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balletbookworm's review
4.0
Between a 3 and 4 star, I think I’m going to round up to the 4 because I really, really like the premise - using the idea of two divergent Earths and their histories to explore the idea of forced migration and Otherness, “belonging” to a group, grief, and mourning. Where I struggled with the book was when the sections of the fictional book “The Pyronauts” from Hel and Vikram’s world were included in the narrative - the technique was distracting here and didn’t work as well as it did in a book like Station Eleven.
eawtcu2015's review
3.0
This is a hard 3.5 to give. I loved the story and world building Chess did with her doomed world and the story, while seemingly mundane, was enthralling. It demanded readers think about what they would do to save their histories or lives.
Unfortunately, the formatting let the story down in spots. Specific issues where the author began weaving in a third story was jarring and didn’t fit the overall story very well. And the ending just felt rushed and needed more time to breath. Things didn’t really start coming together until the last 20 pages and as a result didn’t really have a chance to breath. It left me wishing the actual story had more time for falling action and some last minute beats before wrapping up the story.
Overall, loved the world building and characterization, just wish it had time to cool down from a final 30 page sprint.
Unfortunately, the formatting let the story down in spots. Specific issues where the author began weaving in a third story was jarring and didn’t fit the overall story very well. And the ending just felt rushed and needed more time to breath. Things didn’t really start coming together until the last 20 pages and as a result didn’t really have a chance to breath. It left me wishing the actual story had more time for falling action and some last minute beats before wrapping up the story.
Overall, loved the world building and characterization, just wish it had time to cool down from a final 30 page sprint.
rick_k's review
3.0
Famous Men Who Never Lived has a great premise - 150,000 people appear from a parallel universe that took a different trajectory out of the industrial revolution into the information age. Unfortunately the execution feels like a short story which when growing into a novel just got wider and slower, rather than casting a more ambitious arc. The social response also seemed one note. While prejudice could be a possible outcome, I think the academic community would embrace and absorb this small population of individuals. The scientific merit of even the most simplistic understanding of technology, medicine, physics, art, political and social theory, and every other human pursuit would be an unimaginable treasure trove. The analogy to contemporary political refugees is appropriate but the context is so huge here that it can't be a simple substitution. I think the small personal investigation to rediscover one individual's missed destiny and its effect on the world would feel more precious and poignant against the huge backdrop of innovation and discovery which would be proliferating every corner of science and society.
harryhas29's review
3.0
I think that I would have rather read The Pyronauts.
The understated science fiction elements were very interesting, and all of the interstitial chapters were moving and well executed. I also appreciate the way that many causes and mysteries went unexplained. All that being said, I did not find the case of the missing book/painting all that compelling. I understand that most of Hel's inexplicable choices reflect her unknowable experiences of loss and loneliness, but I struggle to interpret what else her repetitive adventures with Donaldson and Ree were supposed to tell me. I suppose that I do appreciate how we felt the futility of her investigations, both in her inability to recover the lost materials and to derive any further explanation for the split between the worlds.
The understated science fiction elements were very interesting, and all of the interstitial chapters were moving and well executed. I also appreciate the way that many causes and mysteries went unexplained. All that being said, I did not find the case of the missing book/painting all that compelling. I understand that most of Hel's inexplicable choices reflect her unknowable experiences of loss and loneliness, but I struggle to interpret what else her repetitive adventures with Donaldson and Ree were supposed to tell me. I suppose that I do appreciate how we felt the futility of her investigations, both in her inability to recover the lost materials and to derive any further explanation for the split between the worlds.
pixe1's review
Interesting premise, very creative and the simple mystery is super engaging. But oof, the metaphors & message were heavy handed.
categal's review
1.0
I really wish I had been a beta reader for this story. Here's the feedback I would have given:
1. This is a 300-page novel. It's 100 pages too long.
2. Lose the interview transcript sections -- they do nothing for the story and just add weight
3. Why are Hel and Vikrim together?
4. Why is Hel called "Hel"?
5. Why is Oliveira in the story?
6. I don't buy the main tension of the story -- I don't believe that Hel would have a. taken the book in the first place, and b. not left the party with it
7. What is the convenient memory loss bit that is only mentioned after the book is out of her hands? What is that doing there?
