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3.19 AVERAGE
3.19 AVERAGE
Call me a simpleton, but Universal Harvester’s distinct lack of traditional plot structure was enough to drive me damn near crazy. The book hooked me almost immediately, it’s premise engaging and interesting (clues to a mystery taped over rental VHS cassettes in rural America) but it’s inability to tell us anything important whatsoever was grating and hard to bear. I desperately grasped for any information on our mystery, only to be led down a path of uninteresting relationships and lacking dialogue. If there is anything to be found in this book, it’s certainly found after the first 100 pages, a crime when you’re presented with an interesting premise and story-telling device early on. It’s a shame that I have to leave this one a DNF, at least until someone gives me a good enough reason to finish it.
Not much happens in this book, and that's the most horrifying part. The writing is excellent, but there's too much missing for it to meet my qualifications of intriguing yet enjoyable. This is not WTNV. The creepy setting is there, but the heart is missing and I put that down to the length. This quote is the type of writing that I wanted the most of, and I wish there was so much more of it.
There are other times when people go into the fields and yell different things: “Help!” for example, often repeatedly with increasing volume, or “Where are you taking me?” But nobody usually hears them.
I understand what the book is about, despite the lack of clarity and changing timelines, but I don't feel that there was enough in the story to make it stick. This book is a beautiful jigsaw puzzle but all the edges are missing. You can still see the picture but it doesn't stay together in a satisfying way.
There are other times when people go into the fields and yell different things: “Help!” for example, often repeatedly with increasing volume, or “Where are you taking me?” But nobody usually hears them.
I understand what the book is about, despite the lack of clarity and changing timelines, but I don't feel that there was enough in the story to make it stick. This book is a beautiful jigsaw puzzle but all the edges are missing. You can still see the picture but it doesn't stay together in a satisfying way.
this was a totally weird book. and even though I didn't quite understand most of it as I was reading, I still enjoyed it immensely.
I wish I could like this one more, or rate it higher. The writing is poetic and enjoyable, a palatable sort of artsy; and separately, many parts of it are excellent. But it ends up being less than the sum of its parts.
Basically, the fascinating premise is left by the wayside as the book meanders through a while bunch of musings on life in the quiet Midwest and the impermanence of... well, everything. The hook was a deception and it never feels like we get a satisfying conclusion so much as a lazy reveal and more thoughts on how the world is prone t change and people hasten that.
Honestly, had this been summarized to me as what it actually is- rather than a strange mystery of movies altered by an unknown entity- I most likely would sill have been interested, and far less disappointed.
Basically, the fascinating premise is left by the wayside as the book meanders through a while bunch of musings on life in the quiet Midwest and the impermanence of... well, everything. The hook was a deception and it never feels like we get a satisfying conclusion so much as a lazy reveal and more thoughts on how the world is prone t change and people hasten that.
Honestly, had this been summarized to me as what it actually is- rather than a strange mystery of movies altered by an unknown entity- I most likely would sill have been interested, and far less disappointed.
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
I feel like, given enough rereads, I could bump this up to a five-star rating. Not necessarily because I think it was the best book I've read in a long time, or because I got oodles and oodles of Emotion out of it, or because I think it has anything life-changing to say.
It's just a really well-told story. I don't understand... a lot of it, to be honest. It's a sliver of the feeling I get while reading The Waste Land. You don't understand it; you feel it. You exist in it.
It's been a long time since a book really freaked me out, and Universal Harvester fully freaked me out at first. But it went further than the freak-you-out bits. It drew you into this world where things move when no one is looking, where things change when no one is there to take note of it, and then it reminds you that this world is the real world, that life moves in a trillion ways you're never going to notice, and sometimes those movements will never be seen or needed or appreciated by anyone but the earth and sometimes those changes will shape how you live for the rest of your life.
It's frightening and then very real and then very gentle and compassionate, which is not how I expected this book to go, but then I think that's why I liked it so much.
post-script: also realizing that this book has a surprising (maybe not surprising) amount of poor reviews, which just goes to show you stuff. Maybe I'll think twice before letting an aggregate rating affect whether I read a book or not next time.
post-post-script: it's noteworthy to mention that I would die for the cover designer of this book because it's 1) what intrigued me about the book in the first place, besides the title, 2) it's also a spot-on representation of UH's aesthetic and mood, and 3) it's objectively and categorically perfect, don't @ me, why are you booing me I'm right, you can't change my mind, et other memes.
It's just a really well-told story. I don't understand... a lot of it, to be honest. It's a sliver of the feeling I get while reading The Waste Land. You don't understand it; you feel it. You exist in it.
It's been a long time since a book really freaked me out, and Universal Harvester fully freaked me out at first. But it went further than the freak-you-out bits. It drew you into this world where things move when no one is looking, where things change when no one is there to take note of it, and then it reminds you that this world is the real world, that life moves in a trillion ways you're never going to notice, and sometimes those movements will never be seen or needed or appreciated by anyone but the earth and sometimes those changes will shape how you live for the rest of your life.
It's frightening and then very real and then very gentle and compassionate, which is not how I expected this book to go, but then I think that's why I liked it so much.
post-script: also realizing that this book has a surprising (maybe not surprising) amount of poor reviews, which just goes to show you stuff. Maybe I'll think twice before letting an aggregate rating affect whether I read a book or not next time.
post-post-script: it's noteworthy to mention that I would die for the cover designer of this book because it's 1) what intrigued me about the book in the first place, besides the title, 2) it's also a spot-on representation of UH's aesthetic and mood, and 3) it's objectively and categorically perfect, don't @ me, why are you booing me I'm right, you can't change my mind, et other memes.
adventurous
mysterious
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:
Yes
3.75 stars. This is not quite as good as Wolf in White Van, but I enjoyed it a lot, and recommend it. It's thoughtful both in the writing and the story lines. A patron of a small-town Video Hut discovers that someone spliced in odd and disturbing scenes into some of the movies. The main characters have varying levels of curiosity about it, and the plot unfolds as they try to figure out who did it and why. It's told in four parts, from different perspectives and time points, but with a constant narrator (who is revealed in the end). Some of the reviews have called it disjointed, and although there were points where it wasn't clear why the perspective had shifted, it becomes clear as the story unfolds.
We don't get a simple final answer about the motivations for the main action in the story, but that's purposeful and fits with the story and the characters. As the narrator says, we can imagine different versions of the story, or different reasons why something happened (similar to Wolfe in White Van). My tolerance for the lack of a neat wrap up varies, but it's appropriate here. He balances our need to know and the inability to know (or a reluctance to explain). It is a puzzle that is mostly completed for you, but not totally. In some books that's just frustrating, but here it is executed very well and makes for a coherent narrative.
The title itself is unclear and would be interesting to talk about. But given that it is a major theme in the book, it could be that grief is the universal harvester. Overall, very interesting read, two thumbs up.
We don't get a simple final answer about the motivations for the main action in the story, but that's purposeful and fits with the story and the characters. As the narrator says, we can imagine different versions of the story, or different reasons why something happened (similar to Wolfe in White Van). My tolerance for the lack of a neat wrap up varies, but it's appropriate here. He balances our need to know and the inability to know (or a reluctance to explain). It is a puzzle that is mostly completed for you, but not totally. In some books that's just frustrating, but here it is executed very well and makes for a coherent narrative.
The title itself is unclear and would be interesting to talk about. But given that it is a major theme in the book, it could be that grief is the universal harvester. Overall, very interesting read, two thumbs up.