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againanew's review against another edition
4.0
Okay, where's the rest of the book?
Amazing, brilliant. Just as all Miéville books are. He continues to be my all-time favorite author. But seriously, this story needs to be finished. It's too much suspense and depth to just leave off. I couldn't put it down and then... It just abruptly ended.
Amazing, brilliant. Just as all Miéville books are. He continues to be my all-time favorite author. But seriously, this story needs to be finished. It's too much suspense and depth to just leave off. I couldn't put it down and then... It just abruptly ended.
timinbc's review against another edition
1.0
Wow. I started with Perdido Street Station all those years ago, and enjoyed several others from this brilliant author.
Recently I read, and detested, Three Views of an Explosion. This is the same but worse.
Based on the half of the book I read ... it seems that Miéville read Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane, then went to (or taught) a class on Deconstruction And The Modern Story, dropped some acid, read Gaiman's The Truth Is A Cave in the Black Mountains, went to a weekend of absurdist plays, and worked on his Ph.D. thesis on The Irrelevance of Cohesion in Modern Literature. Then wrote this after a sleepless weekend.
I'm left with nothing but a ghostly voice whispering, "There's something narsty in the woodshed."
Pfui. Miéville's too smart for me, too erudite, too lit'r'y.
I just want someone to tell me a story.
Someone *should* push the boundaries of what a story is. China may be the one who should do it. But he can do it without me.
Recently I read, and detested, Three Views of an Explosion. This is the same but worse.
Based on the half of the book I read ... it seems that Miéville read Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane, then went to (or taught) a class on Deconstruction And The Modern Story, dropped some acid, read Gaiman's The Truth Is A Cave in the Black Mountains, went to a weekend of absurdist plays, and worked on his Ph.D. thesis on The Irrelevance of Cohesion in Modern Literature. Then wrote this after a sleepless weekend.
I'm left with nothing but a ghostly voice whispering, "There's something narsty in the woodshed."
Pfui. Miéville's too smart for me, too erudite, too lit'r'y.
I just want someone to tell me a story.
Someone *should* push the boundaries of what a story is. China may be the one who should do it. But he can do it without me.
gs_wells's review against another edition
Early in the book there's a brutal and sad description of animal cruelty that I just couldn't get down with. Decided I want in the mood for this kind of book right now.
stucameron's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
midici's review against another edition
3.0
*3.5 stars
This book felt as though I found a palimpsest of stories and carefully scraped away a layer or two, or three, and pieced them together into this one tale which almost, but doesn't quite, tell a story.
There is a boy who lives on a hill, with his parents. A cold, distant mother who carefully gardens rubbish. A strange father who creates magic keys, with a terrifying temper and a hole of dead things. This is a story about this boy's childhood - sort of. About the mysteries surrounding his parents, though many of them go unanswered.
There is a census taker, and the narrator himself becomes a census taker. There are mysteries here too - what did the former apprentice learn that caused her to turn away from the census taker? Why is the narrator being held captive, at the beginning and end of this (second) book? The book does not provide answers.
It felt a bit like reading a poetic, grim dream of sorts - the landscape described is at turns surreal and stark. The narration is mostly first person, but shifts to second and third occasionally as well. Much is implied - but often the boy does not know exactly what is happening, and thus neither does the reader.
I liked the language of it, the ebb and flow, but I'm not sure it was fully fleshed out as much as I would like.
This book felt as though I found a palimpsest of stories and carefully scraped away a layer or two, or three, and pieced them together into this one tale which almost, but doesn't quite, tell a story.
There is a boy who lives on a hill, with his parents. A cold, distant mother who carefully gardens rubbish. A strange father who creates magic keys, with a terrifying temper and a hole of dead things. This is a story about this boy's childhood - sort of. About the mysteries surrounding his parents, though many of them go unanswered.
There is a census taker, and the narrator himself becomes a census taker. There are mysteries here too - what did the former apprentice learn that caused her to turn away from the census taker? Why is the narrator being held captive, at the beginning and end of this (second) book? The book does not provide answers.
It felt a bit like reading a poetic, grim dream of sorts - the landscape described is at turns surreal and stark. The narration is mostly first person, but shifts to second and third occasionally as well. Much is implied - but often the boy does not know exactly what is happening, and thus neither does the reader.
I liked the language of it, the ebb and flow, but I'm not sure it was fully fleshed out as much as I would like.
pagesofkim's review against another edition
1.0
I read about fifty pages into this book but couldn't read a single page more. I thought about just reading it all, I mean it's only 210 pages, after all, but I hate wasting my time. I just couldn't get into this book one iota. Nothing was really connecting and switching between 1st and 3rd person in the same sentence was hurting. I'm new to China Mieville, and maybe this wasn't the best choice for my first experience with his writing.
crimsoncor's review against another edition
2.0
I love Mieville, but the novella format doesn't do him any favors. There is so much depth to this world, but the short format enables a super narrow dip into it which really just leaves you confused and dissatisfied at the end. I'm fairly certain I understand what happened, but why it happened or the significance of it is completely lost on me. You feel a similar bewilderment at the start of some of his novels (Perdido Street and Embassytown come to mind), but they have enough time to blossom out into some magnificent. This just withers on the vine.
dewey_scrapper's review against another edition
1.0
I read this for a genre study assignment. I hope someone else read it, so they can explain it to me. It was terrible.
stellarian's review against another edition
3.0
This Census-Taker is a novella written in an uneven, almost experimental style. It has strong philosophical themes and often lyrical turns of phrase, but I found it a little hard to really… experience. The best part of the text came toward the end, I think. I don’t think I’m spoiling anybody too much by saying that this is where the census-taker actually shows up.
The boy in the story told by the man he has become (in a strange way with many comments about languages and ways of showing other people your secrets) lives isolated with his mother and father on a hill. They are outside the community, and his parents both seem outside the norm of what people usually mean when they speak about parenting. Things work acceptably well until the traumatic event that changes the boy’s life occurs. Afterwards, there are stages of change, fear, desperation and hope.
The ending isn’t really an ending. The story feels like it could have been part of a book about the adult man. Perhaps it was, and the author decided just to publish this part and be done with it. If you like China Miéville’s stories, you will probably read this for completion’s sake, but I would never recommend it as an introduction to his works.
The boy in the story told by the man he has become (in a strange way with many comments about languages and ways of showing other people your secrets) lives isolated with his mother and father on a hill. They are outside the community, and his parents both seem outside the norm of what people usually mean when they speak about parenting. Things work acceptably well until the traumatic event that changes the boy’s life occurs. Afterwards, there are stages of change, fear, desperation and hope.
The ending isn’t really an ending. The story feels like it could have been part of a book about the adult man. Perhaps it was, and the author decided just to publish this part and be done with it. If you like China Miéville’s stories, you will probably read this for completion’s sake, but I would never recommend it as an introduction to his works.