Pitiless portrait of a loathsome man

Fatso, by Lars Ramslie, New Island, €14.95.

Rarely has an author set out to create a ‘hero’ so objectionable as the protagonist in Lars Ramslie’s Fatso.

Rino Hanssen is an obese, sweaty, ambitionless 34-year-old virgin who is obsessed with sex. He lives in an Oslo apartment owned by his father and spends his time watching hardcore pornography and engaging in what can best be described as deviant behaviour.

He masturbates in phone boxes ...