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3.59 AVERAGE
3.59 AVERAGE
Very clever satire around the conceit that the events of Poe's Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym actually happened. A critique of the novel's racial ideology and a homage which recapitulates its narrative arc in a way that inverts Poe's color scheme (read Poe first so you don't miss any jokes). I loved how Johnson played with various character types -- the Spelman soror love-interest, her Morehouse-alum entertainment lawyer, the embittered Civil Rights veteran (who gets the funniest scene), the YouTube self-promoting adventure-hound. One complaint, and I'm not going to get into it because of spoilers, but though the "Master of Light" business starts out promising it doesn't really deliver much of a satirical payload or connect satisfyingly with Poe (or else I just didn't get it). All right, one more complaint: at least two gags are repeated verbatim, apparently for the sake of readers who didn't pick them up the first time around -- c'mon, man, trust us a little more.
Smart, funny, and entertaining. Look forward to reading more by Mat Johnson!
Smart, funny, and entertaining. Look forward to reading more by Mat Johnson!
This was a wild ride. Funny, insightful satire that takes so many weird twists. I get that the weirdness is supposed to echo Poe's, but the plot got so farfetched and cartoonish that it overshadowed the rest.
I really tried to give this a chance, but it's awful.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs
What a totally weird and hilarious book, featuring an all-black crew adventuring to Antarctica, intertexual literary analysis of Edgar Allan Poe's lone novel, sharp race commentary, also slavery and apocalypse and Little Debbie snack cakes. Falls short of five stars on account of not passing the Bechdel test, and all women characters being useful/existing only in relationship to men.
Pym is the oddest little book. It’s a literary science fiction novel about Edgar Allen Poe’s obscure novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym. Weird by any generic standard. I didn’t read for character development or continuity, I just wanted to know what crazy thing was going to happen next. A black professor denied tenure at a PWI ventures to Antarctica to fulfill a researcher’s dream but encounters monsters and the undead along the way. Most of the story is implausible, but the main character is so endearingly hapless. As a professor, I admired his love of the arcane and awkwardness around regular people. I also liked all of the intellectual musing about whiteness being erasure and the absence of things as opposed to its presence. Plus, I’ve never read a novel with footnote commentary by the main character about the main character’s feelings. It’s great. The quirks of this story contribute more to the story than the plot. How the main character talks about the adventure makes the story so delightful. I’m not entirely sure who the ideal audience of a book like this would be. One would have to be very patient or really interested in Poe to slog through all the sycophancy about his single novel. I fit in the former category. I wouldn’t re-read the book, but I’m glad I read it once.
Pretty inspired - weird and hilarious mystery/adventure. Oh, and centered on racial themes that don't get in the way of the story at all.
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
let's just say this was the dullest most unfantastical science fiction/fantasy/aburb story i've read in a really long time. i don't know what happened? salon book reviews haven't steered me wrong, but this was some technically sound; yet unentertaining drudgery. boooooooooooooooooooo!