I didn't like it all that much, but it ends better than it begins and its an easy read. I've been assigned to use it as reading material for a middle-I didn't like it all that much, but it ends better than it begins and its an easy read. I've been assigned to use it as reading material for a middle-school English class. As a narrative and character study, it's decent enough for that purpose....more
I read it and I liked it. One thing to like is that the book presents the complexity of Hurston and the events of her life without grafting on an inteI read it and I liked it. One thing to like is that the book presents the complexity of Hurston and the events of her life without grafting on an interpretation or identifying themes. It's entertainingly told, but life is complex, and it doesn't set out to either lionize or critique its subject. It presents Hurston for what we know of her, and that's that....more
This is probably Mike Kleine's most cryptic text yet, and it is an art object that emphasizes the design of the book, including its use of a monospaceThis is probably Mike Kleine's most cryptic text yet, and it is an art object that emphasizes the design of the book, including its use of a monospace typeface to create patterns and designs on the page. At times it resembles an account of a video game, at times it is a military adventure, and at all times it is dark and ominous... in a playful way! As it goes, it develops into something apocalyptic, akin to Revelations. There are a lot of hints at mystical and other-dimensional goings-on, and it's written in its own alt-dialect, chock full of alt-spellings, which Kleine has been developing throughout his various books and stories. It concludes with a thorough index that catalogues many of the words in the text, in a way that reminds me of Italo Calvino's somewhat dystopian concept of computer book-analysis that strips a text of its syntax and reduces it to a heap of words to be understood only in terms of diction and word-frequencies....more
One could perhaps nitpick, but why would one bother when encountering a novel with such a sentence as "If I had kept my pinkies, I could have cut themOne could perhaps nitpick, but why would one bother when encountering a novel with such a sentence as "If I had kept my pinkies, I could have cut them off for another beautiful woman who wasn't burned in a fire and I could be making love to her instead"!
But seriously, this book is brimming with entertainings and wittinesses and awe-inspiring skewerings of all things literary and political, and it contains a few entertainments on themes neither literary nor political for those who require a bit of variety, and it all ends brilliantly. It has the perfect mix of absurd humor and bleak cynicism to suit me. There is also plenty of sincere (and self-aware) raving, which is suitable as we all live in a world that deserves to be raved at and about.
I think it's fair to call this a good book. I enjoyed reading it. I didn't find myself particularly swayed by George Saunders's writing advice, but I I think it's fair to call this a good book. I enjoyed reading it. I didn't find myself particularly swayed by George Saunders's writing advice, but I at least found it interesting to discover what he took away from the enclosed stories. My early reaction to the first few chapters didn't change by the end, and that reaction was to say, Saunders is describing a way of writing as if it were the way of writing. It may well be useful to novice writers, and it includes some interesting exercises.
Saunders himself acknowledges this in an afterword in which he basically concludes that a good writer will take what is useful from this book, and supplement and adapt it to his or her particular way of writing.
The challenge I was anticipating was to see how Saunders would attempt to rationalize Gogol's "The Nose" to fit with his own emphasis on efficiency in a story and on escalation. As it turned out, Saunders showed a good understanding and appreciation of "The Nose," it was interesting to read his take on it, and... "The Nose" doesn't really support Saunders's notions. Rather, Saunders's incomplete system has to bend a little to allow room for such an unorthodox tale. Which led me to proclaim, "A rule that admits of exception is no rule at all!" Which means that Saunders leaves us with some ideas to play with, but without rules.
But the stories! Yes, the best thing I got from the book was that I was led to read some good short Russian stories that I might not have been inclined to pick up otherwise, and I was prompted to look a little deeper into them and also to consider them as potential models for short-story writing. Which is the real point of this book, right? And I probably wasn't about to start browsing Chekhov and Turgenev stories any time soon until this book fell into my lap, and they all turned out to be good stories, so hoorah that....more
I've read a lot of M. Kleine's work now, and his distinctive writer's voice is here, even though it's cryptic, and even if some machine-writing was inI've read a lot of M. Kleine's work now, and his distinctive writer's voice is here, even though it's cryptic, and even if some machine-writing was involved in its composition (I'm not sure that there was, but it's a distinct possibility.) I'd say that it's even one-step denser than what I've seen before, it's a shade darker in its apocalyptic nature, and on the spectrum from prose, to prose-poetry, to just... poetry, it's deeper in the poetry camp. For me that means it isn't something I can read easily-breezily, but rather I must take it slowly an cyclically. It has the nature of slightly alien language that parses differently. It is bleak (even as it's also funny). In that way, if this fits in a genre of "ambient-lit," as perhaps suggested on the cover, that may be a misnomer. It can't just play in the background--you've got to read it. But labels don't matter, do they?
It has an open-ended nature to it, too--not to suggest a lack of closure, but I recognize a kind of tentativeness to that closure because Klein's work likes to visit different intersecting planes and allows itself to jump here and there... it could easily be the middle part of something else, and perhaps it will serve as an invitation to new readers to peek into more of this author's unique work.
