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4.12 AVERAGE
4.12 AVERAGE
beautiful little fragments of queer humor, queer joy, queer sadness, queer life
Nate always reminds me why I still like being (something like) a gay man.
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
"On the bridge before dawn, the barrier was six feet high. I stood on my toes and took the measure of my own self-destruction."
Ripcord is a novel without much of a plot. It's a kaleidoscopic whirlwind of fractured vignettes, rather than there being any kind of set in stone story here, it's more a series of musings and reflections upon queer culture and messed up friendships, all told with some beautiful and rather tender writing. It's vital to know that Ripcord is not intended to be a happy novel, it's a distressing and heartbreaking thing, there's simply a lot of turmoil across these pages. It's an indescribable but excellent beast of a novel, one that's so extremely authentic and entirely full of humanity. Impactful and savage, there's more passion and tragedy packed into Ripcord's 160 pages than there are in many novels that triple it in page count.
Nate Lippens is one of those authors who has the incredible gift of making you feel seen by the literature you're consuming. He's also an author who writes in such a fantastically honest way about life, when, life doesn't feel all that great. Ripcord was amazing, crushing, yes, but absolutely brilliant. For lack of a better term, it's a very hazy novel, it's all fuzzy around the edges and, at times, a little muted, but it's in that comforting way that a subtle high envelops your brain, strange, yet welcoming. Books like Ripcord are very special things, they must be experienced to be understood. And, that's what makes it so difficult to review, and recommend a book like Ripcord - a book so relentless in its own brutality, yet in this nameless, unspeakable kind of way.
Ripcord is a novel without much of a plot. It's a kaleidoscopic whirlwind of fractured vignettes, rather than there being any kind of set in stone story here, it's more a series of musings and reflections upon queer culture and messed up friendships, all told with some beautiful and rather tender writing. It's vital to know that Ripcord is not intended to be a happy novel, it's a distressing and heartbreaking thing, there's simply a lot of turmoil across these pages. It's an indescribable but excellent beast of a novel, one that's so extremely authentic and entirely full of humanity. Impactful and savage, there's more passion and tragedy packed into Ripcord's 160 pages than there are in many novels that triple it in page count.
Nate Lippens is one of those authors who has the incredible gift of making you feel seen by the literature you're consuming. He's also an author who writes in such a fantastically honest way about life, when, life doesn't feel all that great. Ripcord was amazing, crushing, yes, but absolutely brilliant. For lack of a better term, it's a very hazy novel, it's all fuzzy around the edges and, at times, a little muted, but it's in that comforting way that a subtle high envelops your brain, strange, yet welcoming. Books like Ripcord are very special things, they must be experienced to be understood. And, that's what makes it so difficult to review, and recommend a book like Ripcord - a book so relentless in its own brutality, yet in this nameless, unspeakable kind of way.
"I'm in an abusive relationship with time. I haven't left my apartment in a week. I'm embarrassed to say it but not to live it. I wouldn't call my self-exile a withdrawal. I've been through withdrawal a few times and that was about missing something, wanting something I couldn't have anymore. I do not feel that way about people."
It's a novel of self-examination and emotional warfare, it makes you feel as if your soul has been stripped from your body and laid bare for all to witness. There's such a vulnerability woven into the text, Ripcord details a life that's simply a persistent cycle of disappointments, it's really rather remarkable, how it feels too long, and too short, all at once. Despite the lack of a plot, Ripcord isn't a novel that's just about nothing. It so beautifully explores class, sexuality, romantic shortcomings, addiction, loss and even the anger that comes with that loss. It's a rage fueled novel, but, not openly so, there's that quiet sort of rage that simmers below the surface. It's in no way a happy book, but it's a book I'm happy to have experienced, all the same.
"I knew what I was doing. I have always known what I was doing. Even when I was lying to myself and destroying myself, I knew what I was doing. "
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
<i><blockquote>Some people get the glory. Some people get the glory hole.</blockquote></i> Now that's one hell of an opener. The rest sort of peters out. There's skill here, for sure, maybe I just tire of fragmented novels. Aging queers, yay! Might just need a revisit once I'm in a different mindset.
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I read this because it was set in Milwaukee. Nothing much happened and I characters weren't interesting. All This Could be Different is a much better Milwaukee read.
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Magnificent. Exquisite. However much this might bear some resemblance to other New Narrative work, or similar fragment-based queer narratives, it rises above everything: Lippens is head and shoulders above other writers. His capacity for hilarious, gutpunch aphorism is unparalleled. His depth of emotion is a gift to literature. His lines are unlike anyone else’s, as though Paul Lynne had Nobel-prize quality writing somewhere that he hadn’t previously shared. It really is that good, in a way most literature conspicuously fucking isn’t.
I loved this book so much I stretched it out for weeks, rationing only a few pages at a time myself and working hard not to underline or take instagram pictures of every amazing line or paragraph or insight. There were so many. This book just keeps giving and I feel so lucky to have been there to receive it. Lippens is a major voice in literature, not queer literature or auto fiction or whatever, but his rising tide lifts literature in English as a whole. READ THIS.
I loved this book so much I stretched it out for weeks, rationing only a few pages at a time myself and working hard not to underline or take instagram pictures of every amazing line or paragraph or insight. There were so many. This book just keeps giving and I feel so lucky to have been there to receive it. Lippens is a major voice in literature, not queer literature or auto fiction or whatever, but his rising tide lifts literature in English as a whole. READ THIS.