of filth, so they had to get some stoned hippy typesetters, I dunno, but there are many delightful typos strewn throughout. Three which particularly appealed were: p72 : he froamed in exasperation p109 : "Oh! Oh! Ooooh! It's so food!" p157: blood still spurted from his would After all this insane stuffing of orifices I was left slightly reeling. But it was all done with such a kind of studentish obviousness, doggedness and gusto that it was hard to take offence, particulatly as the falt chracters and the craper-thin polt demonstrades that this was nought but a strenousu and imaginitinitive excercise in onamisn. ***** Addendum : I found a comment on a website, can't find it now, but anyway, Charles Platt explained that he wrote The Gas when he was about to emigrate to America & he wished to cast off his British reserve because he knew that Americans were extroverts! I mean, there's being an extrovert and there's having sex with animals, and the two should really never ever be confused.

Review # 2 was written on 2012-07-24 00:00:00 Anthony Aloi I really appreciate the comments from people here who read my book and enjoyed it (or otherwise) in the spirit in which it was written. My goal, back in 1970, was to write a book that would be utterly indefensible, as an expression of my hostility (back then) toward the world in general.