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cosmicsapphic's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
morepeachyogurt's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
2.75
i really wanted to like this book. the author tried to do too many things and therefore didn’t really pull off any of them well. the first half of the book is unbearably slow, from around pg 250-350 it’s solid but then there’s still another 100 pages left. the parts on trans theory i found quite interesting and would’ve liked for there to be more development. most of this book felt like the ramblings on an author desperate to prove their well read without actually explaining what they’ve read. interesting concepts are brought up and never developed or mentioned again. the structure of the book felt lacking; the last 100 pages of so are almost completely unnecessary. cool concept, poor execution.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide attempt
veronicaouellette's review
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.75
meganmsmart's review
(Won a copy in the Storygraph giveaway)
I don't think this kind of book is really for me. I'm not much of a philosopher, being a chemist and caring more about natural sciences, and I tend to find nonfiction pretty dull. It's distracting when half the chapters are asides referencing other people and other works, when I would be much more interested in Lev's story if that were the main focus. It gives the impression of pretension and pseudointellectualism that does nothing to draw me in, even if the author himself is clearly very knowledgeable. I don't want to read the notes for your philosophy dissertation, especially when they feel so tangential to what's happening in the story. It feels like literary alchemy (as Lev might put it) trying to mix fiction and nonfiction, with the end result being lead dust rather than hunks of gold.
One thing I did very much like is the discussion of being trans (which is why I entered the giveaway in the first place), especially the part of cis and trans just being different ways to experience gender. I wanted to enjoy this book and get more insight onto being trans, so that I can be a more informed ally, but all the philosophical asides and allusions really bogged down the experience for me.
Maybe it gets better at 21% of the book, but I feel like if I'm not engaged at all after 100 pages, I'd rather just move on to a book that I'll be able to better appreciate.
I don't think this kind of book is really for me. I'm not much of a philosopher, being a chemist and caring more about natural sciences, and I tend to find nonfiction pretty dull. It's distracting when half the chapters are asides referencing other people and other works, when I would be much more interested in Lev's story if that were the main focus. It gives the impression of pretension and pseudointellectualism that does nothing to draw me in, even if the author himself is clearly very knowledgeable. I don't want to read the notes for your philosophy dissertation, especially when they feel so tangential to what's happening in the story. It feels like literary alchemy (as Lev might put it) trying to mix fiction and nonfiction, with the end result being lead dust rather than hunks of gold.
One thing I did very much like is the discussion of being trans (which is why I entered the giveaway in the first place), especially the part of cis and trans just being different ways to experience gender. I wanted to enjoy this book and get more insight onto being trans, so that I can be a more informed ally, but all the philosophical asides and allusions really bogged down the experience for me.
Maybe it gets better at 21% of the book, but I feel like if I'm not engaged at all after 100 pages, I'd rather just move on to a book that I'll be able to better appreciate.
stromberg's review
challenging
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
This hybrid novel burrows into nesting parentheses—interrupting itself, then interrupting the interruption—as it both follows Lev’s experiences (meeting ghosts and goddesses, being targeted by a potential mass shooter, chasing his obsession with another man’s obsession) and traces his thoughts as they carom about. Great, chaotic fun—and also pathos, and darkness, and knotted notions.
Lev's voice is unforgettable, his preoccupations obsessive, his drybones humour endearing, his dissolution and recovery affecting. His caroming observations interweave questions on the nature of time, purloined cameras, workplace threats, awful boys, and very special guest star Clippy.
Lev's voice is unforgettable, his preoccupations obsessive, his drybones humour endearing, his dissolution and recovery affecting. His caroming observations interweave questions on the nature of time, purloined cameras, workplace threats, awful boys, and very special guest star Clippy.
The novel is a mélange of ideas in the best sense: not merely a jumble, but a philosophical corkboard bristling with a fantastical variety of pins, each connected to the other by a fractal web of coloured yarn. Lieberman’s artistry is in peppering you with these ideas while also, incredibly, helping you sense each connexion. Slow your reading… dwell on each… tuck it away… and sample the next. Before you know it, everything is connected to everything, and you, Gentle Reader, are either kooky or enlightened.
A lapidary novel, worth your attention.
A lapidary novel, worth your attention.
clari's review
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This is an incredible book. It is a piece of literature in conversation with stories that have been told across time and civilisation. It questions why as a society we tell stories, and, (one of my absolute favourite themes to explore), what is the significance of a belief in truth to the individual. It constructs and deconstructs and exists in the space before anything is made and everything is broken.
