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cerebellum's review
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction
an_library_stan's review
funny
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Very relatable and funny meditation on procrastination, disassociating with social media, social media addiction, online discourse, being frozen in your creative process by the anticipation of others reactions, spacing out.
I proceeded to open and close Instagram and Twitter. Children started screaming outside in the street; I looked at my phone. There was nothing to click; I wanted something to click. I felt like I was trying to remember something.
It's a meta reading experience. Many of the goals the narrator has for his novel, and critiques he has of his and others works show up in The Novelist. E.g. he talks about trying to use repetition as a literary technique. There are parts of this book when he took repetition perhaps a bit far. But it didn't last long and The Novelist manages to poke fun at it all the same.
My main issue with the book was some ableist language as the narrator calls himself an "invalid".
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction
Minor: Ableism
samarakroeger's review
challenging
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
ummm.... did I know this was going to be experimental lit featuring an entire scene about pooping on the toilet? no. no I did not. this book is either very genius or very dumb, and I haven't been able to decide which yet.
this is an extremely meta book, following an unnamed male author who is struggling to write his novel, which is a piece of auto-fiction. is this author himself a piece of auto-fiction from Castro? is this multi-layered auto-fiction? anyways, I read an interview where it seems Castro has been trolling one of his author friends (Tao Lin) through inside jokes and references to his characters here. I honestly thought it was funny and bold for him to include "Jordan Castro" as a character in this book (although I think he was brought up too many times, sometimes seemingly to spew his own agenda).
and yet, despite it all, I found parts of this weirdly relatable. the indecision, the weird morning habits, the wanting to avoid social media but doom scrolling as a reflex anyways. I didn't think that this was going to be an ~internet novel~, but I was pleasantly surprised by that aspect here. also, for experimental lit fic about the internet, Patricia Lockwood's No One Is Talking About This is far superior (imo). I think the fact that The Novelist is a two-in-one, with a drug novel inside an internet novel, kinda complicates things.
and yeah, this would be the worst motivational book to get you to work on your own novel. I cannot in good faith recommend this book to most people.
this is an extremely meta book, following an unnamed male author who is struggling to write his novel, which is a piece of auto-fiction. is this author himself a piece of auto-fiction from Castro? is this multi-layered auto-fiction? anyways, I read an interview where it seems Castro has been trolling one of his author friends (Tao Lin) through inside jokes and references to his characters here. I honestly thought it was funny and bold for him to include "Jordan Castro" as a character in this book (although I think he was brought up too many times, sometimes seemingly to spew his own agenda).
and yet, despite it all, I found parts of this weirdly relatable. the indecision, the weird morning habits, the wanting to avoid social media but doom scrolling as a reflex anyways. I didn't think that this was going to be an ~internet novel~, but I was pleasantly surprised by that aspect here. also, for experimental lit fic about the internet, Patricia Lockwood's No One Is Talking About This is far superior (imo). I think the fact that The Novelist is a two-in-one, with a drug novel inside an internet novel, kinda complicates things.
and yeah, this would be the worst motivational book to get you to work on your own novel. I cannot in good faith recommend this book to most people.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Excrement, Body horror, and Drug use
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