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jhamm's review against another edition
I keep trying to start this book again but I swear it’s the most abstract, pretentious piece of fiction I’ve ever seen. Read House of Leaves instead
usnebojemesa's review against another edition
3.0
Soooo..... I've had this book for years because I loved the cover of it and that was the reason I bought it (as one does). And it was an interesting read, I love how it is written in this poem style and it really takes some time to get used to it, but once you do it's good. I've googled how you should read it - whether the first POV or the second or both at the same time but what worked out for me was reading one chapter from the first POV and then the second.
morgob's review against another edition
4.0
This book left my head spinning and my heart hurting. To be completely honest, I really struggled with this book for the first hundred pages or so. I really have so many things to say about it, I'm just not sure where to start.
I suppose, to begin, I will talk about the way this story is set up. The two sides of the book, Sam and Hailey, tell the same story from each of their perspectives. The tricky thing is, their stories contradict each other for the majority of the book. In order to get myself through that, I had to let go of there being one "universal truth" to the story and just roll with it, like each of them are telling the truth in their own way and it's not the accuracies that matter. That was actually really difficult. And even though it was slow to start, I really got the hang of the read 8 pages of this side, 8 pages of that side thing. I developed a sort of rhythm to my reading where I would read one side of the narrative, read both of the historical margins, and then read two more sides of the narrative. That sounds confusing only if you haven't seen the book, but it worked for me.
The writing style was another beast completely. It read like a mix between Shakespeare and something like Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. I don't really know how else to explain it. It was like a long epic free verse poem. It was really hard to get used to at first, but I really enjoyed it by the end. The parallels between the two characters and their words were something beautiful. The repetition, alliteration, and word play was part of what made this book so special. I will say I was confused about all its eccentricities, like how they spelled words like "allways," "allso," "allone," etc. Or how US was allways capitalized (see what I did there?), how Them had a capital beginning, and fear was spelt "feer". Also, all of the o's were either green or gold, depending on the side, in reference to each character's eyes. I understood some of the reasons for things, but others just left me baffled. Like why, on Sam's side, he had all of these references to types of animals. Meanwhile, Hailey had references to all different types of plants.
The other thing I will say that bothered me for the first half was just how much sex there was, how many lewd descriptions and how it was just dripping with innuendo. However, it did get a lot better as the book went on, and I started to think of it like a new relationship, which it was. Sam and Hailey were burning for each other and it was new, and they were sixteen, so it made sense. As the book went on, it seemed as though they both matured quite a bit. They seemed so reckless at the beginning as well and that changed too.
Besides that, I thought it was a wonderful book. I felt like I was crazy for deriving meaning from it. I'd like to think that part of it is a commentary on society. It seemed so bleak for a lot of it, two people who were working hard to be together and who were discriminated against. What seemed to be the overarching message was that, at some point, all of us are going to get abused by the system. That seems dark, but I feel like that's what the author was saying. There were comments made about the healthcare system (probably reading too much into it) being discriminatory and being a place of profit.
I know this review is all over the place, so I'll try to wrap it up. I have no clue if this is actually the way it is supposed to be read, but this is what I've gotten so I'm sharing it. To be, at the beginning, Sam sounded like a cowboy or a frontiersman, and Hailey sounded kind of like a hippy. So, to me, the historical events and dates in the margins corresponded with the years the characters were experiencing. That doesn't completely make sense, but the two rode through history together, that much is for sure. The very obvious references to the Civil Rights movement made it clear. My take on it is Sam and Hailey were both immortals who met at some point during their long, long lives and decided to stick together and live out history together. Anyway, I really really liked this book. The author of the dreaded House of Leaves did not disappoint.
I suppose, to begin, I will talk about the way this story is set up. The two sides of the book, Sam and Hailey, tell the same story from each of their perspectives. The tricky thing is, their stories contradict each other for the majority of the book. In order to get myself through that, I had to let go of there being one "universal truth" to the story and just roll with it, like each of them are telling the truth in their own way and it's not the accuracies that matter. That was actually really difficult. And even though it was slow to start, I really got the hang of the read 8 pages of this side, 8 pages of that side thing. I developed a sort of rhythm to my reading where I would read one side of the narrative, read both of the historical margins, and then read two more sides of the narrative. That sounds confusing only if you haven't seen the book, but it worked for me.
