Does Evenson even write anything less than stellar? His psychological, creepy, supernatural, and extraterrestrial horror, places the reader intimatelyDoes Evenson even write anything less than stellar? His psychological, creepy, supernatural, and extraterrestrial horror, places the reader intimately into each scene, crafting uniquely unnerving short stories. The addition of clever wordplay, superb atmospheric skills, and wry humor, result in a collection like no other....more
This is a brilliant fabulist allegory about the ways in which women are taught to keep raw wounded experiences from bleeding though the sanitized maskThis is a brilliant fabulist allegory about the ways in which women are taught to keep raw wounded experiences from bleeding though the sanitized mask of who they are and what they're worth. The imagery is surreal, edgy, poetic, and powerful. Women are encouraged to be incredibly self-aware (particularly in how they come across to, and affect others) but also to sublimate emotions, pain in particular, and to accept the dismissal and disapproval of strong feelings. The highly visceral experience is condensed into its potential for unwanted consequences.
This novel will most resonate with readers who enjoy experimental fiction saturated with metaphorical imagery. Etter's writing echoes the carnal style of Melissa Broder and K-Ming Chang, combined with the surreal qualities of Helen Oyeyemi and Karen Russell. Highly recommend....more
This collection of shorts takes the the genre of speculative science fiction to a whole new level. Not only is each story wildly imaginative and complThis collection of shorts takes the the genre of speculative science fiction to a whole new level. Not only is each story wildly imaginative and completely different from the one before it, but the author goes way beyond future technology. She wants to demonstrate what a completely different long-established social and political structure would look like, and how it would make people in it feel. In most of the stories, women are the power gender. Hurley also not only includes, but actually centers trans, nonbinary, pansexual, and disabled characters. Our biases and ethnocentric perspectives are challenged by her depiction of many kinds of sentient life forms, and other's reactions to them.
The stories invite discussion of: what does it mean to be productive or useful in a society? what ethical rules are there/should there be for interaction with other planets and their inhabitants? what are the boundaries of acceptable family structures and relationships? what, if any, is the standard appearance of a representative life form? what determines personhood?
There's no one else I can think of who is writing like this right now. I would like to see this author expand on her most mind-stretching concepts. I loved all of the stories, but Enyo, Enyo is the most fearless. I'd like to see if the author trusts the reader enough to truly bend our minds even more.
Edited to add: please do not skip the into. It's the best I've ever read, and it will create a bond with reader and author....more
I wish I could give this book more than five stars.
What Richard Powers manages to accomplish is like six stories in one, woven together masterfully. I wish I could give this book more than five stars.
What Richard Powers manages to accomplish is like six stories in one, woven together masterfully. The themes are obvious, but the actions are not as predictable as you might expect. The author has the skill to know exactly how much to say, and what to leave out, so nothing is under or overdeveloped. There aren't extraneous words. The structure is perfect. And sometimes the phrasing is so satisfying that the reader needs to revisit the sentence a few times.
I picked this up, because it looked interesting, and I'm so glad I did. Move over, H.G. Wells, there's a new time-traveler in town! And this time, allI picked this up, because it looked interesting, and I'm so glad I did. Move over, H.G. Wells, there's a new time-traveler in town! And this time, all genders are included.
This is not only a great story, with topical themes, but also relies on the lives and experiences of key real people.
Will we ever solve the question of the Great Man theory? Who knows. But this book gets us closer to an honest answer to the question....more
Fair warning: this will be a fairly long review, because I had so many thoughts as I was reading.
The book is actually two medium length stories. Both Fair warning: this will be a fairly long review, because I had so many thoughts as I was reading.
The book is actually two medium length stories. Both have some elements in common, and neither rushes the plot.
The first story is titled "The Sea Dreams It is The Sky," which immediately conjures for us the mirror effect, in the images of sky and sea. What we often think of as opposites are, in some ways, merely mirror images of each other, and have equal bearing on each other, for evil or for good.
This story slowly eviscerates the collective consciousness, that searing memory of "the disappeared," the political victims of every Western-backed dictator and military junta in South America. What appears on the surface to be an obvious (yet limited) imbalance of power, turns out to have volatile subtext. The prisoner and his torturer both erode their humanity, as a direct result of the effects they have on each other.
There are inelegant ways to die, just as surely as there are inelegant ways to live. Hardening of supreme will over others merely hones the subjected into sharper weapons. This is most evident in the mind's eye, that inner compelling directing voice.
The writing is as cool and sharp as a knife's edge, tactile and ethereal, drawing us in, while simultaneously making us want to back away. The author is particularly skilled in the way he makes the reader feel present at the scene.
The second story is "My Heart Struck Sorrow" and it's a bit more dark in a psychological sense than the first story, which was more physically jarring.
