Review of Factotum (2005) by Steven O — 03 Apr 2008

If you are going to try, go all the way. Otherwise don't even start. This could mean losing girl-friends, wives, relatives, jobs, maybe your mind. It could mean not eating for three or four days, it could mean freezing on a park bench, it could mean jail, it could mean derision, it could mean mockery, isolation.

Isolation is the gift. All the others are a test of your endurance, of how much you really want to do it. And you'll do it, despite rejection, and the worst odds. And it will be better than anything else you can imagine.

If you are going to try, go all the way. There is no other feeling like that. You'll be alone with the gods, and the nights will flame with fire. You will ride life straight to perfect laughter. It is the only good fight there is.