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mdpenguin's review against another edition
funny
informative
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
I got this a while ago in a horror bundle from StoryBundle and had no idea what it was about when I picked it up. I figured, given the bundle and that the author is a Bram Stoker Award winner, it would be a horror novel, so I was confused at first when I started reading it and it turned out to be a work of humor. It's some sort of manic scree giving the history of a fictional town in Indiana on the border with Kentucky in order to explain the origins of "The Grayness," a sickness that has overwhelmed society with ennui. It took me a bit to give up looking for anything sinister and horrific, at which point I just felt lost adrift the tide of the absurdist history of fictional Midwestern cults.
I liked it, though. It answers the question we all have had at some point of what Poprishchin from Gogol's "Diary of a Madman" would be like if he were a horror writer from Indiana who became obsessed with that blandest of eldritch horrors, Midwestern ennui, rather than the issue of a Spanish succession crisis. It's a fun read with some really wonderful bits of twisted logic and a number of passages that made me laugh out loud. Although it was mostly clever, I thought that some of the humor was a bit cheap, mocking easy targets, and there were some entire chapters that I found pretty dull.
I liked it, though. It answers the question we all have had at some point of what Poprishchin from Gogol's "Diary of a Madman" would be like if he were a horror writer from Indiana who became obsessed with that blandest of eldritch horrors, Midwestern ennui, rather than the issue of a Spanish succession crisis. It's a fun read with some really wonderful bits of twisted logic and a number of passages that made me laugh out loud. Although it was mostly clever, I thought that some of the humor was a bit cheap, mocking easy targets, and there were some entire chapters that I found pretty dull.
ptrmsschrs's review against another edition
2.0
Not my cup of tea
It rarely happens that I put a book away after having read more than half of it, but at a certain point in this book (the end of part two and start of part three, I was fed up with the autobiographical elaborations. In hindsight maybe none of these stories were true.
That is also my main objection to the book: the author claims it is a non-fiction book (a history of the town Naumpton, which I discovered does not exist); so I guess most of it is fiction.
It started off very well with the history of how the town was founded (New Moses, The Brides of the Holy Ghost), but then the story got rather tedious and the so-called autobiographically passages really turned me off.
However, after putting down the book, I returned to it the next day, because I still wanted to know what the "Grayness" really was. I'm glad I did, because the end of the book is really fascinating and explains a lot.
Overall the novel did leave me somewhat unsatisfied, but I did decide to read one of her other earlier novels.
It rarely happens that I put a book away after having read more than half of it, but at a certain point in this book (the end of part two and start of part three, I was fed up with the autobiographical elaborations. In hindsight maybe none of these stories were true.
That is also my main objection to the book: the author claims it is a non-fiction book (a history of the town Naumpton, which I discovered does not exist); so I guess most of it is fiction.
It started off very well with the history of how the town was founded (New Moses, The Brides of the Holy Ghost), but then the story got rather tedious and the so-called autobiographically passages really turned me off.
However, after putting down the book, I returned to it the next day, because I still wanted to know what the "Grayness" really was. I'm glad I did, because the end of the book is really fascinating and explains a lot.
Overall the novel did leave me somewhat unsatisfied, but I did decide to read one of her other earlier novels.
neilsb's review against another edition
challenging
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
charshorrorcorner's review against another edition
4.0
WTH did I just read? I don't even know!
I can say that I liked it, that it was literary, and that it was beautifully written.
There were deep, dark, and gray ideas explored. If I had to put labels on it, (which is difficult to do), I'd use these:
metafiction
dark humor
weird tales
somewhat nihilistic
dense
After reading a few other reviews once I was finished, it seems that my favorite part was the least favorite part of others, and that was the middle. The first and third portions were more involved with Noelle's, (Nicole's?), life, discoveries, and aspirations whereas the second portion focused on a cult-like veil-wearing group traveling to the U.S. by ship and then onward towards the midwest. The New Moses and his group made for fascinating reading and I was sorry when the author moved on.
Overall, I did enjoy this compelling piece of fiction, but I will admit to the fact that my mind did wander a bit, especially during the first and third parts. Did I like it? YES! Do I recommend it? YES!
Was it my favorite work of fiction from Nicole Cushing, no-but that's ok.
I never know what to expect when I read her work, but I ALWAYS know that it's going to be original, well written, and that it will make me think.
As I said above: Recommended!
Get your copy here: https://amzn.to/2R88Y0n
*Thank you to Nicole Cushing for the e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest feedback. This is it.*
I can say that I liked it, that it was literary, and that it was beautifully written.
There were deep, dark, and gray ideas explored. If I had to put labels on it, (which is difficult to do), I'd use these:
metafiction
dark humor
weird tales
somewhat nihilistic
dense
After reading a few other reviews once I was finished, it seems that my favorite part was the least favorite part of others, and that was the middle. The first and third portions were more involved with Noelle's, (Nicole's?), life, discoveries, and aspirations whereas the second portion focused on a cult-like veil-wearing group traveling to the U.S. by ship and then onward towards the midwest. The New Moses and his group made for fascinating reading and I was sorry when the author moved on.
Overall, I did enjoy this compelling piece of fiction, but I will admit to the fact that my mind did wander a bit, especially during the first and third parts. Did I like it? YES! Do I recommend it? YES!
Was it my favorite work of fiction from Nicole Cushing, no-but that's ok.
I never know what to expect when I read her work, but I ALWAYS know that it's going to be original, well written, and that it will make me think.
As I said above: Recommended!
Get your copy here: https://amzn.to/2R88Y0n
*Thank you to Nicole Cushing for the e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest feedback. This is it.*
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