By the way, the goodreads page links to a publisher's site which is, at least at the moment, giving away the .pdf. It is a self-described pamphlet, a few pages in length. It didn't feel like it needed to be either longer or shorter, and the hint at the potential for more is a strength of the work....more
I'll probably finish this eventually, since I think I'm about 2/3 of the way into it. It's okay. The premise is intriguing--guy has power to freeze tiI'll probably finish this eventually, since I think I'm about 2/3 of the way into it. It's okay. The premise is intriguing--guy has power to freeze time, uses it to get pervy, a lot, and it pretty much defines what's important in his life. I think it has enough worthwhile material to make a decent short story, or maybe a slimmer novella. Maybe not much more. The humor often didn't work for me, though I liked the initial absurdity of the protagonist's first attempt at writing erotica. The obsessive-compulsiveness of it, and its commitment to following its premise, taking it seriously enough to look at its implications... I thought at first it was going to be the strength of the book, and I reckon it's admirable of the author to pursue a project in this way... and yet it became tiresome for me. But I probably ought to eventually follow it to its conclusion. Maybe not right now, though.
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I went back to finish it, and regrettably, it gets worse. It was, overall, extremely tedious. At times it was repulsive, which... yeah, is likely intentional, but no thanks. The facetious use of ridiculous erotica-style terms for body parts and sex acts, such as fist-hammering one's "gender-pole" was a worn-out schtick very early on, but it just kept going--not to my amusement. If it's not going to make you laugh, it's going to make you groan a lot, like being trapped at a stand-up comedy show that ran off the rails from the first joke but went on for hours anyway. So, it alternates between that kind of unpleasantness and the other unpleasantness of being trapped in another man's bizarre fetish fantasy. (It doesn't matter if it's a semi-parodic fantasy, I was still trapped in it.)
And then, briefly at the end, it got a touch better--not a whole lot, but somewhat--when the tedium broke and the book's dilemma worked out a way to resolve itself--as another kind of fantasy, it is true--but it was a relief for the fantasy to take on another kind character. But what was probably best about the ending was that it finally felt relatively brisk and not too laborious... and the end was finally approaching. I was halfway tempted to forgive and forget what came before, but I couldn't.
I don't know for sure if I've been a little too harsh, or not harsh enough. This certainly left some impressions. But I think the book was ill-conceived, nothing I can think of could quite fix it, and I'd probably have rather read... well, one-thousand-and-one other possible books.
(And, the third way I thought of to end this review is...)
One thing I usually value is when a book is completely different from other books I've read. This is that, but I guess it's the wrong kind of different....more
I hesitated to write an insufficient review (I.e., I wasn't up to the task because there's so much I could say), and thus I wrote no review at all, buI hesitated to write an insufficient review (I.e., I wasn't up to the task because there's so much I could say), and thus I wrote no review at all, but that's not fair. There are a thousand bright ideas, clever turns of phrase, and apt reflections on the ridiculous conceits of us humans. It is humorously hyperbolic. I'll omit some of the quotations that would make this a fuller review, and get straight to the praise: This was brilliant, funny, inventive, surprising, and well executed at every turn. I think I've read all of M.J.'s book-length works so far, and this was the best yet. Read it y'all!...more
I enjoyed it, I learned a few things from it, and I would probably enjoy more of it if it were longer. But I also think I'd have to read it or listen I enjoyed it, I learned a few things from it, and I would probably enjoy more of it if it were longer. But I also think I'd have to read it or listen to it again to make it stick, and I'm not sure... but I think I needed more development in each chapter... something deeper maybe, or more examples of use in context. I think this might serve well as a starting point for further investigation. Yet, who am I fooling? Do I have time for such an investigation right now? Maybe a cursory review was all I had the energy and attention for now, anyway....more
This is a good book in which deGrasse Tyson shows his strength for communicating scientific knowledge in clear terms suitable for laypersons, with entThis is a good book in which deGrasse Tyson shows his strength for communicating scientific knowledge in clear terms suitable for laypersons, with enthusiasm and excitement. Among other things, the author has moved me a bit closer to understanding why the hypothesis of dark matter is so widely accepted among astrophysicists. The only time the book seemed to ring a wrong note for me was in the end, when deGrasse Tyson attempted to bring closure by emphasis on his faith in the value of a cosmic mindset, whereby we humans will see our problems in the right perspective through the right lens. It may be a beautiful idea, and I'm sure I understand why publishers would want a clear and profound summation of the whole point of science, but... it's naive, and it isn't true. Psychically, there's no saving humans from the human condition. But thanks so much for unfolding and elucidating some of the mysteries of astrophysics, which is really what the point was....more
This memoir gives insight into the experience of civilians in the midst of an anti-colonial struggle. It is a personal memoir full of personal hardshiThis memoir gives insight into the experience of civilians in the midst of an anti-colonial struggle. It is a personal memoir full of personal hardships and remembrances, but it reveals how the life of one is influenced by political and social context, even as these grand forces are only partially perceived and appreciated by a child in the middle of a turbulent and confusing time. Ngũgĩ also reflects on the importance of storytelling, language, and education in his development.
The painful part of reading this book, for me, was not just the reflection on the injustices of the past, but the consideration of who may be going through similar injustices today, and how much of that injustice is abetted or perpetrated by *my* people.
I look forward to picking up one of the author's works of fiction someday....more
What this book has going for it, which must account for much of its appeal, amounts to two things as far as I can tell: One, it has some uncanny imageWhat this book has going for it, which must account for much of its appeal, amounts to two things as far as I can tell: One, it has some uncanny images; Two, it's written in the form of a gradually unspooling mystery such that the reader is always teased into reading further.
The biggest mark against this book is that the author writes badly--at least on a sentence level, he is a terrible, terrible writer. I wonder if this is what happens when one reads heaps upon heaps of clumsily written sci-fi manuscripts. There is no end of gibberish that gets in the way of the reader's attempts to grasp the author's ideas. The fact that Vandermeer is touted by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux as "an award winning novelist and editor" baffles me.
"Inevitably, my focus netted from my parents useless lectures of worry over my chronic introversion, as if by doing so they could convince me they were still in charge."
It seems the verb "net" here means something like "result"; why or how "focus" should result from lectures of worry about introversion, I'm not sure; why this is "inevitable" is quite unclear; and while I can intuit the role of the "as if" clause, it obviously doesn't parse well and there's real mangled syntax in its use here.
Another hard to parse passage is:
"No one had as yet plumbed the depths of intent or purpose in a way that had obstructed that intent or purpose."
I think (but could be wrong) that the author means that everyone had neglected to...(blah blah blah)...in a way that had...(blah blah blah)... but in the original, the "in a way" phrase has a very tenuous relationship to the rest of the sentence, and the real meaning is hard to discern.
Another example of oddly-cobbled-together phrases is:
"I knew each individual frog from from the next, Old Flopper so much different from Ugly Leaper, and during which month I could expect the grass to teem with hopping juveniles."
I could get into the weird lack of parallelism in how "knew" is distributed here, but... isn't this just obviously an ugly sentence?
"The sense of unease in ignoring the ominous quality of those words was palpable."
Wait, what was palpable again? Seriously?
The best sentence I could find in the book was "We spoke in whispers, as if we might be overheard." Though, it would probably be better as "We spoke in whispers."
And, speaking of "as if," this should be the foundation of a VanderMeer drinking game: drink once every time he uses the phrase "as if," and you'll have to read slowly, but you're guaranteed to stay drunk for a whole month.
Throughout the text, the author is overly fond of pseudo-profound contrary constructions: calm that is oddly anxiety-producing; freedom that is constraining; utter stillness that suggests movement; a stillness that is "simultaneously an invitation to let down your guard and a rebuke against letting down your guard"; a woman who "had either been crazy or all too sane."
Everything, we are told, is enormously profound or evocative. We must be told this, because we wouldn't otherwise perceive it.
There are clownish assertions at times, such as "I'd had experience enough with lighthouse keepers to know one when I saw one" (from a woman who, as far as we know, has never seen one.) One would be tempted to read this as a joke if not for the novel's utter lack of a sense of humor. Simply, the author needed us to know that this was the lighthouse keeper, while the first-person narrator knew nothing.
But so much of the book is delivered to us in exactly this way. The know-nothing narrator serves primarily as an expository mouthpiece for the author's strangely contrived notions. The book has an OCD compulsion to cycle back upon its own ideas to try to further explain them, vaguely or incoherently (whereas the ideas might have more potency if Vandermeer would just hit it and quit it like some of "the biologist's" fly-by-night lovers).
There is no plausible characterization in this book. No one resembles an actual person. There is no plausible dialog. The author seemingly strives for non-intuitive reactions, but it often plays out badly. Ho hum, dead bodies turning into plants, blood everywhere, bullet holes and smashed up furniture, whatever... Oh my fucking God, a pile of books! Waaah!
Other gripes:
At one time, the protagonist stays "at the farthest extremity from civilization", in a rented cottage, and spends much of her time at the local pub. Note to author: the farthest extreme from civilization has no rental cottages or pubs. And no, this did not read as witty hyperbole. This was thoughtlessness.
There is an overabundance of adverbs and adverb phrases at all times.
"An almost plaintive keening" sounds a lot to me like "an almost sad weeping."
"A reluctance I could only call hesitation" is a rather miserable construction.
Three or more instances of "grim satisfaction" are several too many, and the negative construction, "There shouldn't have been a grim sort of satisfaction in the thought," is not an improvement.
And finally, this is a strange conceit: "A name was a dangerous luxury here. Sacrifices didn't need names." Okay, don't tell us their names if you don't want to, but you don't have to get all 'splainy 'splainy about everything, and remember, soldiers have names; even suicide bombers have names. It might even give them a "grim satisfaction" to have their names known....more
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