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snowmaiden's review against another edition
5.0
I've been reading this book for almost a month, and the plot finally seemed to be getting going, and now it's abruptly over. Of course, I know that there are three more volumes in this series, and since I'm not sure if or when I'll ever get around to them, I'd better review what I've read so far.
This is a lovely introduction to the residents of Blackbury Jambs, New York. (Could you ask for a better fictional place name than that?) The main character, Pierce Moffatt, has taught at universities for years, but somehow is only 34 years old. I guess that makes sense because these are different times (1976, to be exact), when life in academia was much simpler. Since he's been teaching undergrads for so long already, Pierce decides to take a sabbatical in Blackbury Jambs and work on a book that he's already pitched and sold to his ex-girlfriend, Julie, once a university professor herself and now a book editor in New York. The book is to be called AEgypt, which coincidentally (or is it?) is the name of this book that I hold in my hands. The book is, as Pierce describes it, about the magic of history and the history of magic. Just in case we didn't get the point, characters are constantly telling us "There's more than one history of the world."
This book doesn't have the arc of a novel, and really functions as nothing more than an introduction to the characters and situations. And yet I was enthralled for all 390 pages. I guess this is a good thing, because if I choose to continue, I have about another 1200 pages in my future!
This is a lovely introduction to the residents of Blackbury Jambs, New York. (Could you ask for a better fictional place name than that?) The main character, Pierce Moffatt, has taught at universities for years, but somehow is only 34 years old. I guess that makes sense because these are different times (1976, to be exact), when life in academia was much simpler. Since he's been teaching undergrads for so long already, Pierce decides to take a sabbatical in Blackbury Jambs and work on a book that he's already pitched and sold to his ex-girlfriend, Julie, once a university professor herself and now a book editor in New York. The book is to be called AEgypt, which coincidentally (or is it?) is the name of this book that I hold in my hands. The book is, as Pierce describes it, about the magic of history and the history of magic. Just in case we didn't get the point, characters are constantly telling us "There's more than one history of the world."
This book doesn't have the arc of a novel, and really functions as nothing more than an introduction to the characters and situations. And yet I was enthralled for all 390 pages. I guess this is a good thing, because if I choose to continue, I have about another 1200 pages in my future!
kingofblades113's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
pavram's review against another edition
4.0
Objavljena par godina nakon Kroulijevog Little Big-a, Aegypt (odn. The Solitudes kakav je naslov Krouli želeo da nosi ovaj roman, ali izdavač je bio bezobrazan) je prirodna evolucija tema načetih u prethodno pomenutom romanu. Magija sećanja, Hermes Triput-veliki (sl. prevod) i njegova učenja hermetizma: neki drugi, posebniji svet koji se krije u ovom našem.
Čudna struktura koja prati dva stvarna lika i dva semifiktivna (Djordano Bruno i Džon Di, likovi dva romana-unutar-romana istorijske fikcije) ponekad se čini napornom i kao da pravi pešačke prelaze za mahnito obrtanje stranica - što nije nužno loša stvar. Uživao sam i upijao i zamišljao kako bi to bilo da zaista svet ima Zaplet, da je svet nekada bio drugačije mesto. Jedina mana je što malo klimavo stoji kao nezavisan roman, kao Roman, pa treba pročitati i ostale delove. A njih prvo treba iskopati er Krauli, uvek negde izmedju "literarne" tzv. visoke književnosti i fantastike, nikad nije bio nešto naročito popularan, te se to odrazilo i na tiraž njegovih knjiga: četvrtu i poslednju ovog ciklusa iz nekog razloga gotovo je nemoguće naći u mekom povezu, bar na internetu odn. bukdepozitoriju.
4+
Čudna struktura koja prati dva stvarna lika i dva semifiktivna (Djordano Bruno i Džon Di, likovi dva romana-unutar-romana istorijske fikcije) ponekad se čini napornom i kao da pravi pešačke prelaze za mahnito obrtanje stranica - što nije nužno loša stvar. Uživao sam i upijao i zamišljao kako bi to bilo da zaista svet ima Zaplet, da je svet nekada bio drugačije mesto. Jedina mana je što malo klimavo stoji kao nezavisan roman, kao Roman, pa treba pročitati i ostale delove. A njih prvo treba iskopati er Krauli, uvek negde izmedju "literarne" tzv. visoke književnosti i fantastike, nikad nije bio nešto naročito popularan, te se to odrazilo i na tiraž njegovih knjiga: četvrtu i poslednju ovog ciklusa iz nekog razloga gotovo je nemoguće naći u mekom povezu, bar na internetu odn. bukdepozitoriju.
