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mary_the_librarian's review against another edition
4.0
Quirky with a twist of fantasy (Anansi appears here as well as others).
klindholm's review against another edition
4.0
Surprising even though I had no idea what to expect, and charming. American Gods-ish but I enjoyed this much more. Duchovny can turn a phrase.
marmaid's review against another edition
5.0
I adore Latin American surrealism, and lo here cometh a new genre, New York City surrealism. Whip smart delivery as dry as bus-swirled dust and just as deadpan that left me laughing out loud. The audio is read by Duchovny and his delivery adds the sly to the dry and doubles the delight.
cindyp's review against another edition
3.0
Riffing on the Irish myth of Emer and Cúchulainn, Miss Subways by David Duchovny (Bucky F*cking Dent) tells an age-old tale of love lost and found. Emer, a native New Yorker, lives with her narcissistic boyfriend, Con. But one night when he's out with another woman, Emer is visited by Sid, who foretells Con's death unless Emer strikes a bargain to save his life. She agrees to let Sid wipe out their memories of their life together in order to save him. Afterward she has a nagging sense of loss and "as her dreams became more real, her reality became less so." When she runs into Con again, the meeting is a catalyst for a series of transformational events for Emer and those around her.
Emer moves through New York City trying to piece together her increasingly fragmented reality. She thinks she might have two lives--"the conscious one and the dream one playing in separate movie theaters in her mind." Emer discovers that mythological beings live in the city alongside humans, and her contact with them forces deeper thought about the meaning of life and love. Deities of every culture and belief system present themselves to Emer as if their collective wisdom is what she needs to solve the puzzle: Is she experiencing real life or a hallucination? Is there a difference? She doesn't know, and neither does the reader, lending an elusive, mystical feel to this highly original, multi-layered story.
-reviewed for Shelf Awareness 5/29/18
Emer moves through New York City trying to piece together her increasingly fragmented reality. She thinks she might have two lives--"the conscious one and the dream one playing in separate movie theaters in her mind." Emer discovers that mythological beings live in the city alongside humans, and her contact with them forces deeper thought about the meaning of life and love. Deities of every culture and belief system present themselves to Emer as if their collective wisdom is what she needs to solve the puzzle: Is she experiencing real life or a hallucination? Is there a difference? She doesn't know, and neither does the reader, lending an elusive, mystical feel to this highly original, multi-layered story.
-reviewed for Shelf Awareness 5/29/18
easyqueenie's review against another edition
3.0
Finally, Sophie picked up David Duchovny’s latest book, Miss Subways. Although generally rather dubious of celebrities penning books, Sophie hugely enjoyed Duchovny’s previous novel Bucky F*cking Dent (that Masters and partially completed English Literature PhD probably helped him quite a bit) and was hoping for more intimate New York storytelling. Instead, Miss Subways tries to be a mashup of Neverwhere and American Gods but falls short of both.
Emer Gunnels once had a brain tumor that caused her to experience vivid hallucinations. One evening she is approached by a “strange little man” who shows her a video of her boyfriend Cuchulain (the pair are named for figures from Irish folklore) being pushed in front of a car by a woman named Nancy/Anansi whom he met that evening. The man offers Emer the opportunity to save Con’s life but in doing so the world will change, Con and Emer will have never known one another and must never meet. Emer accepts the offer and saves Con’s life, waking up in a new reality with no memories of her old life, but things do not go smoothly from here as Gods and monsters begin entering her life causing her to wonder if her experiences are real, or more hallucinations and the universe seems determined to bring Emer and Con back together.
This was a very weird book. Think elderly people having an orgy in the Central Park reservoir while chanting their allegiance to a Chinese food delivery service God level weird. In fact, Sophie’s favorite line came from one of the sex scenes (all written in the worst kind of 12-year-old fanfiction style): “his lips were like that sci-fi tool in the movie Men in Black that make you forget everything.” True genius.
Sophie couldn’t say she enjoyed it as much as Bucky F*cking Dent, but it’s certainly one of the most bizarre books she’s read in a long while, and sometimes that burst of “WTF am I reading here?” is just what the doctor ordered.
Emer Gunnels once had a brain tumor that caused her to experience vivid hallucinations. One evening she is approached by a “strange little man” who shows her a video of her boyfriend Cuchulain (the pair are named for figures from Irish folklore) being pushed in front of a car by a woman named Nancy/Anansi whom he met that evening. The man offers Emer the opportunity to save Con’s life but in doing so the world will change, Con and Emer will have never known one another and must never meet. Emer accepts the offer and saves Con’s life, waking up in a new reality with no memories of her old life, but things do not go smoothly from here as Gods and monsters begin entering her life causing her to wonder if her experiences are real, or more hallucinations and the universe seems determined to bring Emer and Con back together.
This was a very weird book. Think elderly people having an orgy in the Central Park reservoir while chanting their allegiance to a Chinese food delivery service God level weird. In fact, Sophie’s favorite line came from one of the sex scenes (all written in the worst kind of 12-year-old fanfiction style): “his lips were like that sci-fi tool in the movie Men in Black that make you forget everything.” True genius.
Sophie couldn’t say she enjoyed it as much as Bucky F*cking Dent, but it’s certainly one of the most bizarre books she’s read in a long while, and sometimes that burst of “WTF am I reading here?” is just what the doctor ordered.
krknights's review against another edition
3.0
I thought I would like this book more than I did. Not to say I didn't like it. But it's the same basic premise as American Gods, and that made it very difficult for me to judge it on its own merits.
recyclebin's review against another edition
3.0
Not meaty enough or clever enough to compete in the brutal arena that is today's urban fantasy, even with its two main advantages: 1) It was written by the Fox Mulder dude, and 2) it covers lesser-known mythologies (African, Celtic). Mr. Duchovny shows a remarkably advanced grasp of the female mind, for a man, which turns out to have been a pretty low hurdle to clear. Bonus points for not having his protagonist hyper-aware of her "feminine organs" throughout, though.
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