The themes explored are of guilt, grief, longing, justice, redemption, and the power of music. Music, the great equalizer, open to rich and poor, weak and strong, hauntingly beautiful for those who are haunted by grief and despair. Does music smooth our raw animalistic nature, or does it elicit it? Music can be enigmatic in nature, holding opposites in tension, creating paradoxical internal and external conflict, like an unwelcome talisman, or a burdensome Ebeneezer. Music can wrap around the darkness within, the poison places which we can never escape.
The characters present a striking juxtaposition: a sentimental stylized pouring out of one's soul versus a stark kind of existentialist worldview in which all emotions are held in tension. At its most supernatural, the story lifts the veil between life and death. At its most straightforward, it skewers Manifest Destiny and the White Man's Burden. There's a lot more going on than we first realize. It's a good piece of writing. The first story reminded me heavily of Roberto Bolaño, the incredible Chilean writer who wrote 2666. I'm not sure who the second story reminds me of, but several have compared it to the writing of H.P. Lovecraft. This is a worthy read....more
What a crazy fun ride: both incredibly smart and uncannily funny. The story reads like a Douglas Adams novel in terms of humor, but it's a wry satiricWhat a crazy fun ride: both incredibly smart and uncannily funny. The story reads like a Douglas Adams novel in terms of humor, but it's a wry satirical take on the very real dangers of giving monopolies and the government way too much power, while the public ends up receiving less and less accountability. The algorithm is the theme of this year in fiction. There is a lot of dystopian lit warning us that we are being manipulated by algorithms, and if we don't stop the trend now, we may not be able to. I adore smart + funny. This author seems to have a complete working understanding of social sciences, political science, bio-tech, philosophy, economics, and marketing. I've never seen such competence across so many arenas. And she also has a deft hand with references to poetry and classic literature.
Her style, of revealing truths in nesting eggs, or through the slight variations on a repeated phrase, may be irritating to some, but I found the tactic hilarious and resonating. This is a very timely, and a timeless warning about trying to control the existence of variability.
I was mesmerized by the way the author poured out the lives of her characters in a steady stream of skillful prose.
One major theme of the novel is geI was mesmerized by the way the author poured out the lives of her characters in a steady stream of skillful prose.
One major theme of the novel is generational trauma, and the way it pervades and perfuses the lives of descendants, like ink spilled across a page. Yet, bright pain stands next to beauty, love, and even sporadic splashes of joy. The story also explores different kinds of severing, and the scars they leave behind. The concepts of losing, transcending, rebuilding, and reclaiming, are even larger elements, creating the structure upon which the entire narrative rests.
The characters choose whether to make space for each other, and whether to step into a space, even if that means remaking themselves.
It's a poignant story, with just the right amount of pathos to hit the right note....more
This book is like a 12 course meal of magic. It's a clever thriller which truly delivers. Heartily recommend.This book is like a 12 course meal of magic. It's a clever thriller which truly delivers. Heartily recommend....more
Stunning. Incredibly timely. One of the most important books of 2019. It's hard to unpack it all. It's a mirror held up to all of us, asking "What areStunning. Incredibly timely. One of the most important books of 2019. It's hard to unpack it all. It's a mirror held up to all of us, asking "What are we doing?!?" and demanding answers and action....more
An emotionally eviscerating memoir. I had to get up and walk around about twenty separate times, just to process my reactions. Maybe I needed to walk An emotionally eviscerating memoir. I had to get up and walk around about twenty separate times, just to process my reactions. Maybe I needed to walk around as a way of symbolically removing myself from my own experiences. Maybe I needed to be sure I could still move, as the narrative deepened and I experienced an increasing paralysis of vulnerability.
This book is absolutely vital and frightening and important. And hard. It extricates the muted memories of all of us who have ever been gaslit and controlled. Our number is legion. Our story has rarely been told....more
This book was such a fun ride. Even when it took sudden sharp turns, and squealed around sharp curves, I*** some spoilers after the first paragraph***
This book was such a fun ride. Even when it took sudden sharp turns, and squealed around sharp curves, I didn't really mind. There are elements of everything, an indulgent smorgasbord of American culture for better or worse. Sure, there's a vague outline of Don Quixote, but also shadows of Being There. Imagine being pelted with unrelentingly clever references to countless legends, myths, and fairy tales. Which is not to say that there isn't a serious side. American culture's ugly underbelly is also exposed, and like most threats, cannot be sidestepped.
There is a continuous juxtaposition of the classical baroque romantic with the stark and unyielding modern world.
Sancho is at first represented by a kind of interactive hologram, a construction of virtual reality. This mirrors the virtual reality not only in the mind of Quichotte, but also in our modern keyboard internet interactions, the connections which rarely take place "in real life." Sancho exhibits (to the degree that he can exist outside of Quichotte) an Ecclesiastes-like persona. You almost expect him to say "All is vanity." Yet, he persists on this mad quest, because do you really exist if no one knows you're alive? Sancho's transformation from hazy pinocchio figment to a real boy signals the deepening intrusion of fantasy into reality.