8. Why did Hel leave her son behind?
9. Dwayne just seems creepy -- is that intentional?
On and on. There is a good sci-fi story in all of this, it just needs to go back in the proving drawer and come out for a bake after it's risen.
1. This is a 300-page novel. It's 100 pages too long.
2. Lose the interview transcript sections -- they do nothing for the story and just add weight
3. Why are Hel and Vikrim together?
4. Why is Hel called "Hel"?
5. Why is Oliveira in the story?
6. I don't buy the main tension of the story -- I don't believe that Hel would have a. taken the book in the first place, and b. not left the party with it
7. What is the convenient memory loss bit that is only mentioned after the book is out of her hands? What is that doing there?
8. Why did Hel leave her son behind?
9. Dwayne just seems creepy -- is that intentional?
On and on. There is a good sci-fi story in all of this, it just needs to go back in the proving drawer and come out for a bake after it's risen.
tobesmagobes's review against another edition
5.0
I adored this book so much, read in six hours. An amazing allegory about displaced persons, colonialism, the power of art, and memory. The main characters have arrived in our world from an alternate New York where nuclear war has destroyed theirs and are attempting to adjust. I don’t want to spoil too much, but this is five stars easy and imagine my surprise when I read the acknowledgements and author page and realized she’s a friend of mine from college! Timely, important, relatable, reminiscent of The Blind Assassin.
arthuraugustyn's review
1.0
They say never judge a book by it's cover and I guess that goes both ways. The title for Famous Men Who Never Lived grabbed me, the alternate cover of the hardcover copy also drew my interest, and the inside jacket sealed it. A book about how certain art affects our culture, personality, and values -- sounds awesome. I even liked the first chapter.
Unfortunately this quickly becomes one of the most amateur junk novels I've read. I don't want to dedicate anymore time to this book than I already have by structuring a review so here's some thoughts:
- The "things are different in our universe" gimmick is treated like an infinite resource the author can endlessly mine from. It gets old very quickly. "Oh you say 'canary in the coal mine?' We say 'canary in the mine shaft?'" "Oh you call them Nazis? We call them [something else]" "Oh the Swatiska is a sign of anti-semitism? We see it as a sign of peace." That last one is particularly juvenile, like a hot take I'd hear from the hippy guy in my 7th grade math class. These little asides appear frequently and add nothing.
- The book is very inconsistent about the nature of UDPs. At first it talks about how they're unrecognizable until you talk to them, then later it's suggested you can tell a UDP by how they look.
- The main characters are totally soulless. I get no impression of Hel's character other than she does irrationally dumb things that are explained away by the author's narration. Charging a criminal with a knife, appearing out of thin air to save the day by feigning a knife, following a person for hours just to run away when confronted.
- Speaking of which, this book is effective 300 pages of spinning its wheels with a three-page wrap up in the last chapter. It is drearily slow and nothing really happens. Even the beginning of the book: What happened to Ezra Sleight? Is forgotten about. The real crux of "drama" happens maybe 100 pages in, then it's explained away as a big nothing.
- What's with the weird sex scene between Vikram and Hel? Probably could not have been more robotic unless it talked about clanging of metal against nuts and bolts. Was this on purpose? It was like a sex scene written by an alien.
- Too many unimportant characters. I don't really know why Dwayne was in this book at all. He kind of helps Vikram with some stuff, otherwise he's just hanging out.
- It's very pretentious for a writer to reference fictional artwork that's meant to be "the greatest ever" and then have the author write lines from that supposed "greatest ever" art. Chess drops lines from "The Pyronauts" throughout the novel as if it's supposed to be profound and it is not. Especially the multiple chapters that follow the main characters of The Pyronauts. Neat idea, but it sucks.
- Vague chic liberalism slogans about identity politics and refugees show Chess is thinking about thought-provoking topics, but it never does anything with that stuff. Literary equivalent of posting food pics on instagram and tossing #blacklivesmatter to get more views.
