Just a beautiful little book, this was so refreshing as I slog through overwritten, overlong contemporary novels that have taken me weeks now to read Just a beautiful little book, this was so refreshing as I slog through overwritten, overlong contemporary novels that have taken me weeks now to read and which I begin to wonder if I'm ever going to finish.
Like all of Lernet-Holenia's work, this is wry and dry and streamlined down to the bone. There is no excess, no deep backstory, no wallowing in family history or past emotions-what you see is what you get but it's all done so skillfully, with such verve and elan and a beautifully balanced understanding of what the story can handle, how deep it can go. This is more a jeu d'esprit than real historical fiction but it's so perfectly done that I don't care. Leonardo here is little more than a sketch and yet he feels very real, particularly as he confronts the absurdity, the lack of logic, of the other characters. Each of these also feels quite realistic in his own way, and all move towards a ending that is both tragic and rather ridiculous, much like the real world events Lernet-Holenia so lightly limns.
A really lovely novella-highly recommended....more
There is much to admire in this ambitious novel. Serpell has done remarkable amounts of research on the topic of Zambia and its history both ancient aThere is much to admire in this ambitious novel. Serpell has done remarkable amounts of research on the topic of Zambia and its history both ancient and modern, and she addresses serious themes (colonialism, African politics, AIDS, technology), but this is such a long book and often such a tiresome book, that I can't really rate it as high as I'd like.
I felt too often reading this sweeping, multi-generational novel that an editor needed to step in and tell Serpell that she needed to kill her darlings. Because it's clear throughout the novel that the author has fallen head over heels in love with her characters and she's prone to let them run riot, even when what they're doing isn't serving the narrative or illuminating the history of this country (or even entertaining the reader, for that matter). As a science-fiction/fantasy tale, the book only takes off in the last two hundred or so pages. Until then, it's all too clear that the author is world-building, weaving together families and events and leading the reader to the conclusion, and there's just not enough that's really interesting to make the reader (at least this reader) want to make that long trek. The conclusion itself is rather weak and seems underdeveloped. After all that, this is what we get? I felt disappointed.
I've read bits of this book slightly reconfigured elsewhere as short stories and I liked these better as single tales, unburdened by the weight of a wider, unwieldy narrative. Maybe it's just me, but I think each of these many sections might fare better as literature on their own. YMMV....more
Short stories really don't seem to be Koja's strong suit and a number of these are mediocre at best, but there arVacillating between 2.5 and 3 stars.
Short stories really don't seem to be Koja's strong suit and a number of these are mediocre at best, but there are a few that remind me of the power and sheer weirdness of her best long-form work. Overall, I found the historical stories both most convincing and most polished, particularly "The Marble Lily' and "La Reine d'Enfer", the latter of which reminded me strongly of Koja's wonderful Under the Poppy. Of the work with contemporary or near-future settings, I enjoyed "At Eventide", "Baby", and especially "Urb Civ", which I think could be expanded into a very interesting longer work.
In general, I suspect this collection is most likely to appeal to readers who are already fans of Koja's work and are intrigued to see her explore the short form, something she rarely does. As a short story collection overall, this is less than impressive, and I can't recommend it to readers not already invested in this author....more
Too long, too diffuse, and lacking drive. The historical elements of this (the amusement park, the hospital, the streets of Chicago) are pret2.5 stars
Too long, too diffuse, and lacking drive. The historical elements of this (the amusement park, the hospital, the streets of Chicago) are pretty interesting and well-drawn (Hand has clearly done her research) but the biographical portraits are cringeworthy and the dialogue was some of the worst I've read in a while. No character feels fleshed out and most seem more like caricatures than the "gaffed" fun-house freaks that people the Riverview amusement park where much of the story takes place. The less said about the Henry Darger bit, the better. A distinct disappointment....more
This "faction" (the biographer and sometime novelist Jenkins name for her stories based on real-life circumstances and documentation but extrapolated This "faction" (the biographer and sometime novelist Jenkins name for her stories based on real-life circumstances and documentation but extrapolated and filled out beyond biography) is perhaps one of the most distressing things I've read in ages. I kept wanting to skip ahead as I read in the hope that everything would be OK but I hung back because my more sensible, historically informed self knew that couldn't be true.
