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seanwatson's review
A lovely, strange novel that demonstrates McElroy's emerging preoccupations with distance and simulteneity. Unlike Women and Men, Ancient History doesn't quite have the sweep or stylistic daring to match the its concepts; in comparison with his later work, the prose in this book is relatively straightforward (and singular?). But to my mind, Women and Men is so successful because it is so formally radical. While this book is much more recognisably grounded in human experience than, say, Hind's Kidnap, its metafictional and structural preoccupations seem to take precedence over everything else, to the point where it occasionally feels more like an exercise than a finished McElroy novel. There are many scenes in this book that are beautifully rendered, but the networks and connections built throughout were either too subtle for my mind or not given enough weight.
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