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dorritx's review
3.0
Idk if this is actually good or it just affected me because I'm v sleepy.
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Look this book is probably not very great but what it is, is this run on along with randomly CAPITALISED words in a cynical put off tone that's such an easy ride and a nice nook to settle yourself in and be pulled along. Should we ponder on this more? I would if I wasn't TYPING this with half SHUT eyes, Ducks, Newberryport better be better than this, if only because it's 5 times this size.
Also this has ILLUSTRATIONS.
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When you're reading a book, sometimes you wonder about why the author took such and such authorial desicions- why did Dot start killing old ladies? This book feels more like a tumble along; like Ellmann let her imagination run and kept going, the desicion made for her, nothing out of realms. So Dot goes into the afterlife and its a ride, and why not? let's have reincarnation too! The ending then, feels so coincidental, not pre planned at all. But what are we, from that to garner? Are we bound to keep repeating? What does that say of human nature? Of laws of chance? Why do we stick to our tea cosies?
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Look this book is probably not very great but what it is, is this run on along with randomly CAPITALISED words in a cynical put off tone that's such an easy ride and a nice nook to settle yourself in and be pulled along. Should we ponder on this more? I would if I wasn't TYPING this with half SHUT eyes, Ducks, Newberryport better be better than this, if only because it's 5 times this size.
Also this has ILLUSTRATIONS.
--
When you're reading a book, sometimes you wonder about why the author took such and such authorial desicions- why did Dot start killing old ladies? This book feels more like a tumble along; like Ellmann let her imagination run and kept going, the desicion made for her, nothing out of realms. So Dot goes into the afterlife and its a ride, and why not? let's have reincarnation too! The ending then, feels so coincidental, not pre planned at all. But what are we, from that to garner? Are we bound to keep repeating? What does that say of human nature? Of laws of chance? Why do we stick to our tea cosies?
catdad77a45's review
3.0
3.5, rounded down.
Even given the outré nature of Ellmann's oeuvre, this is a decidedly odd duck, and am afraid I didn't cotton to it as much as her other novels (or maybe reading all of them in quick succession is burning me out on them?) It's kind of an unholy feminist amalgamation of [b:Candide|19380|Candide|Voltaire|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1345060082l/19380._SY75_.jpg|2833018] and [b:Inferno|15645|Inferno (The Divine Comedy #1)|Dante Alighieri|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1520255019l/15645._SY75_.jpg|2377563], filtered through Ellmann's sui generis sensibility. Not awful, but in the lower tier for me of Lucy-ness.
Even given the outré nature of Ellmann's oeuvre, this is a decidedly odd duck, and am afraid I didn't cotton to it as much as her other novels (or maybe reading all of them in quick succession is burning me out on them?) It's kind of an unholy feminist amalgamation of [b:Candide|19380|Candide|Voltaire|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1345060082l/19380._SY75_.jpg|2833018] and [b:Inferno|15645|Inferno (The Divine Comedy #1)|Dante Alighieri|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1520255019l/15645._SY75_.jpg|2377563], filtered through Ellmann's sui generis sensibility. Not awful, but in the lower tier for me of Lucy-ness.
spygrl1's review
1.0
Curse you, Michiko Kakutani, for luring me into one of the most distasteful reading experiences of my life.
NOTE: It's been a decade since I read this and I'm STILL mad.
NOTE: It's been a decade since I read this and I'm STILL mad.
missmarketpaperback's review
1.0
So I found the random capitalization in this book really distracting. I didn't get the circular plot and the incest made me really uncomfortable. But otherwise I liked the black humor.
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