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3.19 AVERAGE
3.19 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I think I was too dumb for what this book was trying to achieve lmao. I was in it for the first half but really lost it in the end. The writing was good though!
I wanted to like this. But I did not. At all. It was disjointed, I cared nothing about the characters, and the dialogue was clumsy and made everyone in Iowa sound like dullards. Thank goodness it was only 200 pages and I can return it to the library.
“It's not that nobody ever gets away: that's not true. It's that you carry it with you. It doesn't matter that the days roll on like hills too low to give names to; they might be of use later, so you keep them. You replay them to keep their memory alive. It feels worthwhile because it is.”
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
It is December and this is the first new book I've completed all year. I don't necessarily say that as praise towards the book, however, like a sun-dried sponge my brain soaked it in completely in one six-hour sitting. I read this coming off the back of multiple rereads of Jesus Saves by Darcey Steinke and absolutely desperate for a return to desolate, suburban, god-starved mid-America, I turned to Universal Harvester. And while it ticked those boxes, there is an itch left unscratched and for much of the book I found myself reaching in circles for that prickling spot. Much of the prose insists upon itself, trying desperately to hammer itself into a point that does not want to be made and leaves you with nothing but a fuck ton of holes in the wall.
At it's core, the book states that it's ultimately about mothers, and in some ways I suppose it is. I would say that before it is about mothers, it is about God and before it is about God, it is about loss and further than that, it is about the physicality of a place and at the very end of this list, in a cramped margin, it is about horror. The problem is that the book seems to have trouble deciding which of these it is building upon at any given point. Darnielle's prose is evocative but slogs at points, winding around itself before trailing off, leading to rereads of many paragraphs. But it also brings to life a vibrant picture of desperation, this belly cry into the great American nothing. This book features many different characters, none so important as the places they inhabit. I would venture to say that Iowa, the way it adheres to the characters themselves, proves itself more influential to the story than the characters. As if this story could take place anywhere but Iowa.
This feels like one of those stories that demands a second read and while I don't think I can oblige it, I can accept it for what it was. Maybe I will revisit a passage or two but I don't know if any amount of rereading will turn this into the story I was hoping it'd be. That being said, this is the closest I've gotten to that feeling of godless mid-America that I've been chasing with Jesus Saves and in that way, I feel as if I've been temporarily satiated enough to move forward.
At it's core, the book states that it's ultimately about mothers, and in some ways I suppose it is. I would say that before it is about mothers, it is about God and before it is about God, it is about loss and further than that, it is about the physicality of a place and at the very end of this list, in a cramped margin, it is about horror. The problem is that the book seems to have trouble deciding which of these it is building upon at any given point. Darnielle's prose is evocative but slogs at points, winding around itself before trailing off, leading to rereads of many paragraphs. But it also brings to life a vibrant picture of desperation, this belly cry into the great American nothing. This book features many different characters, none so important as the places they inhabit. I would venture to say that Iowa, the way it adheres to the characters themselves, proves itself more influential to the story than the characters. As if this story could take place anywhere but Iowa.
This feels like one of those stories that demands a second read and while I don't think I can oblige it, I can accept it for what it was. Maybe I will revisit a passage or two but I don't know if any amount of rereading will turn this into the story I was hoping it'd be. That being said, this is the closest I've gotten to that feeling of godless mid-America that I've been chasing with Jesus Saves and in that way, I feel as if I've been temporarily satiated enough to move forward.
Beautifully written, but ultimately just okay. The plot is difficult to follow as you jump from POV to POV. I found myself asking at the end, what was the point?
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Extremely disjointed; feels like each part was a separate novel with none of them fully flushed out.
This book is a difficult one to rate, never mind review. The story keeps you on your toes, never letting you really take a break from the story - even if it's a different part than you expected. It's not the type of horror it's marketed as between the synopsis and cover. I was expecting a horror that would leave me afraid to turn the lights off, instead it was a horror that sort of settled in my chest and wouldn't let go but didn't manifest in those feelings of terror but rather a feeling of melancholy and hopelessness.
I chose 5 stars for Universal Harvester because despite the deceptive marketing, this was a really amazing read. The prose was evocative and beautiful, the characterization was strong, and the story compelling. What some may see as a downfall of the novel - the switching back and forth between different sets of characters, the ending that leaves a lot of questions answered, and no clear cut resolution - was, for me, incredibly powerful and realistic and the reason why this story will stay with me.
I chose 5 stars for Universal Harvester because despite the deceptive marketing, this was a really amazing read. The prose was evocative and beautiful, the characterization was strong, and the story compelling. What some may see as a downfall of the novel - the switching back and forth between different sets of characters, the ending that leaves a lot of questions answered, and no clear cut resolution - was, for me, incredibly powerful and realistic and the reason why this story will stay with me.
Maybe I'm biased because I'm such a big fan of his music already, but everything he writes feels like a masterclass in both language and story telling. I may not always know exactly what's going on, but I'm always invested, always intrigued, and never bored.