4+
thirdcoast's review against another edition
1.0
I came across the last book in this series and it sounded really interesting, so I dug up the first book, this book, and looked forward to it. All I can say is that it is a major letdown. Neat idea, or captivating at least, but poor execution. It felt like it took three-hundred pages just to get the story to start and that was at the end. The historical fiction parts were boring. It all fits together, and I think the reader is supposed to have this moment when they realize that the book they are reading mirrors the one that the character is trying to write. However, things like that have been done by others and far better. I wasn't staggered by this realization, just let down. The novel doesn't flow well either. You want something to happen and progress to be made, and it just takes a thirty to fifty page flashback that is not interesting and doesn't really move the story forward. Everything is jumbled even down to the sentences which seem to langor in their own obscure style to the point that it is hard to make sense of things.
eupomene's review against another edition
5.0
I remember this being lovely bus reading on all those Choral Union trips to Detroit back when I was in that group. Delightfully, magically written. I really have no clue what it was about! Many stories within a story -- it was one of those books where everything comes together, just like in life generally, and shows me how all the books I read are somehow linked. Near the end, the main male character wonders why he has to live two lives -- the life outside (to me, the life of the world) and the one inside (all the lives we live through books, whatever we make up, all our imaginings). I never wondered why. This is just the way it is, and books are a magical, helpful, and learning part of it. This was a book about stories, our need for them, the many types, and how they run together and link up. The book tells of that and while reading it, I saw the truth of it in my own life. I felt as if I were in a Sandman graphic novel, reading this.
nycterisberna's review against another edition
4.0
En inglés son cuatro tomos, pero en español se editaron sólo tres (ya conocemos esta historia los fans de sagas de fantasía). Los libros se pueden leer de manera independiente y tratan de Pierre Moffett, un historiador que se envuelto en una trama de ocultismo, alquimia y magia, guiado (por así decirlo) por John Dee y Giordano Bruno. La trama es un canto de amor al Renacimiento y al arte que produjo el Hermetismo de la época. Puede ser un poco denso a veces, pero tiene partes preciosas y juega con la estructura favorita de Crowley, un libro dentro de un libro.
jdanforth's review against another edition
4.0
Audiobook bonus: John Crowley (who narrates) slips in the actual title (The Solitudes) in the closing credits.
ryan_dm's review against another edition
2.0
'He didn't understand what his book was about.'
I don't know if Crowley was attempting something different or merely struggling to fulfill a contractual obligation, but this was a meandering slog that I look forward to forgetting. I now know more about divorce and lesson planning than I want to.
There's nothing fantastical about this story to justify it being shelved as such by my library. It's a John Steinbeck novel without any meaningful social commentary.
I don't know if Crowley was attempting something different or merely struggling to fulfill a contractual obligation, but this was a meandering slog that I look forward to forgetting. I now know more about divorce and lesson planning than I want to.
There's nothing fantastical about this story to justify it being shelved as such by my library. It's a John Steinbeck novel without any meaningful social commentary.
giantarms's review against another edition
4.0
When I said I wanted to read a book about Egypt, but a kind of a shadowy, moody, atmospheric Egypt of temples and mystery, I thought I wanted a bit of elegant historical fiction. I tried finding some (you may recall that awful Agatha Christie novel), but most of it seemed to be either young adult fiction or tawdry romance. But I didn't want a story about a plucky young heroine finding luck and love in a desert or whatever. So, out of desperation, I took up this novel with the obvious title that had been sitting on my reading list for some time.
It was exactly the book I wanted.
The reason the book set in Egypt that I wanted to read does not exist, is because, of course, that that Egypt never existed. People didn't moon about necropoli wondering which turning of the Nile would be best to poison the high priest by. They were just people. Maybe a little unhealthily obsessed with embalming, but hey! Can we, in 21st Century America, claim to be any different?
