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chillcox15's review against another edition
2.0
Kunzru returns to the well of "White Tears," writing another novel in which a highly acculturated dude gets a little too close to *insert eerie manifestation of hot button issue here.* White Tears was a fascinating and effective interrogation of cultural appropriation through a musical ghost story. Red Pill (note the naming parallels) pales in comparison, trying to make commentary about the rise/persistence of white supremacist apocalypse cults both online and in the global west, without really having a clear or incisive thing to say about their existence, other than they are pernicious and bad. The psychological dive into the main character as he loses his grip on the way the world ought to work does not convince.
otterno11's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
A chilling and all too relatable work, Hari Kunzru’s novel Red Pill captures, to use a word that the novel’s unnamed narrator might, the zeitgeist of the fraught 2010s with all its anxiety, fear, and sense of uncertainty. With its languid, meandering pace, broken up by lengthy asides, though, the novel lacks needed clarity in its reflection of the current state of the world, even as it builds to a fever pitch with the US election of 2016.
The novel centers on a middle-aged freelance writer sharing certain biographical similarities to Kunzru himself as he leaves his wife and young daughter in New York to cloister himself at a prestigious writer’s fellowship outside Berlin, hoping to finish his latest book. Soon realizing that the Deuter Center’s stifling atmosphere leaves him completely unable to write, he quickly spirals into bouts of existential dread and paranoia, becoming lost in the dark history of his new surroundings at Wannsee, getting sucked down various online rabbit holes, and binging on the disturbing and pessimistic cop show, Blue Lives. A chance encounter with an American writer, whom the narrator sees as the literal embodiment of all of the existential fears that were occupying his mind, the calculated transgression, laughing bigotry, and incipient fascism of the alt-right, causes him to spiral completely into madness.
As his narrator loses his grasp of reality, Kunzru does capture something of the fractured nature of reality in a time of “fake news” and echo chambers, as his friends and family see their own realities crumble upon that final, horrific revelation of November 3rd, 2016, making the narrator, in his anxious paranoia, a kind of harbinger. The last few years have had bad effects on individual mental health, as a world that once seemed settled and solid became an illusion hiding hideous ideologies. This Weimar Germany vibe is certainly one I’m familiar with, fixating on some online symptom of the fascist infection, becoming convinced that something is going to happen, but, especially after what actually happened in the years after 2019, there is a fatalism to the narrator’s attitude. In his private mental breakdown, unable to form a coherent response to the reactionary forces that he feels surround him, his isolation leaves him without solidarity.
But, the narrator is, after all, far from being alone in noticing the worrying shift in the facade of liberal democracy before 2016 and the growing undercurrents of fascist thought online and in politics, so it seems odd that he never seems to find anyone to share his fears, his concerns. If we are going to oppose this fascist resurgence, we’ll need an organized response, whether through voting or action, and I think it’s important to recognize that there are many people who are bringing eloquent and passionate rebuttals to the Antons of the world.
The novel centers on a middle-aged freelance writer sharing certain biographical similarities to Kunzru himself as he leaves his wife and young daughter in New York to cloister himself at a prestigious writer’s fellowship outside Berlin, hoping to finish his latest book. Soon realizing that the Deuter Center’s stifling atmosphere leaves him completely unable to write, he quickly spirals into bouts of existential dread and paranoia, becoming lost in the dark history of his new surroundings at Wannsee, getting sucked down various online rabbit holes, and binging on the disturbing and pessimistic cop show, Blue Lives. A chance encounter with an American writer, whom the narrator sees as the literal embodiment of all of the existential fears that were occupying his mind, the calculated transgression, laughing bigotry, and incipient fascism of the alt-right, causes him to spiral completely into madness.
As his narrator loses his grasp of reality, Kunzru does capture something of the fractured nature of reality in a time of “fake news” and echo chambers, as his friends and family see their own realities crumble upon that final, horrific revelation of November 3rd, 2016, making the narrator, in his anxious paranoia, a kind of harbinger. The last few years have had bad effects on individual mental health, as a world that once seemed settled and solid became an illusion hiding hideous ideologies. This Weimar Germany vibe is certainly one I’m familiar with, fixating on some online symptom of the fascist infection, becoming convinced that something is going to happen, but, especially after what actually happened in the years after 2019, there is a fatalism to the narrator’s attitude. In his private mental breakdown, unable to form a coherent response to the reactionary forces that he feels surround him, his isolation leaves him without solidarity.
But, the narrator is, after all, far from being alone in noticing the worrying shift in the facade of liberal democracy before 2016 and the growing undercurrents of fascist thought online and in politics, so it seems odd that he never seems to find anyone to share his fears, his concerns. If we are going to oppose this fascist resurgence, we’ll need an organized response, whether through voting or action, and I think it’s important to recognize that there are many people who are bringing eloquent and passionate rebuttals to the Antons of the world.
ericfheiman's review against another edition
5.0
4.5? Maybe 5? This book hit me like a ton of bricks.
mouhy's review against another edition
5.0
I just finished this novel and it absolutely blew me away. I don't wanna give anything away but it's very, VERY timely, which makes me more willing to forgive its more meandering subplots (it is a bit rough around the edges). I think what's going on today in the U.S. and the world at large is further proof that our narrator was on to something. Our world is definitely coming apart! *commits self to nearest mental institution*
ridgewaygirl's review against another edition
4.0
The narrator of Red Pill is married with a small child and while his wife works as a lawyer, he's at home, caring for his daughter and finding himself unable to write. When he gets a three-month residency at a German center, he and his wife agree that he should take it and that he should return less angry. It doesn't work out that way. Wannsee, a lake community outside of Berlin, is gray and grim in the winter. It's also the site of the infamous Wannsee Conference, and the presence of that house across the lake weighs on him, as does a nearby monument erected in the memory of a histrionic and angry romantic poet who committed suicide on that spot. The narrator is upset that the center has rules and expectations and that his individuality as an American is not given the right amount of deference. He dislikes his fellow residents, it's not going well, he's not writing, the center is not inclined to let him stay, but he also feels like he can't go home.
Hari Kunzru has written a novel with an absolutely unlikeable character who always makes the worst choice possible as he cycles into angry despair, and yet this was a book I raced through. Kunzru can write and while I didn't want to spend time with the narrator, especially as he reacted to his brushes with white supremacists, I didn't want to put this book down and not see what would happen next. Kunzru wrote especially well about Berlin in the winter and how the dark, gray days take a toll on one's spirits.
Hari Kunzru has written a novel with an absolutely unlikeable character who always makes the worst choice possible as he cycles into angry despair, and yet this was a book I raced through. Kunzru can write and while I didn't want to spend time with the narrator, especially as he reacted to his brushes with white supremacists, I didn't want to put this book down and not see what would happen next. Kunzru wrote especially well about Berlin in the winter and how the dark, gray days take a toll on one's spirits.
jenna02s's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
tensy's review against another edition
3.0
For the first part of this novel set right before the 2016 US election, I was irritated by the self-absorbed academic protagonist who takes advantage of a sabbatical in Germany to finish his current book. As the book progresses, and the main character becomes more paranoid, his paranoia highlights the recurrence of fascism in Europe and America. This is a book about philosophical ideas and as a result it is hard to engage in the depressing plot or characters, but Kunzru is a gifted writer and I managed to hang on to the end which was itself satisfying. I began reading this book a week after the insurrection at the US Capitol by white supremacists on January 6, 2021, which made the reading experience both difficult and prescient.
gehadibany's review against another edition
5.0
Was hard to get into it at first but then..
That was insane!
That was insane!