About Me
NINA
by Blag Dahlia
112 pgs.
5"x8"
$9.95
ISBN: 0-9764035-4-4Blag Dahlia, of the infamous Dwarves , has written this truly twisted tale of a young girl coming of age with no apologies.
Nina is the story of an object of desire who gives as good as she gets, spanning the USA in search of cheap thrills and black lipstick. This disturbing comedy is guaranteed to entertain and outrage with each turn of the page.
Blag Dahlia is a rock legend and author of "Armed to the Teeth With Lipstick". He lives in San Francisco where he doesn't do a goddamn thing.
3.5 stars
"As frontman for San Francisco shock punks The Dwarves, Blag Dahlia showcased his perverted brand of humor on such classic albums as Blood, Guts & Pussy and Thank Heaven for Little Girls. For his second novel, he's channeled it into the story of Nina West, who seduces the babysitter, molests a dying deli robber, and finally loses her jaded cool in a kitchen throwdown with a Jehova's Witness. Needless to say, Nina is never boring. In fact, you'll want to keep this one under your mattress, not in your bookcase."
-Jason Buhrmester, Revolver Magazine
The weird and wonderful life of a young tyrant will leave you gobsmaked, a little sick in the stomach but overwhelmingly intrigued and reading right until the end.
Nina West is plain strange. I didn't really know what to expect with this novel, the press release called it a "twisted, surreal, coming-of-age story" but I just don't think they highlighted the 'twisted' angle quite enough. With Blag Dahlia as the author, I wasn't quite expecting a cosy Judy Blume story but neither was I prepared for Nina West's outright disregard for everything and anyone, as I sat on the train, admired the front page art work and opened the first page.
The first couple of pages are fairly tame compared to what comes next. When I read that Nina (what Vicky Pollard would be like with the looks) gets sexual favours from the children she is babysitting, I had to re-read, just to make sure.....
But oh no, I was not mistaken. Once Nina West's parent pop their clogs in a sudden accident, nothing holds back this girl who has a gigantic chip on her shoulder.
Getting a pilot sacked for having sex with a minor while the speakers are on for all to hear, pleasuring herself in front of a teacher....OK you get the idea, this girl wreaks havoc on her travels to spend her inheritance from her hometown to California...and the end would be enough to shock anyone, but strangely not so, after the previous chapters offerings.
This book is also available in an audio CD version. If you fancy listening to it, don't do so in a car, for fear of crashing or while napping, for fear of the craziest dreams ever.
I kid you not, Nina is one messed up teen, but the book is compelling.
Scapegoat publishing are "working along the fringes, producing dark and aggressive books" and if that is the case, they were spot on with this book.
Not for the faint-hearted but definitely something for the intrigued....
- By RACHEL OWEN for Subba Cultcha
Love him or hate him, Blag Dahlia is back. The leader of the Dwarves has returned to the realm of published writing with "Nina: a novel" and its complementary CD, "Nina …And Other Delights." With "Nina," Dahlia is in top form as he does what he does best – entertain.
The novel "Nina" is a far cry from those romance novel's of your mother's generation with a greased up Fabio gracing the cover. Not his first foray into writing, the novel is like the pulp fiction that, like classics such as William S. Burrough's "Junky," were sold in drug stores and five and dimes some years ago. Dahlia writes in an easy and casual style about the devious exploits of the book's title character gothic Lolita. Peppered with one-liners and pop culture references, sex and violence mingle as the newly orphaned fifteen year old racks up sexual conquests (including but not limited to the paperboy, a teacher, an airplane pilot, and a judge) and has fun at the expense of others. Entertaining throughout, "Nina" is unexpected as the plot continually twists and a book easy to pick up as each of the chapters is like a separate vignette that continues her adventures.
For those fans of the Dwarves who have been listening forever, "Nina" offers another look at Blag Dahlia. While he might have made a career as a snotty punk rocker that will do and say just about anything, he brings the same enthusiasm to other endeavors – doing just about anything and everything by way of "Nina."
- PlugInMusic.com
Cover art by Detroit artist Niagara (of Destroy All Monsters).
