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4.12 AVERAGE
4.12 AVERAGE
I'm not gonna give this one a star rating because I bailed on it. I had it on hold for months but honestly, as someone struggling with intrusive thoughts I couldn't finish this one. Maybe I'll revisit this book in the future but for now I'll chalk it up as a loss.
Full of loosely tied thoughts written uniquely and in such a way that it doesn't always seem to lead to a point, or sense - which I kinda love. It's heavy, achingly sad, thought-provoking and beautiful.
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
fast-paced
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
I liked the last portion of the book, the style of it was interesting albeit a little work to read it. Loved the way the book ended. Had to think for a bit.
I understand what the author was trying to accomplish but ultimately it felt too disconnected from its subjects. It definitely falls victim to the “I’m a journalist so this is objective and thought provoking” phenomenon.
Writer and cultural historian Maria Tumarkin claims her latest book, Axiomatic, is NOT a collection of essays. “It is a book with chapters that are just a little unorthodox in the way they are structured and sit next to each other,” she says in an interview with the Stella Prize, for which she has been shortlisted.
However you choose to describe Axiomatic, I think it’s fair to say it is not easy to box in: it doesn’t fit a genre, seeing as it’s a heady mix of storytelling and reportage. To my mind, these pieces (or chapters) wouldn’t be out of place in a “high-brow” magazine — for instance, a colour supplement that comes with a weekend broadsheet — and as such I’d class them as journalistic features.
Content-wise, each piece looks at an axiom — an accepted truth — and examines, often in great detail and with much intellectual rigour and anecdotal evidence, as to whether it holds or can be debunked.
These five axioms are:
>> ‘Time Heals All Wounds’;
>> ‘Those Who Forget the Past are Condemned to Repeat It’;
>> ‘History Repeats Itself’;
>> Give Me a Child Before the Age of 7 and I’ll Give You the (Wo)Man’; and
>> ‘You Can’t Enter The Same River Twice’
I’m not going to review each chapter other than to say there are common themes running throughout Tumarkin’s work. She is very much focussed on time and how its passing can shape the past, present and future. She looks at its impact on the personal and the political, how it shapes our understanding of ourselves, our families, our popular culture and our institutions.
To read the rest of my review, please visit my blog.
However you choose to describe Axiomatic, I think it’s fair to say it is not easy to box in: it doesn’t fit a genre, seeing as it’s a heady mix of storytelling and reportage. To my mind, these pieces (or chapters) wouldn’t be out of place in a “high-brow” magazine — for instance, a colour supplement that comes with a weekend broadsheet — and as such I’d class them as journalistic features.
Content-wise, each piece looks at an axiom — an accepted truth — and examines, often in great detail and with much intellectual rigour and anecdotal evidence, as to whether it holds or can be debunked.
These five axioms are:
>> ‘Time Heals All Wounds’;
>> ‘Those Who Forget the Past are Condemned to Repeat It’;
>> ‘History Repeats Itself’;
>> Give Me a Child Before the Age of 7 and I’ll Give You the (Wo)Man’; and
>> ‘You Can’t Enter The Same River Twice’
I’m not going to review each chapter other than to say there are common themes running throughout Tumarkin’s work. She is very much focussed on time and how its passing can shape the past, present and future. She looks at its impact on the personal and the political, how it shapes our understanding of ourselves, our families, our popular culture and our institutions.
To read the rest of my review, please visit my blog.
This book is a nonfiction masterclass. But I also wanted the crucial and unique syntax to be supported by the layout more.
The author is clearly talented but I found this to be a frustrating read from start to end. The book examines trauma with an academic authority that didn't feel as moving as it could have been. For me, one of the most memorable parts of the book was where Tumarkin compares us to broken vessels spilling out the light of past generations. There are many beautiful moments like this but for some reason I could not like the whole as much as the parts. I'm still glad to have discovered this author and will be interested to read some of her other works.
I found this book very self-indulgent. The topics covered and people interviewed deserved much more time and attention. The author frequently inserted herself into the narrative when it wasn't necessary.