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tarrowood's review
5.0
I really couldn’t even begin rating this one without reading others reviews of it. It is reminiscent of Kafka and Joyce; it is megalithic in its exploration of the surreal, the sojourn into dreams and fears. It is a novel that, without finishing, is inexplicable, unexplorable. The ending lays out the legend of a dense cartography. I believe you could study Solenoid for years and never find an end to your discoveries. The autofiction of the novel also serves as a tie to reality in a world that almost relies on its exploration of the metaphysical and oneiric.
itismebruna's review
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
nathansnook's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
*DNF
i'm claiming defeat and just hate seeing this still on my "still reading" shelf on this god forsaken app i'm so sorry
look, very trippy interesting claustrophobic labyrinthic yet all so liberating???
letting memories roam. letting history speak. letting it all go.
admitting to a life lived.
that's all i've gotten out of it, and have appreciated what i've read. it's just too big of a book and i only have a pdf of it god save me
*also note that i claimed this as my fav read of 2022 okay leave me alone
🥮🥮🥮
If you enjoyed this write-up, please consider purchasing my novella here.
Or find other thoughts on books and films here.
i'm claiming defeat and just hate seeing this still on my "still reading" shelf on this god forsaken app i'm so sorry
look, very trippy interesting claustrophobic labyrinthic yet all so liberating???
letting memories roam. letting history speak. letting it all go.
admitting to a life lived.
that's all i've gotten out of it, and have appreciated what i've read. it's just too big of a book and i only have a pdf of it god save me
*also note that i claimed this as my fav read of 2022 okay leave me alone
🥮🥮🥮
If you enjoyed this write-up, please consider purchasing my novella here.
Or find other thoughts on books and films here.
andriella's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
seekerscribe025's review
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
5.0
kingofblades113's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
thebobsphere's review
5.0
Mircea Cărtărescu’s Solenoid came upon my radar last year when i saw a review of it on the W.A.S.T.E. Mailing List channel. Although I watched the first 30 minutes, I was intrigued. My curiosity was further piqued a month later when I read Guadalupe Nettel’s Still Born and the main characters is reading… Solenoid. I managed to buy a copy, thanks to the ever patient booksellers , Mallia and d’amato.
When reviewing an all encompassing novel such as Solenoid, it’s a little difficult to choose a starting point , probably the best route being the more traditional one and attempt to describe the plot, a loose term in itself in this context.
Solenoid, on the surface, is about an elementary school teacher who had aspirations to be a writer but all his chances were ruined due to a failed poetry reading. He has written all his thoughts and daily goings on in his notebooks, which he is sharing with us.
At this point it is better to explain what a solenoid is. In a more traditional sense it is an electrical conduit but in mathematical terms it is a surface without any boundaries, which create an indefinite loop, like a moebius strip, both play a part in the novel. There are physical Solenoids buried around the narrator’s city of Bucharest and when he is near them, he delves into a dream like state. The mathematical solenoid echoes the book’s structure: Sentences, characters and themes get brief mentions but are returned to in varying degrees – this makes the reader feel like they are in a loop.
The first noticeable thing about Solenoid is the corporeality: lice, bellybutton dirt, teeth and flesh are constantly mentioned; tuberculosis changes the narrator’s destiny. At one point he describes his body as a prison.
This element of Solenoid serves as grounding for the more astral parts. Once the novel leaves the physical world, it goes into the 4th dimension, something that is worth digressing for a tiny bit. As I am not a mathematician, I can only describe it as an extension of the 3rd dimension. As an example, take a 3D cube and insert another 3D cube and you have a 4th dimensional shape or , to be more exact, a tesseract. On a more popular level, and this is mentioned in the book, a Rubik’s Cube is also a 4th dimensional object as it contains a cluster of 3D cubes,
Solenoid dances between these two worlds; the physical: the body, anecdotes about the teaching staff and bits and pieces from the narrator’s life. The metaphysical world: the aforementioned 4th dimension, the dream sequences and the apocalyptic ending.
