He is to advertising what Patrick Bateman, (American Psycho) is to investment and mergers. It could be said that Nye only cares about himself but that's not entirely true. I don't think he cares about anything or anyone at all. He's a train wreck heading towards a big crash and he's probably not just going to take himself out on the way.
That's the feel you get for the main character of this book from the moment you open it. In his link to Bateman from American Psycho the similarities are there straight away, you see the obsession over the business cards Bateman had? well our anti-hero is that level of obsessive compulsive. We get the impression from the very beginning that he isn't a well man and only focusing on his job of destroying peoples lives for the greater good is keeping him from falling into a hole. A big dark hole of self destruction.
There is more to Nye though, he's a consumer, just as Edward Norton was at the beginning of Fight Club. Although he doesn't seem to care what the status that his possessions or expensive food or drink gives him, he just has to have them and document mentally the prices, where they are from and for god's sake hopefully that they are a limited edition.
He's as cold as the bay harbour butcher and seemingly has no emotions, at times he's almost soul-less and seemingly has no problems in ruining peoples life's, not in the Bateman sense though. In some ways he's far worse than Bateman.
The Deep Whatsis - bring almond oil.
This is a modern day Mad Men, showing the more brutal side of the corporate world. Where advertising is a lie that they make you believe to buy products you don't need. Although there isn't much of the advertising aspect involved, just enough to make you feel dirty and ashamed that you fall for it.
I read this book over two night shifts at work during the quiet periods it doesn't seem a long book (400 pages though) and was easy to read, pulling you in straight away. It's dark, cynical, very very sad in parts, hilarious and littered with brief moments of unexpected beauty.
It's also highly quotable with cutting views on everything from consumerism to corporate America. Tearing them all to shreds, such as over privileged American housewife's with too much money and time on their hands describing them as "Bulbous botoxed brows ready to explode and with your shit foundation that gives laptops to endangered birds" and his take on the beach being "something about the ceaseless idiocy of one wave after another strikes me as being profoundly unimaginative" He's sulking at this point, sitting on a deck chair facing away from the sea.
These being just a couple that made me laugh out loud but are just a sample from a book that is littered with imaginative slights on everyday life and American culture.
What Mattei has done is created a satire about an obnoxious arsehole and throughout the book confused us by making us dislike him to a point where he is actually likeable in all his deranged behaviour. There is a sense of dread throughout this book, the problem being that you almost want him to lose his shit. the best part being when he does it's not as you expected, but its just as brilliant and beautiful.
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