Page 1 line 1: "I liked hurting girls."
The opening line is enough to knock the life out of you. The entire time I read "Diary of an Oxygen Thief" I was at a loss for words. I found myself crying, laughing, and having to set the book down for days at a time to come to terms with the inhumane behaviors the protagonist in this book portrayed. There were days when the book physically hurt to read, but it's a good kind of pain; you know what you're getting out of it is worth the heartache. The novel took my breathe away - total oxygen thief.
The author, who chose to be anonymous, tells the story of an Irish advertising executive who resides in London, England. He's a low class worker and not married, but for valuable reasons - he describes the thrill of a break up as to what a serial killer feels. The protagonist in this story has an obsession like you and I might find in a television show or a club sports team, he take pleasure in getting close to girls to where they become vulnerable, then breaking their heart. Telling them he doesn't love them and in such a way, humiliating them.
We don't know where his detrimental behavior originates from, but we are provided with the line "hurt people hurt people" leaving us with the idea that he was hurt so badly by someone that he now goes through life making sure people bear the same misery he once endured.
As time passes and hearts break, he picks up his life From London, England and moves to New York City. He moves from lower to middle class, but his demeanor remains the same. He's an alcoholic. He's a heartbreaker, smooth operator.
The great thing about some people is that they change. The great thing about some people is that they have the power to change other people. Lolita was a photographer's assistant. Living in the big city, she was blinded by aspiration and yearning for life that came with being young. He fell in love, like REAL love. Not the serial killer heartbreak obsessed love, his heart had an infatuation for her.
They met up at a bar. He's standing there, staring at the person he loves. She calls over a friend, the narrator refers to her friend as "Brazilian shirt" - that's all he was to him. She humiliates him. He is standing before the girl he loves while she humiliates him. "Brazilian shirt" is taking pictures, for some sort of photo essay.
He fell in love and she knew that. She waited until he was vulnerable enough, until he was putty in her hand and then she broke him, and then had her friend capture the moment forever. Does this scenario sound familiar?
"Diary of An Oxygen Thief" teaches us the art of what we do to each other and what we allow to have done to us. We judge what others do so much. We say how disturbed some people are in the head. While you read this, I'm sure you were enraged by the narrator. You saw him hurting innocent girls, and you wished the same upon him; that's the gag. The gag is, we are no better than him. We possess the exact same feelings of wanting him to hurt like he hurt others.
This novel makes you aware of your view on acceptance and a person's redemption. We are left wondering where the broken girls lie and if the author himself ever found love.
The beauty of this book is that it taught me the hard truth that wishing karma on someone, is still wishing evil upon them. You could be wishing someone would get exactly what they deserve, but ultimately you are no better than this man that set out with the purpose to hurt others.
Our hearts and minds lie with the girls whose hearts were broken, and the hurt people who hurt people.
