Sadie The Sadist

- By Rob

It’s been two days since I finished “Sadie The Sadist”, and life has carried on frenetically around my inert existence, so deep in thought have I been trying to get a handle on this book. I enjoyed it ENORMOUSLY. It’s WONDERFULLY written. It’s as dark as pitch but with an intoxicating sense of humour. I want MORE. These things I know, nailed on and certain. However it is so much more. The situations & concepts the book covers are dealt with both subtley and with the a heaviest of hands in equal measure. Where to begin dear reader, where to begin….

Sadie works in a supermarket which crushes her soul but also offers some comfort in it’s familiarity I think. She is de-valued by management to the point that she holds as much importance to the company as, say, a photocopier. As such, Sadie The Sadist is born in the mind of Sad Sadie as a therapy, catharsis and most importantly a voice. The book is narrated in the first person so we are given intimate access to Sadie’s inner dialogue, whether we want it or not. She keeps us informed and updated throughout her almost impactless existence of what irritates her (her “superiors” at work), what excites her (we’re provided with a number of tempting recipes, although the ingredients she recommends become increasingly difficult to stomach) and her murderous desires and compulsions. She meticulously plots and plans the most dreadful & bloodsoaked demises for every person that pisses her off but thankfully they remain in her twisted little mind. Until, one day…..

The main premise of the book is very straightforward and masterfully presented but it’s the sub-texts that intrigued me the most. Is this a book about feminism and the empowerment of this particular woman? I genuinely don’t think so as Sadie wants to kill EVERYONE and doesn’t concern herself with gender-specifics. Is it an observation of a person’s disintegration into madness and homicide? Yes, but this is a by-product of the themes.
It seems to me that it’s a scream of the disenfranchised into the dark, the humanity that is left behind and forgotten as money & business become the most important societal goal. It’s the football fans that the club comes to ignore, except when it comes to snatching the money from their hands. Every business would be nothing without the essential cogs that keep it’s engine running but these cogs are the people that are treated the very worst, seen as a tolerated and necessary evil and viewed with contempt and disdain. Sadie is the voice that we all have but is so rarely heard. I have a shit day job and can identify with everything that Sadie thinks and feels, factoring out (the majority) of the bloodlust and murder obviously. All we want to do is feel valid & considered but who can honestly say that their company genuinely cares about them? Sadie The Sadist thinks this is wrong, and so do I. The only difference is, with Sadie there are consequences.

It’s difficult to ignore Zane’s influences but she embraces these rather than deny or suppress them. There’s no doubt the book has more than a whiff of Bret Easton Ellis about it but it’s written without the exhausting nihilism and apathy of Easton Ellis. Sadie The Sadist’s readers will actually care about the characters as opposed wanting to beat them up as I always do when reading Easton Ellis (never more so than when I read “Lunar Park”, and genuinely wanted to batter Bret Easton Ellis himself). The narration style has the air of Chuck Palahnuik in it’s paciness, self awareness and humour but again, never to the point that the reader can’t hear Miss Sachs’ voice loud & clear. It may irritate Zane Sachs to hear these two writers cited as influences but if I was a writer of Zane’s note, I be pretty bloody pleased to be spoken of in the same breath as Easton Ellis & Palahnuik.

Sadie The Sadist is a great read, and I think that Miss Sachs will be an important and huge literary presence. I simply cannot wait for the next one.