Scan barcode
marioncromb's review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
It's an impressive book, i appreciated the anticolonialist, anticapitalist, trans centred and affirming (albeit magically rather than plausibly optimistic) lens.
I wanted to love this as much as i loved LOTE, which has similar alternate-history vibes but I just didn't. i personally found the obtuse academic style prose referencing Derrida etc in the sort of language that is only understood by philosophers to be alienating and a bit of a slog to get through. I understand that it makes sense for the realistic characterisation of Voth, and is realistic for the metapremise of the novel, but still, I didn't really enjoy the interjections/the personal story within the footnotes. I know that you don't have to like the characters to like or appreciate a work of art but it was an issue for me here. I often love the tangents of footnotes (Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell my loveeeee) and i did appreciate the ways in which the stories mirrored each other. However I was half-expecting from this mirroringthe manuscript to have been written /by Voth/ due to the sheer coincidence of finding this very relatable manuscript on a niche topic they study whilstthey are having a life crisis due to their breakup. which i guess in a metatextual sense it /was/, by /Rosenberg/, but it wasnt in the world of this book which made it lack in-universe plausibility. Or maybe it was just one meta- too far for me
Another personal issue i had with the book was its idea of queerness was often too easily found though queer sex, queer bodies, more than through all ways of being/loving/not-loving that are othered by society. As an ace person i just didn't relate to the horniness in the book that was often posited as some universally relatable and transformative queer experience. This is not to say that it shouldn't have been so horny, it is an important part of the characterisation and indeed of the queerness of the book.
I enjoyed more the stories within the story: enjoyed learning about the Fen-Tigers and enjoyed the imagined paradise society of the Maroons. The little details of Jack's woodworking/technical knowledge.
I wanted to love this as much as i loved LOTE, which has similar alternate-history vibes but I just didn't. i personally found the obtuse academic style prose referencing Derrida etc in the sort of language that is only understood by philosophers to be alienating and a bit of a slog to get through. I understand that it makes sense for the realistic characterisation of Voth, and is realistic for the metapremise of the novel, but still, I didn't really enjoy the interjections/the personal story within the footnotes. I know that you don't have to like the characters to like or appreciate a work of art but it was an issue for me here. I often love the tangents of footnotes (Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell my loveeeee) and i did appreciate the ways in which the stories mirrored each other. However I was half-expecting from this mirroring
Another personal issue i had with the book was its idea of queerness was often too easily found though queer sex, queer bodies, more than through all ways of being/loving/not-loving that are othered by society. As an ace person i just didn't relate to the horniness in the book that was often posited as some universally relatable and transformative queer experience. This is not to say that it shouldn't have been so horny, it is an important part of the characterisation and indeed of the queerness of the book.
I enjoyed more the stories within the story: enjoyed learning about the Fen-Tigers and enjoyed the imagined paradise society of the Maroons. The little details of Jack's woodworking/technical knowledge.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Medical content
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Violence, Vomit, Xenophobia, Blood, Death, and Dysphoria
Minor: Murder, Police brutality, Suicidal thoughts, Confinement, Alcohol, Slavery, Death of parent, Classism, and Colonisation
caseythereader's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Thank you to One World Books for the free copy of this book.
- CONFESSIONS OF THE FOX is one of the strangest, most fascinating books I’ve ever read. I loved the structure, with the body of the book being the “lost manuscript” and the footnotes being the professor telling his story alongside the manuscript.
- There is so much going on here, I hardly know where to start. Everything from the historical erasure of trans people to the prison industrial complex is pinpointed and torn down in a frenzy.
- For me, things got a bit muddled at the end of the book, but overall this book is well worth the trip there. Do pay attention to those content warnings though, as it’s pretty grossly graphic throughout.
- CONFESSIONS OF THE FOX is one of the strangest, most fascinating books I’ve ever read. I loved the structure, with the body of the book being the “lost manuscript” and the footnotes being the professor telling his story alongside the manuscript.
- There is so much going on here, I hardly know where to start. Everything from the historical erasure of trans people to the prison industrial complex is pinpointed and torn down in a frenzy.
- For me, things got a bit muddled at the end of the book, but overall this book is well worth the trip there. Do pay attention to those content warnings though, as it’s pretty grossly graphic throughout.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Dysphoria, Excrement, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Gun violence, Violence, Cursing, Death, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Classism, Grief, Murder, Racism, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, Alcohol, Deadnaming, Medical content, Xenophobia, Vomit, and Colonisation
julianship's review
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75 with the frame narrative, 4.5 if you skip the footnotes (shocking coming from me!) I held off on reviewing this for a while, because I wanted to percolate on it. I actually started reading the book way back in January in audio format, was moving through it fairly slowly, got concussed, and simply could not get back into it. Physical format was much more successful! In part, I think, the audio format does not handle the extensive and discursive footnotes particularly well, and in part because the beginning of the book is heavily concerned with Dr. Voth, and I simply didn't like him very much. I've read about a lot of sad-sack transmasc characters this year, and only some of them are enjoyable. He got a lot more bearable in print!
