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3.04 AVERAGE
3.04 AVERAGE
Like many novels of its era, The Purple Cloud was originally serialized and sadly exhibits the format's tedious verbiage. We're talking rambling lists that would give Georges Perec a headache and repetitious episodes of protagonist Adam wandering from place to place, finding dead bodies, and ruminating on said bodies. The second part is a silly, contrived .
Which is a shame, because Shiel's prose can be quite beautiful and the story starts off very strongly. It is easy to see why Lovecraft praised The Purple Cloud, with its initial imagery of the smallness and helplessness of the individual in a dead world and dark future, and his subsequent mental deterioration. If only Shiel had stuck with those themes and not his hokey deus ex machina that gave humanity's tragedy cosmic meaning and actually imparted a moral.
Spoiler
retelling of Adam and Eve that's also loaded with racism and misogyny. Leda is a blank slate barely out of her teens who needs Adam to teach her everything. Both are white, and it is their new relationship that heals Adam's mad pyromaniac and egomaniacal tendencies, during which he had adopted the aspect of a stereotypical sultan, and inspires his return to European dress. The narrative is quite preoccupied with strange, exotic non-white and non-Western foreigners; the implication is that the world is better off without themWhich is a shame, because Shiel's prose can be quite beautiful and the story starts off very strongly. It is easy to see why Lovecraft praised The Purple Cloud, with its initial imagery of the smallness and helplessness of the individual in a dead world and dark future, and his subsequent mental deterioration. If only Shiel had stuck with those themes and not his hokey deus ex machina that gave humanity's tragedy cosmic meaning and actually imparted a moral.
slow-paced
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Getting to the end of this book was a BATTLE.
adventurous
challenging
dark
slow-paced
adventurous
reflective
slow-paced
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
Early post-apocalyptic fiction. Very dated in attitudes, but that's to be expected.
I have such mixed reactions to this book. First, huge, massive negative: explicit white supremacy. The protagonist flat out says in several places that the white race is the one meant to survive. Yes, the author is 19C British, but I have read a lot from that time period and this is extreme, Kipling’s “White Man’s Burden” level awful. Second, the book could have been half as long. Author has the tendency to get into these long, rambling, orientalist fugue states where he catalogues locations and references to Eastern countries, histories, and objects. Third, in a nutshell, the story is: man goes on polar expedition (not uncommon in the era and fairly well told), bizarre environmental catastrophe ensues, everyone dies but protagonist, protagonist begins wandering the planet on ships and trains initially seeking other humans but eventually gives up and decides to.... embrace his inner arsonist? Dude starts burning down every city he encounters. Burning indiscriminately. Not to get rid of toxins but because he can. So, you’re the only human left on earth and you decide that you’re going to spend what time you have destroying things? Add this to the white supremacy and it’s just a groan-fest.
So why the two stars? Fair question. The writing sometimes attains beauty, sentences that I reread for the pleasure of them. Usually these were environmentally descriptive. The author did have talent and such moments kept me reading. For the meditations on environment and empire, it was interesting, but I would never assign this book to my college students. The racist language is so extreme. Sad that someone who did have talent used it to write a book about destroying cultures and hating other people. Added to this that the ending involves and Adam and Eve plot that is sexist, fundamentalist zealotry, and no thanks.
So why the two stars? Fair question. The writing sometimes attains beauty, sentences that I reread for the pleasure of them. Usually these were environmentally descriptive. The author did have talent and such moments kept me reading. For the meditations on environment and empire, it was interesting, but I would never assign this book to my college students. The racist language is so extreme. Sad that someone who did have talent used it to write a book about destroying cultures and hating other people. Added to this that the ending involves and Adam and Eve plot that is sexist, fundamentalist zealotry, and no thanks.
read for uni — i appreciate this for being one of the first ever apocalyptic/sci-fi novels, but it was an absolute pain to get through
challenging
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes