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robhughes's review against another edition
4.0
Paul Beatty is now one of my favourite authors; a combination of lyrical virtuosity and scathing cynicism has me hooked. He reminds me of Vonnegut or Tom Sharpe and I'm not really sure why; there's something vitriolic about the way he deals with cliche and social commentary, irreverent wouldn't do it justice. When I read him it feels like I'm been swallowed by a conversation, trying to keep up with the ideas, knowing he's speaking a truth, challenging something I can't quite explain and yet I don't have time to because I'm wondering if I just missed a joke - I mean, I know he's being funny, I'm laughing ... just need to give me a moment to work out why.
Slumberland is a book about music and Berlin (is there a better literary city than Berlin?), and as I read I realised I know nothing about jazz. I had not heard Oliver Nelson, Charles Brown, Horace Silver Quintet, Gil Scott-Heron (but I had, in my ignorance, heard a sample of him on the trailer for Black Panther), and many, many more. My recommendation to you, every song the narrator mentions add to a playlist and have it playing as you read; it's different way to read a book, should have done it for High Fidelity, but the wonders of Spotify.
This review feels like a ramble, probably because it is; Slumberland is not as good as The Sellout (that is perfect), but you can see the craft is developing in this one. One issue is it sometimes feels manufactured, a story forcibly inserted into a moment of history creating a tonal dissonance - like one of those films set on a sound stage, the actors move around in front of a static landscape and you know they're not really there - and I'm not sure it was intentional ... but it could have been considering the jazz influences, just not sure it works because it drags me out of the story, and I hate the modernist author who insists on stopping halfway through a story to point at the clever thing they just did. I'm gonna give Beatty the benefit of the doubt here though and just say the historical setting wasn't a total success.
Having said that it's still really good; that Helleresque voice is there, the language is electric, the characters are strange half-shell humans who I like, there's enough plot, the references are eclectic, I read it in a day, I now have a wonderful playlist, and a new favourite author - did I say that already? Well it's worth saying again. Thanks, Mr Beatty. Enjoying it all very much.
Slumberland is a book about music and Berlin (is there a better literary city than Berlin?), and as I read I realised I know nothing about jazz. I had not heard Oliver Nelson, Charles Brown, Horace Silver Quintet, Gil Scott-Heron (but I had, in my ignorance, heard a sample of him on the trailer for Black Panther), and many, many more. My recommendation to you, every song the narrator mentions add to a playlist and have it playing as you read; it's different way to read a book, should have done it for High Fidelity, but the wonders of Spotify.
This review feels like a ramble, probably because it is; Slumberland is not as good as The Sellout (that is perfect), but you can see the craft is developing in this one. One issue is it sometimes feels manufactured, a story forcibly inserted into a moment of history creating a tonal dissonance - like one of those films set on a sound stage, the actors move around in front of a static landscape and you know they're not really there - and I'm not sure it was intentional ... but it could have been considering the jazz influences, just not sure it works because it drags me out of the story, and I hate the modernist author who insists on stopping halfway through a story to point at the clever thing they just did. I'm gonna give Beatty the benefit of the doubt here though and just say the historical setting wasn't a total success.
Having said that it's still really good; that Helleresque voice is there, the language is electric, the characters are strange half-shell humans who I like, there's enough plot, the references are eclectic, I read it in a day, I now have a wonderful playlist, and a new favourite author - did I say that already? Well it's worth saying again. Thanks, Mr Beatty. Enjoying it all very much.
the_wanderer's review against another edition
4.0
Audaciously funny. How does one write so many hilarious lines??
(Would have given it 5*'s but I cannot stop thinking about that damn chicken...)
(Would have given it 5*'s but I cannot stop thinking about that damn chicken...)
liamriley1987's review against another edition
dark
funny
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
georgemillership's review against another edition
3.0
Explores the commodification of the African American experience through the lens of 'the end of history', with great irony underlying it all. Incredibly funny, with touching moments indispersed in a sea of pop/music-history references. It inverts and laughs at whiteness, blackness, America, and Berlin, but overall felt a bit knotted to me.
nidhamu's review against another edition
5.0
really enjoyed this book. nothing i love better than when an author commandeers language and sound. reading beatty is a pleasure. this was more of an exploration of music and(black) self and identity. and berliners. this is a book i will read again.
mc900ft's review against another edition
5.0
so much excavation to do ... words, beautiful and too many but so perfectly connected that the unnecessary becomes vital. beatty gives visual texture to audio. some may find the reading tedious, like a drum solo that won't stop. but it is in these tandums that i thrive. i am in love with this book. deeply reminds me (style-wise)of john clellon holmes' book "the horn."
sarahjsnider's review against another edition
5.0
Being the literary adventures of DJ Darky, who creates the perfect beat and is beckoned to Cold War-era Berlin by a pornographic video accompanied by the greatest jazz saxophonist ever. Yeah, I know, I read the jacket blurb and didn't think I could handle this. This has got to be trying too hard. But the flop sweat never appears, and the author handles the material with a light, skilled touch. He's like a less overtly angry Percival Everett.