What a gorgeous tumult of language and meaning. The words gallop from one sentence to the next so physically that I stopped responding to them as 'uttWhat a gorgeous tumult of language and meaning. The words gallop from one sentence to the next so physically that I stopped responding to them as 'utterances with meaning' and began to feel them instead as if they were things made of pure sound, and color, and flight. This novel's meanings are deep, and the history the novel covers is real, but what I came away with was a deep appreciation for the way meanings can channel themselves through the music of the words as much as through their dictionary-sense.
I experienced this word-tumult via audiobook, and Rachel Coates is the perfect, perfect narrator for the novel--bright optimism, perfect pacing, and a buoyant enthusiasm that carries off every unexpected sentence....more
It would be hard to love this novel more than I did. It captivated me for the way it plays off of Coetzee's Disgrace and for the way it sometimes reflIt would be hard to love this novel more than I did. It captivated me for the way it plays off of Coetzee's Disgrace and for the way it sometimes reflects, sometimes refutes that novel's core premises.
There is just one other book I'm aware of in this genre of "literary criticism presented as a novel"--The Meursault Investigation, a novel by Kamel Daoud, which is a critique-as-fiction of Camus's The Stranger. I wish there were more. I feel as if I've spent time with an extraordinary writer who also loves reading, and who understands how literary language works. It made my brain light up in entirely new ways. Marvelously entertaining for all you nerdy people out there like me. You know who you are.
Disgrace by Coetzee was a mighty interesting read to me, primarily for its flaws. Now, whether these flaws are the author Coetzee's fault, or the fault of the protagonist, is an interesting question. It's an interesting question when reading Lacuna, too. As in the source novel, the protagonist here has some unpleasant views, and she is dead wrong about so many things, including what she says about the novel Disgrace and what she says about the author Coetzee--the "Coetzee" in the novel doesn't correspond with the real author, in some significant ways.
The rape scene in Disgrace outraged me for a completely out-of-the-box reason--it required me to believe that the protagonist was locked -inside- of a bathroom and therefore powerless to help his daughter when she is gang raped on the other side of the door. Huh? Since when do bathrooms lock on the outside? This critical flaw at the center of the most critical scene of the novel left me wondering about just what is and isn't real in the entire novel of Disgrace....and it left me more than ready to read Lacuna, a novel about an equally flawed protagonist, who also gets so many things wrong!
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Updating to include a link to Steven G. Kellman's masterful meticulous review of Lacuna for the LA Review of Books:
Kellman's review delves deep into the layers of obfuscations and misrepresentations in this novel. One of the things I loved most about it was trying to find the resting point for its many diversions either from the truth of Coetzee's novel, or the truth of Coetzee's life, both of which are deliberately, playfully altered in Snyckers's novel....more
Reading Kirby’s collection is like watching an irreverent halftime marching band scatter chaotically across a football field, only to find its perfectReading Kirby’s collection is like watching an irreverent halftime marching band scatter chaotically across a football field, only to find its perfect formation at the last second. Seemingly random events coalesce into a deeper meaning. Kirby’s characters aren’t necessarily wiser for their often harrowing experiences, but they do appear more content on the other side.
The stories in this Irish author’s new book are about loss, death, the inevitability of grief, the indignities of age and the way a life can suddenly The stories in this Irish author’s new book are about loss, death, the inevitability of grief, the indignities of age and the way a life can suddenly slide into the abyss. It could have been very grim going, but MacLaverty writes with such compassion that his stories never feel bleak; they feel humane. They feel hopeful.
A reference to Mark Rothko’s later period features briefly in “Thank You, Mr. Nixon,” and his abstract paintings are an apt metaphor for Jen’s own spaA reference to Mark Rothko’s later period features briefly in “Thank You, Mr. Nixon,” and his abstract paintings are an apt metaphor for Jen’s own spare style: On the surface her storytelling seems simple and direct, but the closer you look the more layered and complex it becomes. Through characters distracted by the superficial colors of their lives, Jen invites her readers to consider profound questions about history, ancestry and identity.
