The Hill of Dreams by Arthur Machen

I was really excited to read this book, because I love Machen's short horror stories, and loved The Three Impostors, but I was really disappointed and incredibly depressed by this book. It might be one of the most depressing books I've ever read, and it made me so upset that I literally haven't felt like a normal person for the last four days or so. I found the descriptive passages really annoying and sort of blase, while all the events of the plot were unutterably depressing. It has none of the delicious horror that Machen's short stories have, and his extremely dry and very dark brand of humour is there, but doesn't really work in this novel. I also didn't like the main character, Lucian, and am rather of the opinion that his life would have been considerably improved if he had followed his cousin's advice (which he considers stupid and interfering) and had a bit more to eat and drink and gotten laid a few times and a proper job, instead of living on a diet of coffee, cigarettes and literary inspiration, and creating imaginary sensual worlds. I was surprised at how explicit this book was (not by present standards, obviously), it was fairly clear about descriptions of sex and masochistic rituals (not as interesting as it sounds). I just didn't enjoy this book, and felt like it was too rambling and the style wasn't strong or particularly compelling (which is that Machen's short stories are very strong on) and most of all, it's just so horribly dark and dreary and paranoid.