- There's a bunch of chapters toward the end of the book that would've been way better earlier on. One passage talks about how UDPs don't have access to contacting other UDPs. Could have nailed home the feeling of loneliness in this new world, but it's just tossed in there at the end. There are other occasional good ideas, but they're all at the back when you're already exhausted.
I didn't like anything about this book past the premise. Bad characters, bad writing, bad use-of-concept, slow pacing, moronic events, everything about it is bad. At the very least it's a good exercise to show pretty much anyone can write a book if this stuff gets published.
Sorry Chess K. Chess. I know this is a debut novel, so maybe I shouldn't be so harsh? The idea was so great, but the execution was terribly disappointing. Maybe it was the editor's fault.
Unfortunately this quickly becomes one of the most amateur junk novels I've read. I don't want to dedicate anymore time to this book than I already have by structuring a review so here's some thoughts:
- The "things are different in our universe" gimmick is treated like an infinite resource the author can endlessly mine from. It gets old very quickly. "Oh you say 'canary in the coal mine?' We say 'canary in the mine shaft?'" "Oh you call them Nazis? We call them [something else]" "Oh the Swatiska is a sign of anti-semitism? We see it as a sign of peace." That last one is particularly juvenile, like a hot take I'd hear from the hippy guy in my 7th grade math class. These little asides appear frequently and add nothing.
- The book is very inconsistent about the nature of UDPs. At first it talks about how they're unrecognizable until you talk to them, then later it's suggested you can tell a UDP by how they look.
- The main characters are totally soulless. I get no impression of Hel's character other than she does irrationally dumb things that are explained away by the author's narration. Charging a criminal with a knife, appearing out of thin air to save the day by feigning a knife, following a person for hours just to run away when confronted.
- Speaking of which, this book is effective 300 pages of spinning its wheels with a three-page wrap up in the last chapter. It is drearily slow and nothing really happens. Even the beginning of the book: What happened to Ezra Sleight? Is forgotten about. The real crux of "drama" happens maybe 100 pages in, then it's explained away as a big nothing.
- What's with the weird sex scene between Vikram and Hel? Probably could not have been more robotic unless it talked about clanging of metal against nuts and bolts. Was this on purpose? It was like a sex scene written by an alien.
- Too many unimportant characters. I don't really know why Dwayne was in this book at all. He kind of helps Vikram with some stuff, otherwise he's just hanging out.
- It's very pretentious for a writer to reference fictional artwork that's meant to be "the greatest ever" and then have the author write lines from that supposed "greatest ever" art. Chess drops lines from "The Pyronauts" throughout the novel as if it's supposed to be profound and it is not. Especially the multiple chapters that follow the main characters of The Pyronauts. Neat idea, but it sucks.
- Vague chic liberalism slogans about identity politics and refugees show Chess is thinking about thought-provoking topics, but it never does anything with that stuff. Literary equivalent of posting food pics on instagram and tossing #blacklivesmatter to get more views.
- There's a bunch of chapters toward the end of the book that would've been way better earlier on. One passage talks about how UDPs don't have access to contacting other UDPs. Could have nailed home the feeling of loneliness in this new world, but it's just tossed in there at the end. There are other occasional good ideas, but they're all at the back when you're already exhausted.
I didn't like anything about this book past the premise. Bad characters, bad writing, bad use-of-concept, slow pacing, moronic events, everything about it is bad. At the very least it's a good exercise to show pretty much anyone can write a book if this stuff gets published.
Sorry Chess K. Chess. I know this is a debut novel, so maybe I shouldn't be so harsh? The idea was so great, but the execution was terribly disappointing. Maybe it was the editor's fault.
jacobinreads's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
An exceptional novel, which works equally well as a beach read or thoughtfully pondered. Chess executes her premise and plot magnificently, and it holds a brilliant and effective mirror up to the reader, forcing us to consider our own world through different eyes. Equally, it is a compelling thriller, science-fiction story, and character tale. Highly recommend this book, if I had the time, I could've devoured it in one sitting.
satsukiq's review
genuinely had no emotion or growth or plot. and so clearly written by a white woman trying to be inclusive but just ended up sounding off the whole time