Every author begins writing a book with the intent of giving their audience a message. This may be a political statement, or something deep that forces you to learn something about yourself. This Town Will Never Let Us Go by Lawrence Miles is no exception as there are three key messages that are present throughout the whole book.

1. Lawrence Miles hates you
You, the reader, are an idiot. You're an idiot for ever picking up and reading the book and you're an even bigger idiot for thinking you could ever enjoy it. The sheer density of the text on every page seems daunting enough, but when those words actually begin to form a sentence, you realise that this man writes with a degree of cynicism that almost seems derogatory. The concepts, themes and commentary on things such as celebrities, the media and war aim to touch on every relevant issue of society in as few words as possible, making something that's so profoundly interesting but so tough to read. Lawrence Miles hates you but it's a kind of tough love. He wants you to see the world from his perspective, which brings me to his second message.

2. Lawrence Miles hates himself and this book
It sounds strange but there's no other way to describe it. His cynicism covers not only his views of the world, but also of his characters. Our first impression of the protagonist Inangela is that "the news wouldn't quite know how to describe her if she was murdered", in reference to her age. This kind of writing comes off a little weird and frankly wrong at times, with his attemps to critiscise how women are viewed in the media sounding just plain sexist at times, not to mention him naming an arms dealer 'the black man'. This makes it difficult for me to take his views and comments on society seriously, as while I don't know him or his beliefs personally, it definitely feels like he has some unresolved prejudices.
To call his writing style and view of his own characters and plot negative and condescending would be a harsh understatement, as right from the start it's evident we're not supposed to like everything he says. Valentine is depicted as a literal terrorist, desperate to involve himself somehow in the War, and the media version of Tiffany goes off the rails, talking about how much she loves murder while the original one disappears. To call everything Miles says 'commentary' just wouldn't do the book justice, as it really feels like he hates what he's writing at times, making the whole thing feel like some edgy teenage boys diary after he's just found the wikipedia page for 'depression'.

I have a love-hate relationship with this book. I think Lawrence Miles is a genius, with some genuinely interesting and insightful things to say about just anything and everything. I was invested in the characters and the plot, and the world building of this little town in the short span of six hours is just wonderful. However I struggle to see past some of the poor and borderline not-ok things he says about some of his own characters that reflect his own supposed world-views, meaning a 7/10 feels like an apt rating for this book.

3. You probably thought I forgot the third message didn't you?
The most important message Miles wants to give us, is that he really, really hates the muppets (which is perfectly understandable to be honest).

7/10