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3.9 AVERAGE
3.9 AVERAGE
**I received this book free via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.**
I found this an exceptionally difficult book to not only read but to review also. I consider myself quite a prolific reader and yet Gnomon has taken me half a year to read! I can't put my finger on it. Maybe it's the time of life I am in and I just can't find the opportunity to read as much as I would like to? Or maybe it's just that this book didn't engage me.
As I received the book for review I made a determined decision to read it all and see it through and today I reached the end.
What makes this difficult for me, is that at another time of my life or in the hands of another reader this book would be considered excellent. It's clever, it's multi-layered, there are stories within stories and it's complex.. All things I usually go for in a book. It also has some of the most beautiful, quotable sentences I have read in a long time. Some passages I read twice I was so stunned by their effectiveness. Harkaway has a rich and eloquent vocabulary which I delighted in, including managing to drop a few into conversation here and there during the course of my reading.
I also enjoyed the sub-stories of the seemingly disparate yet eventually inter-woven characters. The cocky swagger of a Greek banker being chased by a shark, the alchemist who puts a bishop or two in their place, the artist coming to terms with family and identity. There is so much to like in this book (even a cameo of a Julian Assaunge inspired character).
It has all the makings of a great book so why did it take me six months to read? I believe it was due to a lack of caring about the story or the characters. It was like looking at something you know is aesthetically beautiful yet fails to capture the emotion. There wasn't a single point in the book where I thought 'one more page'. It meanders, says a thousand words where a paragraph would suffice. The story is convoluted and challenging. One needs to think when reading this book, and yet I don't think it was worth the emotional payoff after all that thinking.
Perhaps most damning is upon reaching the end my thought was, 'whatever'.
Capture me in my teens with this book and I'm going to tell you it's awesome. As a busy casual reader it fails to engage.
Near-future dystopian fiction which requires the reader to pay close attention.
I found this an exceptionally difficult book to not only read but to review also. I consider myself quite a prolific reader and yet Gnomon has taken me half a year to read! I can't put my finger on it. Maybe it's the time of life I am in and I just can't find the opportunity to read as much as I would like to? Or maybe it's just that this book didn't engage me.
As I received the book for review I made a determined decision to read it all and see it through and today I reached the end.
What makes this difficult for me, is that at another time of my life or in the hands of another reader this book would be considered excellent. It's clever, it's multi-layered, there are stories within stories and it's complex.. All things I usually go for in a book. It also has some of the most beautiful, quotable sentences I have read in a long time. Some passages I read twice I was so stunned by their effectiveness. Harkaway has a rich and eloquent vocabulary which I delighted in, including managing to drop a few into conversation here and there during the course of my reading.
I also enjoyed the sub-stories of the seemingly disparate yet eventually inter-woven characters. The cocky swagger of a Greek banker being chased by a shark, the alchemist who puts a bishop or two in their place, the artist coming to terms with family and identity. There is so much to like in this book (even a cameo of a Julian Assaunge inspired character).
It has all the makings of a great book so why did it take me six months to read? I believe it was due to a lack of caring about the story or the characters. It was like looking at something you know is aesthetically beautiful yet fails to capture the emotion. There wasn't a single point in the book where I thought 'one more page'. It meanders, says a thousand words where a paragraph would suffice. The story is convoluted and challenging. One needs to think when reading this book, and yet I don't think it was worth the emotional payoff after all that thinking.
Perhaps most damning is upon reaching the end my thought was, 'whatever'.
Capture me in my teens with this book and I'm going to tell you it's awesome. As a busy casual reader it fails to engage.
Near-future dystopian fiction which requires the reader to pay close attention.
DNF about 250 pages in. I really wanted to like this book, but damn if it didn't come across as slightly pretentious and long winded. The story blurb seemed very interesting and the snippets of dystopia world that we got were compelling. However these were too short and broken up by 30-50 page long-winded and lofty stories from a character's head. I'm sure these have purpose and connect later down the line but this is a 600+ page door stopper and, quite frankly, I don't have the time to drag myself through a seemingly disjointed mess until some big revelation appears.
challenging
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Interesting premise, but entirely too long-winded. Books described as 'kaleidoscopic' can usually hold my interest, but this was unfocused and sprawling (in a bad way). Did not finish.
Loved this book. Complex characters, plot and technologies increased the suspense. Greek myths, future tech, philosophy mix with banal and fantastical characters. Only at the end does the reader learn the meaning of the shark, the painter, the submarine, etc. it was a memorable ride - I may read it again one day.
A big, bold book that get like a friend. I’m a little sad that the story is over.
Nick Harkaway is an amazing that provides unique perspectives in his writing. I recommend all of his novels.
I like dense books. I really do. But after a number of starts and stops I've realized I'm just never going to finish this book. The premise is compelling, but the pacing is just so, so, so slow, and not in a way that leaves you thinking that resolutions to the multiple plotlines are going to be worth the wait.
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I'm writing this on my phone, at just shy of midnight, and the mobile interface doesn't tell me on this screen when I started reading it. However, if I had to guess, I'd say that I've been reading this for about a year, during which Kobo estimates that I spent only 24 hours actually reading. How did something I pursued with such profound neglect get five stars?
Gnomon was extraordinary, even for Harkaway, worse work I love. It also touched on many topics that are dear to me. And yet, it's density is demanding, and the complexity of it's shape even more so. I suspect that someone who took it in headlong would come out seeing an exquisite puzzle. Instead, I experienced a kind of related series on mysteries vignettes, the meaning of which I didn't actually entirely decipher. And yet, I think it worked for me that way, even if it would have also worked the other way.
I don't at all regret the tremendous amount of time it took me to traverse this book, and it feels even more relevant now than ever. Definitely recommended.
Gnomon was extraordinary, even for Harkaway, worse work I love. It also touched on many topics that are dear to me. And yet, it's density is demanding, and the complexity of it's shape even more so. I suspect that someone who took it in headlong would come out seeing an exquisite puzzle. Instead, I experienced a kind of related series on mysteries vignettes, the meaning of which I didn't actually entirely decipher. And yet, I think it worked for me that way, even if it would have also worked the other way.
I don't at all regret the tremendous amount of time it took me to traverse this book, and it feels even more relevant now than ever. Definitely recommended.