These stories are all the more remarkable for the elegant, organic ways in which the author unhooks language from its entrenched assumptions about genThese stories are all the more remarkable for the elegant, organic ways in which the author unhooks language from its entrenched assumptions about gender. My favorite was "Bump." It's the best story I've read in years.
The theme of these stories is disruption and I as a reader felt a strong sense of dislocation and an awareness that the writers' life experiences wereThe theme of these stories is disruption and I as a reader felt a strong sense of dislocation and an awareness that the writers' life experiences were far removed from my own. The introduction tells the story of how this anthology was delayed a year because of the ravages of covid-19. It drove home to me the health and social and cultural and economic costs of this world-wide pandemic, and how unevenly these costs have been distributed across our globe.
The stories themselves? They weren't written for me. They were written by people who have known loss and economic uncertainty and political uncertainty far beyond anything I've experienced. The first two stories, two in a row, put a character in a quandary about how to dispose of a body. Yes these are futuristic stories but they feel soaked in the tears and sufferings of the present. I didn't always understand these stories. I didn't understand their structure--where they began and where they ended up many times felt arbitrary and not in keeping with my idea of what a short story is supposed to do. I feel unable to evaluate them in the same way I would read and evaluate a story by a recent MFA graduate from Iowa. So while I could well write "I did not understand them" or even "I did not like them" at times, I chalk that up to my ignorance and my biases. In the end the anthology left me wanted to read more from these authors. And to educate myself....more
Published in 2014. I loved the range of choices. I loved the way the poems are presented both in their original languages and in English. I was deeplyPublished in 2014. I loved the range of choices. I loved the way the poems are presented both in their original languages and in English. I was deeply aware as I read that this anthology was published when Obama was president. George Lory's introductory essay "Poets, to Your Quills, Africa is Taking Off" was so filled with buoyant optimism, about the spread of democracy, the end of famine, the flourishing of African voices. Reading this anthology was like finding a precious unbroken work of art from the past that was buried under the rubble of the present....more
I read along enthralled at this magnificent ensemble piece, caught up in the story, feeling the genuineness and the complicated-ness of the people in I read along enthralled at this magnificent ensemble piece, caught up in the story, feeling the genuineness and the complicated-ness of the people in it, full of wonder and appreciation at how skilled Emezi was at keeping so many plates spinning and making me care so much--and then all the plates fell down.
update: my friend jo has helped me reconsider my disappointment in the ending and I've decided that I shouldn't let that letdown overshadow the magnificence and the nuance of the rest of this novel.
I see some reviewers here wished for more focus on Vivek, or the relationship between Vivek and Osita, but I loved the many digressions and the feeling I got from those, especially the many representations of married life, family, and intergenerational relationships between families. My favorite chapter in the entire novel was the extremely digressive chapter sixteen, where a man named Ebenezer watches Vivek from afar and thinks he is looking at a beautiful tall girl. Emezi skillfully connects the reader with some overlapping scenes, through the use of repeated dialog. But the main story isn't about Vivek at all--it's about how Ebenezer comes to realize how much he loves his wife. It's beautiful storytelling that gives us a completely different perspective on the landscape of this novel....more
Every sentence opened me. I felt as if this book were speaking to me privately and intimately, about private joys and private melancholy. I fell into Every sentence opened me. I felt as if this book were speaking to me privately and intimately, about private joys and private melancholy. I fell into a profound sense of being in a personal conversation with what I was reading on the page. I was reminded of what I should be paying attention to in my life--both in my big life--what it's all about--and in the small daily moments--what beauty there is to be found in them. The book worked on a pre-semantic level in me, where the meanings of the words were deeper than the words themselves. I can't remember reading a book that accomplished this with such ease, such joy. My deep thanks to Sheila Heti for trusting the person inside her who insisted that she write this book.
