Nathanael West, Miss Lonelyhearts

What an odd, bitter and furious book this is. I'm not even sure what to make of it, or what any of it really means, so much so that I can't even begin to review it here. The short of it is that the book revolves around an "agony column" journalist (unidentified throughout the book, other than his "Miss Lonelyhearts" pen name) for a New York City newspaper during the 1920s who finds himself overwhelmed by the grief, anger and sorrow expressed by readers who write letters to him, begging for help and comfort that he is increasingly unable to provide. There's also a cynical, borderline-cruel editor, a long-suffering fiancee, several married women whom the protagonist has dallied with and a score of drinking-buddy lushes down at the speakeasy, all of whom move in and out of the columnist's life as he remains mostly detached, both physically and emotionally, from them. That's the short of it. The long of it is what I don't fully comprehend. There's a lot of metaphor going on here, as well as overarching themes I can't quite grasp upon first reading.

I'm not even sure whether I like this book or not; I'm leaning towards the former, as I somehow find myself morbidly curious in a story this relentlessly dark. I will undoubtedly read this again - it's either a short novella or a long story, and only 58 pages - and maybe I'll gain more insight into it next time and will be able to comprehensively evaluate it here.