What actually links both worlds is Ethel Lilian Voynich’s The Gadfly. She connected to an emotional experience when the narrator cries while reading it. For the other world, Voynich was Mathematician George Boole’s daughter and had connections with Howard Hinton, the inventor of the tesseract, a pioneer in 4th dimension mathematics.
Despite the complex themes Mircea Cărtărescu manages to pull everything off because there is a lot of soul coursing through these passages. There are other discourses in Solenoid: gender , ethics. politics and some passages that show a love/hate relationship with Bucharest. It’s all done clearly without disorienting the reader.
Solenoid did change my way at looking at life. The narrator’s philosophies and observations about his existence, namely this corporeal entity we inhabit made me open my eyes a bit to how many things make sense. It also amazes me how Mircea Cărtărescu manages to stuff all these philosophical enquires into one quotable, multi layered novel and make it readable.
Early on in the book, the narrator calls himself an ‘anti-author’ and that this is an ‘anti-book’ but the irony is that Solenoid is a fully fledge piece of work which touches upon many topics. One cannot avoid superlatives but Solenoid is momentous novel that will create some sort of change within the reader.
When reviewing an all encompassing novel such as Solenoid, it’s a little difficult to choose a starting point , probably the best route being the more traditional one and attempt to describe the plot, a loose term in itself in this context.
Solenoid, on the surface, is about an elementary school teacher who had aspirations to be a writer but all his chances were ruined due to a failed poetry reading. He has written all his thoughts and daily goings on in his notebooks, which he is sharing with us.
At this point it is better to explain what a solenoid is. In a more traditional sense it is an electrical conduit but in mathematical terms it is a surface without any boundaries, which create an indefinite loop, like a moebius strip, both play a part in the novel. There are physical Solenoids buried around the narrator’s city of Bucharest and when he is near them, he delves into a dream like state. The mathematical solenoid echoes the book’s structure: Sentences, characters and themes get brief mentions but are returned to in varying degrees – this makes the reader feel like they are in a loop.
The first noticeable thing about Solenoid is the corporeality: lice, bellybutton dirt, teeth and flesh are constantly mentioned; tuberculosis changes the narrator’s destiny. At one point he describes his body as a prison.
This element of Solenoid serves as grounding for the more astral parts. Once the novel leaves the physical world, it goes into the 4th dimension, something that is worth digressing for a tiny bit. As I am not a mathematician, I can only describe it as an extension of the 3rd dimension. As an example, take a 3D cube and insert another 3D cube and you have a 4th dimensional shape or , to be more exact, a tesseract. On a more popular level, and this is mentioned in the book, a Rubik’s Cube is also a 4th dimensional object as it contains a cluster of 3D cubes,
Solenoid dances between these two worlds; the physical: the body, anecdotes about the teaching staff and bits and pieces from the narrator’s life. The metaphysical world: the aforementioned 4th dimension, the dream sequences and the apocalyptic ending.
What actually links both worlds is Ethel Lilian Voynich’s The Gadfly. She connected to an emotional experience when the narrator cries while reading it. For the other world, Voynich was Mathematician George Boole’s daughter and had connections with Howard Hinton, the inventor of the tesseract, a pioneer in 4th dimension mathematics.
Despite the complex themes Mircea Cărtărescu manages to pull everything off because there is a lot of soul coursing through these passages. There are other discourses in Solenoid: gender , ethics. politics and some passages that show a love/hate relationship with Bucharest. It’s all done clearly without disorienting the reader.
Solenoid did change my way at looking at life. The narrator’s philosophies and observations about his existence, namely this corporeal entity we inhabit made me open my eyes a bit to how many things make sense. It also amazes me how Mircea Cărtărescu manages to stuff all these philosophical enquires into one quotable, multi layered novel and make it readable.
Early on in the book, the narrator calls himself an ‘anti-author’ and that this is an ‘anti-book’ but the irony is that Solenoid is a fully fledge piece of work which touches upon many topics. One cannot avoid superlatives but Solenoid is momentous novel that will create some sort of change within the reader.