And so, the peculiar spelling of the title is not accidental or quaint. It is the name of a fantastic country we in the west have come to associate with hidden wisdom and lost gods. One which had a great deal of scholarship about it for centuries, but that never actually existed. It was just the fanciful imaginings of racists with a poor understanding of etymology. Or . . . was it?
The most fitting part of this book is that Aegypt wasn't even supposed to be the name of the book. The author wanted to call it The Solitudes. I certainly would not have thought to read it when I did had they gone with that!
In any event, that author is the same who wrote Little, Big, which is one of my favorites. This book seems to take a similar theme of some kind of tale being told, but approaches it from a different angle. The characters in Little, Big more or less know there's weirdness afoot and put a lot of energy into ignoring that. The one or two characters who don't are driven half mad by this unspoken knowledge. In Aegypt, it's not actually certain there is weirdness afoot, except that Pierce comes to feel in his bones that there is. When you come to the end of the novel, you still aren't sure.
But there are three more in this series! That's why as much as I enjoyed the people living in the Faraways, I don't know that I will ever find this series as soothing as I do Little, Big. That was one longish book, told in manageable chunks, and tied up neatly in the end. The first time I read it, I read it on and off for more than a year. I have yet to read it straight through. I've got a bookmark in it even now! So, who's to say when I'll have this quartet finished. I'm giving it a go, to be sure. Just don't hold your breath, okay?
It was exactly the book I wanted.
The reason the book set in Egypt that I wanted to read does not exist, is because, of course, that that Egypt never existed. People didn't moon about necropoli wondering which turning of the Nile would be best to poison the high priest by. They were just people. Maybe a little unhealthily obsessed with embalming, but hey! Can we, in 21st Century America, claim to be any different?
And so, the peculiar spelling of the title is not accidental or quaint. It is the name of a fantastic country we in the west have come to associate with hidden wisdom and lost gods. One which had a great deal of scholarship about it for centuries, but that never actually existed. It was just the fanciful imaginings of racists with a poor understanding of etymology. Or . . . was it?
The most fitting part of this book is that Aegypt wasn't even supposed to be the name of the book. The author wanted to call it The Solitudes. I certainly would not have thought to read it when I did had they gone with that!
In any event, that author is the same who wrote Little, Big, which is one of my favorites. This book seems to take a similar theme of some kind of tale being told, but approaches it from a different angle. The characters in Little, Big more or less know there's weirdness afoot and put a lot of energy into ignoring that. The one or two characters who don't are driven half mad by this unspoken knowledge. In Aegypt, it's not actually certain there is weirdness afoot, except that Pierce comes to feel in his bones that there is. When you come to the end of the novel, you still aren't sure.
But there are three more in this series! That's why as much as I enjoyed the people living in the Faraways, I don't know that I will ever find this series as soothing as I do Little, Big. That was one longish book, told in manageable chunks, and tied up neatly in the end. The first time I read it, I read it on and off for more than a year. I have yet to read it straight through. I've got a bookmark in it even now! So, who's to say when I'll have this quartet finished. I'm giving it a go, to be sure. Just don't hold your breath, okay?
graypeape's review against another edition
5.0
Here's the thing, I kinda suck at writing reviews, and trying to write one for a favorite book is even harder than usual. John Crowley has been my favorite author since I first read Engine Summer in the early 80s, but it's difficult for me to explain why; his writing just stirs something in me that no other author does. I'm not going to write a synopsis of this book, there are plenty of other reviewers here who've done a much better job at that than I would. I'll say that when I read this book the first time more than 30 years ago, I loved it, I loved the concept of the world being different now than it used to be, and that, for the characters in the book, the world was headed for another shift in reality. I loved the excerpts from Fellows Kraft's novels included, and I wish so much that these novels were real, I want to read them all (in other reviews I've seen Kraft's use of dashes and italics instead of quotation marks annoys some readers, but it makes sense to me the way it's explained in the book, and I had no problem with it). There's not a huge lot of plot going on, because this is the first of a quartet of books; it sets the stage nicely, and leaves one wanting more of the story. Perhaps I should say the plot is bigger than this book, and so it's still not as obvious as it could be. Ugh, this is frustrating and confusing! Sorry about that, I did say I suck at this....
tl;dr: one of my favorite books, beautiful writing, love it!
tl;dr: one of my favorite books, beautiful writing, love it!