Quichotte is driven by a quantitative theory of love expressed by the lizard brain mentality of those who see every advantage in terms of a pie chart. It's the belief that if someone else has love, that means less for me. It's a curious vantage point for someone so completely immersed in romanticism.
The quest gets a little bogged down in a combination Animal Farm salute/symbolic representation of extreme right wing destruction of norms. The alt-right wing of the Republican party is thinly disguised as a dangerous full or partial metamorphosis. And/or the reader can envision the episode as an allegory about how we treat perceived monsters in our midst. The side quest with the dangerous alt-right tea party beasts, and the more moderate almost reasonable types, makes the point that even enemies understand that "the enemy of my enemy is my friend." The point is made so briefly that it could become easily lost.
There is a thread which runs throughout the work and never breaks: the growing persistence of incredibly hostile prejudices, and the tendency towards victim blaming, especially when it comes to people of color. The quest is interrupted, but not completely derailed, by the nearly fatal lesson that Nazis in nice suits with good jobs and respectable haircuts are just as dangerous as other Nazis.
Quichotte, and by extension, Sancho, must learn that everyone is connected, and that there exists a kind of cosmic butterfly effect, where our actions have an effect on our known universe. A character obviously crafted as a stand-in for Elon Musk, wants to break through everything we know and reach the alternative reality which may one day save us. The parallel to Quichotte's quest is bolstered by this egotist, even as our protagonist dives into the most humble reaches of his own psyche.
Somehow, the story takes a quick pit stop to examine cyberterrorism, 'cause why not? The transition in the story from hacktivism to the kinds of masks we all (not just groups like Anonymous) wear is a thread-bare tether, but at this point, you just go with it. And it kind of works in the end, though it's not the strongest part of the plot.
The ending is tidy and there are no real loose ends from the meandering plot. To be fair, the structure is true to Cervantes' style in the original. This was clever over-the-top funny without being irritating, even with the tendency of the characters to rephrase their reactions until you laugh out loud. There's nothing else like this out there. If Douglas Adams were still with us, he probably would have loved it and written the foreward, even though this is a different genre entirely, it has his wink and smile grinning throughout.
This is a crazy time to be alive, and finally someone wrote a crazy funny story to help us deal with it.
From the start, Owuor gently tilts the reader off balance, with an undertow of clove, eucalyptus and mint, delicate splashes of lime and rosewater, raFrom the start, Owuor gently tilts the reader off balance, with an undertow of clove, eucalyptus and mint, delicate splashes of lime and rosewater, rare sparkles of sea glass and rubies, all infused in lyrical prose, reminiscent of sunlight fractals as viewed from underwater. The sheer sensory differences of the underwater world are a reorienting process. Some readers are impatient for the plot to unfold more quickly (and for the action to develop outside, rather than inside the characters). The Kenyan cultural tradition seems to stipulate that first, you need to be fully immersed and transformed, before you can know.
The author makes it clear that this is a work of introspective character development, and she offers a heavily descriptive deep-dive into themes of love and loss. Words, textures, flavors, and scents, have layered meanings. She writes: "To savor its [a word's] essence . . . you must taste at least three languages on your tongue." This is why the author weaves her native language into the story. By inducing pauses for digesting the unfamiliar words, she invites the reader into a sea-like rhythm of waves.
Owuor teaches us to channel the moon-driven tides of the sea. We become one with the ebb and flow, transformed by the push, pull, weight, grit, and depth. As in nature, we find the balance of the percentage of salty minerals within us, to be the exact proportion found in the ocean itself.
This story will rip your heart out, shred it, and stuff it back into your chest. Yet, you will take a breath, take a breath, take another painful breaThis story will rip your heart out, shred it, and stuff it back into your chest. Yet, you will take a breath, take a breath, take another painful breath, copying the divers, and you will read it to the end. It is a story of friendship and forgiveness, and the bonds which are unique to women. And it is raw, real, rough-edged, and at times, agonizing, but incredibly moving and vitally important.
The first-person stories of those who lived through not only devastating hardship, but also dizzying changes of the 20th century, are slipping away from us. We must preserve the record of their experiences, not just statistically, but emotionally. Their emotional imprint must not fade away, or their sacrifices and lessons will be lost to us.
The depths are plumbed: of war, terror, scorched earth policies, hunger, pride, loss, betrayal. Yet, there is another depth which may give or take away: the sea. The haenyeo divers draw on, and are supported and sustained by the skills they learn to overcome pain and hardship. Their strengths center them and allow them to survive and adapt, even to horror and despair. They lean on their joys and their interdependence, both on each other and on the sea.
You may find yourself emotionally exhausted by the end, but, hopefully, grateful for this story....more
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