Based on a genuine Victorian case of a developmentally disabled woman seduced away from her family for the purposes of procuring her inheritance, this is just a soul-crushing read. Jenkins is merciless in the depiction of a heinous crime against a completely innocent woman. She slowly, methodically, carefully builds up the initial meetings, the first glimmerings of avarice, the tightening of the noose. We watch horror-struck as seemingly upright individuals begin to convince themselves to engage in behaviour that an outside observer can only see as grossly selfish and depraved. We long to reach out and shake the few people that seem to have the slightest idea what's going on and we groan in frustration as those few are put off or turned away.
While we, as readers, know where we stand and what side we take, Jenkins as author is remarkably cool and even-handed throughout. It's not that she thinks any of these terrible miscreants she's writing about are blameless or even likeable, but she's determined to fairly render their thought processes as she understands them, their goals and desires, their prevarications and justifications. She digs deep into the aspiring lower-middle class Victorian minds of her characters and what she dredges up is appalling. It's to her credit that she can look at it without flinching or pretending it's something other than what it is.
The final chapter is a like a punch to the gut-it is mundane and pitiless and so terribly true.
A very impressive book. I need to read more by this writer soon....more
An exceptional historical mystery with rapid twists and turns that take ones' breath away, enough so that one doesn't stop to wonder at the implausibiAn exceptional historical mystery with rapid twists and turns that take ones' breath away, enough so that one doesn't stop to wonder at the implausibility of it all.
Set in Georgian London at an anatomy school serviced by "resurrection men" who provide the fresh corpses needed for dissection, this a twisty, morally ambiguous mystery that takes full advantage of its picturesque historical setting. Minagawa clearly loves the London of this era and she lavishes a great deal of time and care on the particulars of her setting, sometimes a bit too much as early chapters sometimes read as infodumps, but when she engages in the mystery itself, she's quite lean and crafty. Characters reveal just what they need to and the difference between what is known by one character and what by another keeps the reader guessing. Early on, Minagawa messes with chronology, moving between past and present (or more recent past), but as the story comes to a close time comes to a stop. All of this is very effective and ends in a convincing but rather ritualistic final scene that brings even the loosest ends to a tight close.
I could quibble about odds and ends (I think poor Elaine is given short shrift and the relationship between the brothers Barton is somewhat unrealistic plus there are some food mistakes that really stand out for readers who know the food ways of the period and location), but overall this is a delightful book and a most intriguing mystery....more
Wildly funny, brilliantly structured dark comedy that brings together the sanitarium and the experimental artist's studio in the most trencha4.5 stars
Wildly funny, brilliantly structured dark comedy that brings together the sanitarium and the experimental artist's studio in the most trenchant and richly satirical of ways. Saying too much would give away some of the joy of reading this antic and absurd yet never less than wholly convincing bizarro world meditation on image, identity, the afterlife, science, and art, so I'll just note that Larraquy is a masterful storyteller who manages to wring pathos out of the most ridiculous situations and insights out of the most grossly self-absorbed characters, all in a brief, breathless, rollicking tale so hard to put down that I felt I'd almost finished it before I started. Perhaps the most fun I've had reading a book this year.
Kudos to Heather Cleary for her bravura translation and to Coffee House Press for publishing this. How this book didn't make the short list for the 2018 National Book Awards Translated Literature prize is beyond me.
Serious and thoughtful, this is more akin to Laurie Sheck's 'A Monster's Notes' than to any of the light-hearted "just add monster" classics 3.5 stars
Serious and thoughtful, this is more akin to Laurie Sheck's 'A Monster's Notes' than to any of the light-hearted "just add monster" classics pastiches so popular a couple of years ago.
Marie-Therese
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