The novel exists beyond the words on the page. It interacts with visual material, the short film of the title, JFK's shooting as captured by Zapruder, and audio, music is mentioned and entwined through the narrative. The reader is invited to explore as much of this meta material as they choose, a bibliography and ample footnotes are included. This is my personal preference. But you can also ignore it all and focus entirely on the text. The experience of this work is within our control, how much we concentrate on the presence and how much we wonder off on our own mental journey is a beautiful layering of the themes.
This is the second full length book I've read by Tucker Lieberman and I'll definitely explore more. Indeed on finishing this novel, I am already thinking I want to read it again. It is akin to spending time deep in midnight conversation with a very intelligent and thoughtful friend.
The novel exists beyond the words on the page. It interacts with visual material, the short film of the title, JFK's shooting as captured by Zapruder, and audio, music is mentioned and entwined through the narrative. The reader is invited to explore as much of this meta material as they choose, a bibliography and ample footnotes are included. This is my personal preference. But you can also ignore it all and focus entirely on the text. The experience of this work is within our control, how much we concentrate on the presence and how much we wonder off on our own mental journey is a beautiful layering of the themes.
This is the second full length book I've read by Tucker Lieberman and I'll definitely explore more. Indeed on finishing this novel, I am already thinking I want to read it again. It is akin to spending time deep in midnight conversation with a very intelligent and thoughtful friend.
traumbooks's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
A modern classic!! This is a funny, poignant, TRANS AS FUCK METAFICTION ROLLERCOASTER! And when you hop off after 400 odd pages, you feel like running to the line and getting on all over again. Such an interesting snapshot and touching on so many aspects of what it's like to be an earnest and still very fallible person in late 2010s US.
zillanovikov's review
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
Like everything I truly love, I have no idea how to describe this novel. This is not going to be a very good book review, which is a shame because it is a very, very good book. I got an Advance Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review so I'm honour-bound to do my best, even if it's an impossible task.
I wish I had written this book.
In some ways, when I write, this is the book which I am trying to write. I can imagine telling Lev, the main character, that I no longer wished to write novels because he had already told my story better than I ever could. I imagine him answering that if I didn't write, I hadn't understood his story.
There's a Philip K Dick book, Valis, which I read twice. I have never met anyone who read it even once, so I never get to talk about it. The book seamlessly weaves together mental illness, science fiction, and religion in a pseudo-autobiographical narrative. The first time I read it, I, along with the narrator, lost track of what was real. Years later, on reread, I still believed the narrator over my own memory of the storyline.
I was 25% through Most Famous Short Film of All Time before I realized that the protagonist's name, Lev, was not the same as the author's name, Tucker, so even though the book is written in the first person, it is not, strictly speaking, an autobiography. I'm making a joke about Valis but no one will get it unless they've read that book.
Philip K Dick had a religious epiphany that time was broken, and we're actually living through one moment in 50 AD, waiting for the boss to come back. In the film Waking Life, they say Philip K Dick got it partly right. Maybe 80%. Time is stopped, and there's only one moment, but it's not 50 AD. It's now. Like Alice (of Wonderland fame), Lev is stuck with jam yesterday and jam tomorrow but never jam today. Most Famous Short Film of All Time is about Lev choosing now.
This is not how to write a book review. I don't know where I went wrong.
Please read Most Famous Short Film of All Time. I would like to talk about it with someone.
I wish I had written this book.
In some ways, when I write, this is the book which I am trying to write. I can imagine telling Lev, the main character, that I no longer wished to write novels because he had already told my story better than I ever could. I imagine him answering that if I didn't write, I hadn't understood his story.
There's a Philip K Dick book, Valis, which I read twice. I have never met anyone who read it even once, so I never get to talk about it. The book seamlessly weaves together mental illness, science fiction, and religion in a pseudo-autobiographical narrative. The first time I read it, I, along with the narrator, lost track of what was real. Years later, on reread, I still believed the narrator over my own memory of the storyline.
I was 25% through Most Famous Short Film of All Time before I realized that the protagonist's name, Lev, was not the same as the author's name, Tucker, so even though the book is written in the first person, it is not, strictly speaking, an autobiography. I'm making a joke about Valis but no one will get it unless they've read that book.
Philip K Dick had a religious epiphany that time was broken, and we're actually living through one moment in 50 AD, waiting for the boss to come back. In the film Waking Life, they say Philip K Dick got it partly right. Maybe 80%. Time is stopped, and there's only one moment, but it's not 50 AD. It's now. Like Alice (of Wonderland fame), Lev is stuck with jam yesterday and jam tomorrow but never jam today. Most Famous Short Film of All Time is about Lev choosing now.
This is not how to write a book review. I don't know where I went wrong.
Please read Most Famous Short Film of All Time. I would like to talk about it with someone.
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