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3.19 AVERAGE
3.19 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
2/5
What the heck did I just read? A fiction disguised as a hipster catalogue for old video and recording equipment? A personal treatise of all of the author's favorite films, and his ode to found footage videos in novel form?
Universal Harvester makes no sense to me.
TL;DR:
Writing: 4/5 (Interesting and somewhat atmospheric at the beginning.)
Plot: 2.5/5 (This book captured me with it's horror found-footage introduction but then quickly came apart at the SEAMS because it made little to no sense. Too many plot holes.)
Characters: 1/5 (People who would have been interesting, with moving back stories, quickly fell into a hole of me not caring about them because of the nonsensical nature of the plot.)
Universal Harvester is an ode to found-footage films, "literature" (because this is what it attempts to be), and hipster-dom and its contemporary novelties.
The book itself spans several generations and lives. The reader is first introduced to several video rental employees and their boring, unaffected small town lives in the mid-late nineties. The characters are thrust into a fearful and creepy world of spliced home movie sections on popular tapes. In an attempt to figure the story out behind these clips, the characters each fall into a rabbit-hole of their own making. In order to explain the story, Darnielle takes the readers back in time into the life of a new character, Lisa Sample (aptly named) and through these segments we meet ANOTHER character -- the unreliable narrator. The story eventually wraps up with a haphazard resolution that takes place in the 2010's (as there are iphones) at the telling of MORE PEOPLE, who attempt to piece it all together.
Ultimately, one can surmise that this is a work of attempted literature: a comment of the transient nature of life, generally, the documentation and preservation of people, specifically. Maybe some discussions of god and mothers can be assumed, but overall, this was a boring, self-indulgent read that has left me very disappointed. It was too disjointed and the characters too blandly apathetic about themselves and their situation... like HOW and WHY would they get involved with what they did? Does any of this book make sense to anyone? Ugh. It is almost as bad as [b:Nocturnal Animals|32930916|Nocturnal Animals|Austin Wright|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1478680321s/32930916.jpg|2183047] for it's pretentiousness.
Would recommend for people who like to whittle away their thoughts over books, only to hmm and hawww away at an attempt to make something from nothing.
What the heck did I just read? A fiction disguised as a hipster catalogue for old video and recording equipment? A personal treatise of all of the author's favorite films, and his ode to found footage videos in novel form?
Universal Harvester makes no sense to me.
TL;DR:
Writing: 4/5 (Interesting and somewhat atmospheric at the beginning.)
Plot: 2.5/5 (This book captured me with it's horror found-footage introduction but then quickly came apart at the SEAMS because it made little to no sense. Too many plot holes.)
Characters: 1/5 (People who would have been interesting, with moving back stories, quickly fell into a hole of me not caring about them because of the nonsensical nature of the plot.)
Universal Harvester is an ode to found-footage films, "literature" (because this is what it attempts to be), and hipster-dom and its contemporary novelties.
The book itself spans several generations and lives. The reader is first introduced to several video rental employees and their boring, unaffected small town lives in the mid-late nineties. The characters are thrust into a fearful and creepy world of spliced home movie sections on popular tapes. In an attempt to figure the story out behind these clips, the characters each fall into a rabbit-hole of their own making. In order to explain the story, Darnielle takes the readers back in time into the life of a new character, Lisa Sample (aptly named) and through these segments we meet ANOTHER character -- the unreliable narrator. The story eventually wraps up with a haphazard resolution that takes place in the 2010's (as there are iphones) at the telling of MORE PEOPLE, who attempt to piece it all together.
Ultimately, one can surmise that this is a work of attempted literature: a comment of the transient nature of life, generally, the documentation and preservation of people, specifically. Maybe some discussions of god and mothers can be assumed, but overall, this was a boring, self-indulgent read that has left me very disappointed. It was too disjointed and the characters too blandly apathetic about themselves and their situation... like HOW and WHY would they get involved with what they did? Does any of this book make sense to anyone? Ugh. It is almost as bad as [b:Nocturnal Animals|32930916|Nocturnal Animals|Austin Wright|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1478680321s/32930916.jpg|2183047] for it's pretentiousness.
Would recommend for people who like to whittle away their thoughts over books, only to hmm and hawww away at an attempt to make something from nothing.
I really thought it would be a good book by the summary, it wasn’t. Very surface level, POV constantly changing, timeline going by too fast ( and not it a good way ), and the plot didn’t go anywhere.
really was not a fan of how the author decided to narrate the audiobook, especially towards the beginning of the first segment break. just could not follow along after that. will probably end up repicking up this as the novel instead.
reflective
tense
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
medium-paced
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
dark
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:
No