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alistairjack's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
chaoticbookgremlin_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
sssummer's review against another edition
2.0
I hate this narrator. I believe the narrator to be an incredibly shallow, self-absorbed, and insecure narcissist with a superiority complex. And while the narrator is aware of some of the time of their own shortcomings I don't see much of genuine grappling with it (maybe with one of the last lines). It's the way that this person sees everyone else as so inferior to themselves, they can only ever find fault in their academic peers. They think not only that their work will be great and will impact the literature (which is fine and healthy) but that their work will be superior to the work of their peers and their supervisor and most work in the field. It's the way this character feels so superior for noticing that the academy holds up many of the same values or class systems that it simultaneously critiques. WOw! Never heard that take before in my life!
In relationships, the narrator even notes that they've dated the same person over and over again. If you feel this way, you're doing something wrong. Granted, sometimes we'll notice particular traits that many of our partners may have (this is called having 'a type') but the reason I'm so critical of the author here is that I don't think they separated enough from their own perspective to see/genuinely love their romantic partners.
Listen, I'm also going to be ageist here but I do think some of what irritated me about this narrator is that they are in their thirties and almost forty by the end of the story. Of course, I do not expect that people will have it all figured out by their 30s. But it just felt like the narrator was so emotionally immature for their age (and for the amount of life experiences they've had. I don't think the narrator took a single, what we might call 'lesson', from one relationship and carried it into the next. Not at all.) It's sort of like Salinger's Catcher in the Rye or Franny and Zooey, (though Salinger is way better) but part of what makes Salinger's often emotionally unintelligent characters work so well is the youth of these characters; it feels so visible how their lack of work/love experience is deluding them, or where their frustration and angst is coming from. And in Catcher we feel the growth of Holden or the potential of who he could change into. (This is not a comprehensive account of why Salinger is great, but I guess I'm just trying to distinguish I like some characters with huge flaws while other times it ruins the reading experience.)
I love the idea of books being sectioned by the relationships with other people (ie each 'chapter' was the name and beginning of a new romantic relationship). I love this idea, very vignette-like. But the narrator's total self-absorption (again, beyond the fact that it was formed like an introspective style) made each section blend into one another, instead of truly differentiating from one another and being beautiful unique self-contained sections. Any sort of descriptive feature given to the love interests lacked specificity.
Granted, I do feel sympathy for the character, especially as they've experienced difficulties related to their parentage, race, and gender. I do not think writing a dissertation is easy by any means nor is navigating the dating world. I also find the tone and format unique, you'd be able to recognize this book from a few sentences read out to you. And many sentences or thoughts were interesting.
But I hate this narrator.
In relationships, the narrator even notes that they've dated the same person over and over again. If you feel this way, you're doing something wrong. Granted, sometimes we'll notice particular traits that many of our partners may have (this is called having 'a type') but the reason I'm so critical of the author here is that I don't think they separated enough from their own perspective to see/genuinely love their romantic partners.
Listen, I'm also going to be ageist here but I do think some of what irritated me about this narrator is that they are in their thirties and almost forty by the end of the story. Of course, I do not expect that people will have it all figured out by their 30s. But it just felt like the narrator was so emotionally immature for their age (and for the amount of life experiences they've had. I don't think the narrator took a single, what we might call 'lesson', from one relationship and carried it into the next. Not at all.) It's sort of like Salinger's Catcher in the Rye or Franny and Zooey, (though Salinger is way better) but part of what makes Salinger's often emotionally unintelligent characters work so well is the youth of these characters; it feels so visible how their lack of work/love experience is deluding them, or where their frustration and angst is coming from. And in Catcher we feel the growth of Holden or the potential of who he could change into. (This is not a comprehensive account of why Salinger is great, but I guess I'm just trying to distinguish I like some characters with huge flaws while other times it ruins the reading experience.)
I love the idea of books being sectioned by the relationships with other people (ie each 'chapter' was the name and beginning of a new romantic relationship). I love this idea, very vignette-like. But the narrator's total self-absorption (again, beyond the fact that it was formed like an introspective style) made each section blend into one another, instead of truly differentiating from one another and being beautiful unique self-contained sections. Any sort of descriptive feature given to the love interests lacked specificity.
Granted, I do feel sympathy for the character, especially as they've experienced difficulties related to their parentage, race, and gender. I do not think writing a dissertation is easy by any means nor is navigating the dating world. I also find the tone and format unique, you'd be able to recognize this book from a few sentences read out to you. And many sentences or thoughts were interesting.
But I hate this narrator.
el_izabeth's review against another edition
2.0
This character study was beautifully executed, capturing the contradictions, blind spots, and (often incomplete or imperfect) self reflection that makes us all human. I loved the contrast of the unfinished graduate thesis with the series of unsuccessful relationships and personal growth.
However, I am only familiar with a broad overview of most of the thinkers this book is in discourse with, so a lot of it went well over my head. Not that this is the author’s fault, but it did make the book less engrossing than I had hoped. I think it’s a testament to the book that I enjoyed it as much as I did without really understanding it.
However, I am only familiar with a broad overview of most of the thinkers this book is in discourse with, so a lot of it went well over my head. Not that this is the author’s fault, but it did make the book less engrossing than I had hoped. I think it’s a testament to the book that I enjoyed it as much as I did without really understanding it.
jamiestrachan's review against another edition
2.0
My second failed attempt at reading Brand. This book felt more like poetry than prose and I eventually found all the ruminating tiresome instead of engaging.
literaryellen's review against another edition
2.0
A very odd book. I understood maybe 10% of the book and the language was (purposefully) verbose, but I appreciated the genderless narrator and sympathized with feeling like you are observing life as an academic. Probably should have given up on this one half way through.
half_book_and_co's review against another edition
4.0
I know it is a clichée thing to write: This novel is not for everyone (and actually it is also quite trite because, in the end, no book is for everyone). But with Dionne Brand's novel Theory I felt that to be true even more than with a lot of other books. Theory is a book narrated by a woman in her late 30s ("Soon, in October, I'll be forty. I hate to begin with this disappointing fact, but what can I do.") who has been labouring on her PhD thesis for more than a decade. She is at the same time insecure and oddly confident - in her work as in her other life choices. The narrator (who is nicknamed Teoria by one of her partners) recounts in four parts four love relationships: three with women and the last with her thesis. The women all become more or less surfaces for the narrator's reflections on theory, family, academia, relationships, politics. She interweaves interpersonal anecdotes with quotes from theorists. And while this is a novel I was reminded of Maggie Nelson's The Argonauts (also with regards to the at times uncomfortable ways the narrator writes about other people) and to a lesser degree Anne Garréta's Not One Day. I really enjoyed Theory and I did laugh often and when the book more or less ended with a Žižek take-down in its second to last footnote (yes, there are footnotes) I laughed loudly. But I do think if you do not share the narrator's interests in certain theories and have a knowledge of at least a good part of the referenced authors, the book is way less (if even at all) enjoyable. So, I would not recommend it to everyone but I know some people in my life who will absolutely love this one and I can't wait to share it with them.
"All acts of conformity to power set time back. They set back thinking. A minute, subatomic change would've occurred in how social relations are perceived and extended had the regimen of power been disrupted."
"All acts of conformity to power set time back. They set back thinking. A minute, subatomic change would've occurred in how social relations are perceived and extended had the regimen of power been disrupted."
butlerebecca's review
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
mattia_bacchelli's review against another edition
0.5
I don’t really get what the point of this book was and I just hated all the characters involved. Probably the least enjoyable book I’ve ever read but I also doubt I was the target audience.