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3.59 AVERAGE
3.59 AVERAGE
adventurous
funny
Love the writing - constructed sentences that are dense with story and detail.
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
A fun satire-pastiche-adventure about race relations, and Poe. Sort of like a less intellectual Charles Johnson satire, although with some very funny and fine stuff. Mat Johnson has a lot of ideas and a lot to talk about. Among the wide variety of subjects satirized, discussed or name-checked: academia, Poe, slave narratives, Little Debbie, Morehouse, Thomas Kinkade, the Black Panther, diversity committees, bio-domes, blogging, Republicans, and white people. I like Poe's "Arthur Gordon Pym" (and why shouldn't I?) so I enjoyed the many references here.
This is the second book I've read riffing on "Arthur Gordon Pym", by the by. The first was a sci-fi book by oddball physics professor Rudy Rucker. There have been many more. Read it yourself! It's fun!
This is the second book I've read riffing on "Arthur Gordon Pym", by the by. The first was a sci-fi book by oddball physics professor Rudy Rucker. There have been many more. Read it yourself! It's fun!
Frustrating amounts of fatphobia and body shaming that seem unconnected to the premise.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fatphobia
Moderate: Body shaming, Racism, Grief
Minor: Racial slurs, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence
This is satire, aimed squarely at Edgar Alan Poe's "The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket." I enjoyed "Pym" more than Poe's novel.
I loved how Mat Johnson's lead character, Chris Jaynes, critiques Poe's novel in the beginning of this novel. Chris is a literature professor at a liberal college, where as the only African-American, he is expected to limit himself in a way he finds objectionable. Chris's refusal to play the narrow role the college is offering means the end of his career. When a rare book dealer introduces Chris to material written by Dirk Peters (a character in Poe's novel and a man of color), he is sent on a quest to research and find Tsalal, the island alluded to in Poe's chronicle.
This is a clever satire, every bit as bizarre as Poe's story, but in my opinion, more engaging. For one thing, the human characters are fun. Just one warning: as with Poe's story, what happens in the end is not entirely clear. We never even find out what happened to White Folks.*
I am very happy that Mat Johnson is on my radar, now.
*the dog. Poe didn't let us know what happened to Tiger**, either.
**the dog in Poe's story.
I loved how Mat Johnson's lead character, Chris Jaynes, critiques Poe's novel in the beginning of this novel. Chris is a literature professor at a liberal college, where as the only African-American, he is expected to limit himself in a way he finds objectionable. Chris's refusal to play the narrow role the college is offering means the end of his career. When a rare book dealer introduces Chris to material written by Dirk Peters (a character in Poe's novel and a man of color), he is sent on a quest to research and find Tsalal, the island alluded to in Poe's chronicle.
This is a clever satire, every bit as bizarre as Poe's story, but in my opinion, more engaging. For one thing, the human characters are fun. Just one warning: as with Poe's story, what happens in the end is not entirely clear. We never even find out what happened to White Folks.*
I am very happy that Mat Johnson is on my radar, now.
*the dog. Poe didn't let us know what happened to Tiger**, either.
**the dog in Poe's story.
I'm not sure I completely understood all of the satirical gold that this mined, but I definitely appreciated enough of it to say that it's a highly enjoyable read that skewers both racism and horror stories, which can really be considered to be one and the same. What's really nice about this is that it's a quality social satire while also being an adventure story that's a lot of fun to read. Plus, the term "snow honkies..." I mean, come on... What a great epithet.
An interesting meditation on the implications of race in America and history. Some of the more fantastical elements may not be for all tastes, but I found it to be a rather rollicking change of pace from the norm.
I read about this book in some science fiction and fantasy round-up a few years ago -- and committed to it so hard that I bought and read [b:The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket|766869|The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket|Edgar Allan Poe|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1568871231l/766869._SY75_.jpg|44915222] before reading this. As it turns out, Johnson doesn't assume you've already read this and so includes all the passages and summaries that you would really need to read Pym, but I do think having read both, I probably got a little more out of it. Because there are a LOT of echoes. A lot. Like, a lot. But a bunch of them backwards. And with SO MUCH RACE COMMENTARY. But if 300+ pages of race commentary and biting satire of a relatively unknown 180+ year old novel by Edgar Allan Poe doesn't sound like it would be a good time, then I don't know, maybe this book isn't for you? But it is also funny and insightful and irreverent and clever. Plus, there's that whole polar fiction thing going on, which earns it lots of extra points from me (plus the extreme satire of "self-reliant" libertarian right wing talk radio addicts). I was consistently impressed by this.