That being said, the narrative of Jack Sheppard is well-done; Rosenberg nails a particular sort of 18th-century cadence (possibly anachronistic; I don't really care.) Jack's narration is as slippery as the thief himself, both poetic and crude. The end of the book is spectacular, and Bess's discussion of the Fens is lovely.
Even in print, though, I found myself wishing the footnotes weren't there at all - as much as I enjoy a metanarrative, I think there's enough metanarrative present in the "18th century" portion itself, which touches on environmental destruction, the carceral state, the new calcification of racial categories, and transgender lives and loves. I don't think the book actually needed our modern day Dr. Voth in order to make the narrative speak to the present; it does that just fine on its own without the frame narrative, and I ended up getting distracted trying to track the details of his near-future academic dystopia.
So, overall: great book, loved Jack and Bess, (shockingly for me) could have done without the frame!
That being said, the narrative of Jack Sheppard is well-done; Rosenberg nails a particular sort of 18th-century cadence (possibly anachronistic; I don't really care.) Jack's narration is as slippery as the thief himself, both poetic and crude. The end of the book is spectacular, and Bess's discussion of the Fens is lovely.
Even in print, though, I found myself wishing the footnotes weren't there at all - as much as I enjoy a metanarrative, I think there's enough metanarrative present in the "18th century" portion itself, which touches on environmental destruction, the carceral state, the new calcification of racial categories, and transgender lives and loves. I don't think the book actually needed our modern day Dr. Voth in order to make the narrative speak to the present; it does that just fine on its own without the frame narrative, and I ended up getting distracted trying to track the details of his near-future academic dystopia.
So, overall: great book, loved Jack and Bess, (shockingly for me) could have done without the frame!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Transphobia, Slavery, Xenophobia, Racism, Police brutality, and Medical content
charlieleelee's review
adventurous
informative
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This is a fantastic mix of fantasy, academia, and anti-capitalist queer theory.
As the "editor" notes, it's clearly written for a certain group of people.
As the "editor" notes, it's clearly written for a certain group of people.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Police brutality, Racism, and Transphobia
Moderate: Blood, Death, Medical content, and Xenophobia
bookstolivewith's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Okay so I keep trying (and failing) to write a coherent review but here’s the long and short of it: I found Confessions of the Fox endlessly interesting and fascinating and I am definitely not smart enough to understand everything happening here. And that’s okay, because a) I am not the intended audience as a cis-straight woman and b) that leaves me even more room to read it again and again until I figure it out.
I wish this was a book that had been taught in a college course — and I would urge professors, especially those who teach classes that involve discussions of gender and sexuality, to teach it. There is an unbelievable amount to discuss here.
On one hand, it’s a “found” novel that explores the concept of communal writing and memory. It also unpacks sexuality and gender, both in the 18th century and in the 2010s. The footnotes not only include real-life and modern references, but jointly tell the story of the “transcriber” and their struggles alongside the struggles of the fictional characters they’ve found. The manuscript explores the rise of capitalism in England and how it insidiously twists inside every single aspect of life, even death itself. No stone is left unturned here, and all of it is done through beautiful written prose that is as emotional as it is intellectual.
I would highly recommend reading this one, although I will warn you that the manuscript itself can be tricky to read, full of English cant and old words. I’m still trying to figure out the right words to express how I feel about Confessions of the Fox, and in some way, I suspect that it’s the author intention to have the book defy labels and summaries and something so simply said as a single word. However, I do feel that it will probably be one of the most important books I’ve read in a while.
I wish this was a book that had been taught in a college course — and I would urge professors, especially those who teach classes that involve discussions of gender and sexuality, to teach it. There is an unbelievable amount to discuss here.
On one hand, it’s a “found” novel that explores the concept of communal writing and memory. It also unpacks sexuality and gender, both in the 18th century and in the 2010s. The footnotes not only include real-life and modern references, but jointly tell the story of the “transcriber” and their struggles alongside the struggles of the fictional characters they’ve found. The manuscript explores the rise of capitalism in England and how it insidiously twists inside every single aspect of life, even death itself. No stone is left unturned here, and all of it is done through beautiful written prose that is as emotional as it is intellectual.
I would highly recommend reading this one, although I will warn you that the manuscript itself can be tricky to read, full of English cant and old words. I’m still trying to figure out the right words to express how I feel about Confessions of the Fox, and in some way, I suspect that it’s the author intention to have the book defy labels and summaries and something so simply said as a single word. However, I do feel that it will probably be one of the most important books I’ve read in a while.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Blood, Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Transphobia, and Violence
Moderate: Xenophobia, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, Gore, and Confinement
More...