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3.83 AVERAGE
3.83 AVERAGE
This is an unabashedly difficult and intellectual novel, deeply cruel and often nasty. It does not concern itself much with a plot based on diegetic causality or character development. Instead, it builds in the reader the promise of a secret, first to the plot and later to life itself, only to frustrate it time and time again. It ends with the unnamed narrator experiencing a period of gnostic-like enlightenment, but the epiphany which grants him this is not straightforwardly shared with the reader—but we are given the lucid experience of the answer being inherent, just out of reach.
Based on the subject matter and premise, I thought I would like this book a lot more. However it failed to come together for me. The story was just sad and slow and boring, not as gripping and magical and sexy as the dust jacket would have you believe. I will admit that Harrison is truly a genius with prose. His writing is beautiful and unique and very touching. There are a couple passages, especially the prologue, that really stand out for me as exquisite writing. Nonetheless, this book was a letdown.