The writing style was another beast completely. It read like a mix between Shakespeare and something like Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. I don't really know how else to explain it. It was like a long epic free verse poem. It was really hard to get used to at first, but I really enjoyed it by the end. The parallels between the two characters and their words were something beautiful. The repetition, alliteration, and word play was part of what made this book so special. I will say I was confused about all its eccentricities, like how they spelled words like "allways," "allso," "allone," etc. Or how US was allways capitalized (see what I did there?), how Them had a capital beginning, and fear was spelt "feer". Also, all of the o's were either green or gold, depending on the side, in reference to each character's eyes. I understood some of the reasons for things, but others just left me baffled. Like why, on Sam's side, he had all of these references to types of animals. Meanwhile, Hailey had references to all different types of plants.
The other thing I will say that bothered me for the first half was just how much sex there was, how many lewd descriptions and how it was just dripping with innuendo. However, it did get a lot better as the book went on, and I started to think of it like a new relationship, which it was. Sam and Hailey were burning for each other and it was new, and they were sixteen, so it made sense. As the book went on, it seemed as though they both matured quite a bit. They seemed so reckless at the beginning as well and that changed too.
Besides that, I thought it was a wonderful book. I felt like I was crazy for deriving meaning from it. I'd like to think that part of it is a commentary on society. It seemed so bleak for a lot of it, two people who were working hard to be together and who were discriminated against. What seemed to be the overarching message was that, at some point, all of us are going to get abused by the system. That seems dark, but I feel like that's what the author was saying. There were comments made about the healthcare system (probably reading too much into it) being discriminatory and being a place of profit.
I know this review is all over the place, so I'll try to wrap it up. I have no clue if this is actually the way it is supposed to be read, but this is what I've gotten so I'm sharing it. To be, at the beginning, Sam sounded like a cowboy or a frontiersman, and Hailey sounded kind of like a hippy. So, to me, the historical events and dates in the margins corresponded with the years the characters were experiencing. That doesn't completely make sense, but the two rode through history together, that much is for sure. The very obvious references to the Civil Rights movement made it clear. My take on it is Sam and Hailey were both immortals who met at some point during their long, long lives and decided to stick together and live out history together.
Spoiler
(Also, minor spoiler, I'm pretty sure it was the honey that made them immortal). Now that I'm in the spoilers, I very nearly cried at the end of this book. The fact that Hailey (or Sam) died and left the other allone in the world, leaving the other one to live on their own, but then they actually sort of committed suicide. They made the choice to stop eating the honey, anyway.ir_sharp2's review against another edition
3.0
Seriously messed up. In kind of a good way? Obviously well-planned and artistically designed. I'm pretty sure Danielewski has a mental disorder. Like schizophrenia. Hell maybe even just run-of-the-mill autism turned into a mind-blowing talent. Read some of the other reviews if you want to know if you'll want to read it cuz I can't even really process it right now. Good luck.
missmim's review against another edition
1.0
An epic poem, told from the point of view of two people, with lots of annotation and other Danielewski tricks anyone who read the interesting, if flawed, 'House of Leaves' will be familiar with. When I read this book I felt like it would probably be good for me to finish it, like eating Cheerios or Wheaties, but that's not why I read books (as a general rule). It's also supposed to be read 10 pages at a time, from each protagonist's point of view, and that definitely got annoying after about page 30. I think it's a ballsy exercise but it didn't do anything for me.
seadowg's review against another edition
challenging
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
3.0
a_novel_femme's review against another edition
3.0
I'm not going to add much more to the discussion of plot and/or structure, as numerous readers have brought up many of the viewpoints that I share. I will, however, add my two cents by saying this: I'm not quite sure if Mark Z. Danielewski is a sadist or a masochist, but I really wish Only Revolutions came with a safeword.
Also, I met the man, and he is thoroughly charming, brilliant, hilarious, warm and insightful, and he believes that the structure of his text aids in the plot of narrative. I just wish I could agree.
Also, I met the man, and he is thoroughly charming, brilliant, hilarious, warm and insightful, and he believes that the structure of his text aids in the plot of narrative. I just wish I could agree.