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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Suicide attempt
I'm having a hard time rating this because the subject matter just destroyed me a little bit, and because I love John Darnielle's music so much and could hear a little of it here, so I'm coming at it all skewed. Maybe that's review enough - if you love the Mountain Goats, you will probably like the writing, but the story is hard to read. I loved the mail order game, though. I've never heard of such a thing and it felt so amazing and magical, this real-life Zork (bad reference but that is what I thought of) that was going on.
Really liked this book, a story of a young man growing up living largely inside his mind in a Southern California land reminiscent of much of Darnielle's songwriting. I especially loved the inverted structure, which bases a pretty interesting story around the question of the narrator's motivation for one act that totally changes his life, and leaves the act itself for the very end, when the reader knows the narrator well. Engrossing and unsatisfying in a mostly satisfying way.
"I could see him starting to think, hard, during the little minute of quiet that followed. Wheels turning. I wondered if maybe something difficult was opening itself up to him- that maybe people do things for no reason, that things just happen, that nobody really knows much."
that's the whole thing, tho!
that's the whole thing, tho!
To be, as the jacket on his novel describes as “one of the best lyricists of his generation”, Darnielle under-delivers with his debut work. There is a strong, impactful narrative that is disappointingly under-developed and consequently under-explored lying below Darnielle’s overly ambitious attempt to construct a story in fragmented, reverse order. Inconsequential plot points are overdeveloped (multi page abstractions about Trace Italian gameplay), while other, more compelling and significant happenings that impact Sean’s character development and first person reflection (Lance and Carrie court case) are left unexamined. The book feels like an advanced reader’s copy that was pushed through to publication too soon without proper revision/editing. I can point to multiple grammatical errors that are glaringly obvious when reading and to an attempt at an otherwise compelling narrative that is sadly not treated with the care and patience that a story of its scope and temporal complexity requires.
Sitting here hemming and hawing over the correct number of stars for this novel.
The four stars are for the many sections of the book that I found beautiful, or relatable--the connection the main character makes to both fictional worlds and to role-playing games as a way to escape from and/or cope with a frustrating real world, for example.
On the other hand, I nearly gave it three stars for either being too short to really do what it seemed to be trying to do, or for spending too much time on aspects of the story that never panned out.
So four stars it is, I guess. Four stars for the parts of this book that made me wish it was longer.
The four stars are for the many sections of the book that I found beautiful, or relatable--the connection the main character makes to both fictional worlds and to role-playing games as a way to escape from and/or cope with a frustrating real world, for example.
On the other hand, I nearly gave it three stars for either being too short to really do what it seemed to be trying to do, or for spending too much time on aspects of the story that never panned out.
So four stars it is, I guess. Four stars for the parts of this book that made me wish it was longer.
Not surprised i gave this a 3 star rating freshman year… it’s a slow and patient novel, where the plot has already happened by the time we enter its world. Sean is a very real, lively character, a model of the patience and control one finds after accepting the ultimate futility of action. (He certainly learned that lesson firsthand.) Still, it was a little formulaic in its structure. It was also not very surprising - I could see (dimly) the end of the novel by the halfway point. A nice effort, but I am not really convinced Darnielle’s fiction writing is of the caliber of his lyricism.
AB (read by the author!)
AB (read by the author!)
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
This is a good thinking book, told backwards and ending with the accident that changed Sean's life. I'm still not exactly sure how I feel about that, but I enjoyed the rest of it.