"Introduction" Book Review

What a read! Author Daniel Criss debuts his peculiar new novel Introduction, which he started during last year’s NaNoWriMo festival. Criss tells us, “I’ve partaken in NaNoWriMo for three years, but always struggled to finish anything. This year though, something infected me! Surrounded by the suicide of my fiancé and eviction from my childhood home, I was filled with motivation to write this. My fingers would be bleeding some nights, ha ha!”

The novel describes the tale of a young high schooler, Mary Sue, struggling to find herself during her tumultuous teenage years. It tackles the tough topics of peer pressure and confidence, which seem especially pertinent in this “Instagram Era” as it’s being called. Mary Sue combats issues every teen is facing today, from her annoyance at her parents, to her growing crush on the dangerous new bad boy, Craniel Driss. Truly, a profound novel which has already inspired six articles in newspapers from The Economist to The New Yorker.

But what really makes this story stand out is the writing Criss employs, utilising archaic techniques in a refreshing modern method, as shown by this excerpt:

“And when blood filled my mouth it was all I could do to scre m and b eg and wor hip the holy ly gods which allowed such bright flavour to fill me as it fills thee; oh shall I forever thirst for this  ange ic mur rd rder. May God spit upon heret ics and I shall spit on him. His six eyes stare at me and the red blood on bitten lips. I understand; does he? The angels must die.”

And I think you’ll see what I mean when I say everyone will fall a little in love with Craniel- even me, a fifty-five year old straight man, ha ha!

But Criss isn’t giving up any secrets on his writing techniques.

“I can’t remember writing this!” he laughs, remembering the process. “I only remember collapsing to my bed, arms spasming. The room was black even when my eyes were open! I think I’m blind!”

Were you inspired by anything in particular, I ask him. She's The Man, perhaps?

He grins. “I do think these films and such commonly dismissed as teen flicks do have an important message. And when you get into it, they’re all so unique and special. My favourites are the ones about a young boy who some may call uncool trying to get with the popular bitchy girl. And by the end of the novel, you realise he was actually the coolest all the time, and that the bitchy girl isn’t like other girls- she likes video games and doesn’t actually like makeup!”

This story will stay with you long after you’ve lost the last grip of your sanity and your morals are crumbs fed to the neighbouring rats. The words here will never be far from your lips, tattooed on the back of your teeth where no one will ever see them. When you step out of your now and enter the future, and realise everything is can be so horrifically worse than you imagined, this novel will remain with you. You will get rid of the physical copy as soon as possible, but inexplicably you will find scraps in your pockets. Six years from now you will read quotes from it in your treasured diary which documents your mother’s gradual death of leukaemia.

I couldn’t recommend this novel more. The Guardian limits me to only five stars, but trust me, when I get a copy of this paper at home, I’ll personally score fifteen more stars into the paper with my steak knife! I’m thinking of learning a foreign language just so I can buy the translated copies!

Overall, I would describe Introduction as the summer novel of this year- and so many more to come. Mary Sue is a fascinating character, and I recommend it to parents looking for birthday presents for their teenage daughters! Warning- the maths study scene does get a bit heated, but to all concerned parents, don’t worry! I promise there’s only one kiss!