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jankjickjunk's review against another edition
4.0
This is less a collection of stories than a collection of ideas which put together form a fully realized world.
trendingline221's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
suddenflamingword's review against another edition
2.0
The Age of Wire and String reads like an auto-mode camera whose broken filter compels it, by obscure physical mechanisms in light and machine, to endlessly zoom, retract, and readjust ISO. You might call it slapstick with words.
For what it's worth, it's definitely engaging in concept: a novel-in-stories disguised as an absurdist scholasticism as dry and dense as a FEIS.
What does work in this book - with its cokebottle gusto - is how it reorients the notion of narrative away from character. The character is this world, this thing held loosely together by self-reference and definitions, in the style of what Timothy Morton calls Hyperobjects: "objects which have a vitality to them but you can't touch them, like race or class, or climate change. Their effects may be experienced even if they cannot be necessarily touched." A human-level perception of the world fails when going into the book.
Which is half what I was looking for when I was redirected here through Ian Bogost's Alien Phenomenology. It feels, however, caught up in what I can't help but feel is the spiral of hopelessness that began with Anglo "postmodern" literature - somewhere between knowingly precocious and giving up on communication.
Since The Age of Wire and String was published in '92, the hangover of that literary world, it's not surprising that it feels half-foot-in like this. I don't regret reading it; it might be the first book I've read that pushes me to think like a thing removed from an anthrocontext. Still not sure I'd suggest it to anyone who prefers Alexander's solution to Gordian Knots.
For what it's worth, it's definitely engaging in concept: a novel-in-stories disguised as an absurdist scholasticism as dry and dense as a FEIS.
What does work in this book - with its cokebottle gusto - is how it reorients the notion of narrative away from character. The character is this world, this thing held loosely together by self-reference and definitions, in the style of what Timothy Morton calls Hyperobjects: "objects which have a vitality to them but you can't touch them, like race or class, or climate change. Their effects may be experienced even if they cannot be necessarily touched." A human-level perception of the world fails when going into the book.
Which is half what I was looking for when I was redirected here through Ian Bogost's Alien Phenomenology. It feels, however, caught up in what I can't help but feel is the spiral of hopelessness that began with Anglo "postmodern" literature - somewhere between knowingly precocious and giving up on communication.
Since The Age of Wire and String was published in '92, the hangover of that literary world, it's not surprising that it feels half-foot-in like this. I don't regret reading it; it might be the first book I've read that pushes me to think like a thing removed from an anthrocontext. Still not sure I'd suggest it to anyone who prefers Alexander's solution to Gordian Knots.
schleyer's review against another edition
2.0
Look, in theory, I’m all for abstract and surreal art that deconstructs the tools we use to communicate and structure reality. And calling BS on anything this opaque and experimental exposes you to being called unrefined (“Oh, it’s a shame this was too complex for you. Have you tried Young Adult fiction maybe?”)
But beyond a certain point, I just feel like I’m being pranked and I gotta call it. So I’m calling it. What we have on our hands here is a naked Emperor.
But beyond a certain point, I just feel like I’m being pranked and I gotta call it. So I’m calling it. What we have on our hands here is a naked Emperor.
ederwin's review against another edition
3.0
Walks a thin line between meaning and non-sense. When it veers too far to either side of that line it becomes uninteresting, but the skill involved at staying on that line is impressive. It takes considerable skill to pull that off. There are some passages that make just enough sense (or from which I am able to make just enough sense) to blow my mind. But the other 99% leaves me not even scratching my head, since I know that wouldn't help.
The closest comparison, in terms of the blend of comprehensible and incomprehensible, is the so-called design specifications I get at my job and from which I'm supposed to create software.
The closest comparison, in terms of the blend of comprehensible and incomprehensible, is the so-called design specifications I get at my job and from which I'm supposed to create software.
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