The Death of Francis Bacon

The Death of Francis Bacon took me by surprise. Having read and enjoyed Porter's previous two novels, I expected more of the same. But this is another planet of writing.

My reading got off to a precarious start. After the first couple of pages, I thought, hang on a bloody minute, what's going on here? It makes no sense. So I put it down and read a bit about the book, researched a little into Bacon's last days, and then returned to it. I devoured it in a couple of hours. I loved it. It was more an atmosphere than a story. It glided over me like the first reading of a poem. It was like stepping into the dying painter's consciousness (and unconsciousness) and catching glimpses of a confused, lonely creative mind.

My next step is to take a closer look at Bacon's paintings, particularly the latter ones, and reread the book. Maybe it'll get five stars after that.