(Note on Apr 26 2022: I just bought my 5th copy of this book. I keep giving it away to friends. The only other book that I've given away this many times and bought again for myself is In the Distance by Hernan Diaz.)...more
I'm happy for Honorée Fanonne Jeffers to have received the acclaim she has, and to have reached so many people with her story.I'm happy for Honorée Fanonne Jeffers to have received the acclaim she has, and to have reached so many people with her story....more
Personal taste review alert. The novel is told in a voice didn't work for me and so I found it tough going. The voice has a faux-naive breathless qualPersonal taste review alert. The novel is told in a voice didn't work for me and so I found it tough going. The voice has a faux-naive breathless quality due to the simple sentence structure and the choice of present-tense, first-person to tell the story, and it didn't feel authentic to me. The author's narrative objectives kept breaking through the illusion of this voice being genuine. I feel bad that I couldn't adapt to the voice, as the story itself is important and worth telling. Sorry to not have connected with this one....more
Beautiful galloping prose. Almost too personal. The events described felt suffocatingly close to my head--they got inside my head. Even though the twoBeautiful galloping prose. Almost too personal. The events described felt suffocatingly close to my head--they got inside my head. Even though the two books each describe a very different childhood, the reading experience reminded me of THE GLASS CASTLE--I felt threatened, and on the edge of peril as I read.
Petra Hůlová's Three Plastic Rooms was startling, grotesque, and revelatory--and it made me eager to read THE MOVEMENT. I didn't have the same visceraPetra Hůlová's Three Plastic Rooms was startling, grotesque, and revelatory--and it made me eager to read THE MOVEMENT. I didn't have the same visceral reaction to this novel. It didn't hit me in the gut the way Three Plastic Rooms did. It felt far more intellectual and I could hold it at arm's length and not be moved by it as I read. I think Three Plastic Rooms is one of the bravest books I've ever read, and however extreme the images and events were I never stopped feeling the protagonist's humanity. I just didn't connect the same way here. Three stars though for the absolute smartness of the author's vision....more
I loved reading this brief memoir so much. It's full of clarity and light and love. Jan Morris made the world a better place. She's first on my list oI loved reading this brief memoir so much. It's full of clarity and light and love. Jan Morris made the world a better place. She's first on my list of people I want to emulate, and to learn from....more
I didn't really enjoy reading this book. But I loved it anyway. It felt more like a primary resource discovered in a dusty part of the smithsonian arcI didn't really enjoy reading this book. But I loved it anyway. It felt more like a primary resource discovered in a dusty part of the smithsonian archive than it felt like a living novel. I can see why it stayed unpublished for many years. It's intellectually and ideologically complex, and it doesn't fit into any of the easy categories that were available to African American writers at the time (if they wanted to be published that is). I'm thinking for instance of Richard Wright's simplistic and polemical acceptance of communist thought in the last half of Native Son. This book in contrast is self-critical and questioning and not at all simple. It mocks the attractions of communism as a possible way toward racial equality, but it is equally skeptical of other -isms. Because it is so much more a 'head' story than a 'heart' story it reminds me far more of Lionel Trilling's novel The Middle of the Journey than of other Harlem Renaissance fiction--it's a novel of ideas, so much so that I could almost feel McKay debating between alternatives in his head as he wrote. Fascinating but not for the usual reasons....more
My second time through this book, I was just as enthralled. It's a mysterious combination of history, historiography, and literary criticism. It teaseMy second time through this book, I was just as enthralled. It's a mysterious combination of history, historiography, and literary criticism. It teases out the way military history so often devolves into nationalistic takes or heroic mythmaking. Most mysteriously of all it unveils the moment-by-moment happenings and experiences of the men who participated in three battles that even those of us who never had much interest in military history have heard about and developed feelings about: Agincourt (which prompted Shakespeare to write the glorious soliloquy in Henry V), Waterloo, and the WWI battle of The Somme. Of course battle is on my mind just now. It's on everyone's mind on Mar 28 2022. This book gave me one more way to think about the way war is unfolding in Ukraine. In particular what Keegan writes about the importance of the weather in determining outcomes feels eerily like what I'm reading in the news--how the French at Agincourt were defeated as much by mud as by the opposing army.
Original review:
I have never read anything like this book before, and I learned so much, and it's so well written, about a topic I never thought would be something I'd want to read about and it had me riveted. I feel like I've spent time with a very wise person who had given me a better sense of what it means to be human....more
Reading Wise Blood again made me wonder whether Flannery O'Connor ever asked herself: "what the heck did I just write, and why?"Reading Wise Blood again made me wonder whether Flannery O'Connor ever asked herself: "what the heck did I just write, and why?"...more
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