Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.49 AVERAGE
3.49 AVERAGE
Started this on audiobook, but based on a few reviews, I think it will be worth it to get my hands on a physical/digital copy. Fading text and other non-textual elements won't come across over audio, and I'd like that fuller experience.
I loved the Southern Reach trilogy and Borne, so I had high hopes for this. Unfortunately there was not a single moment in this book where I knew what was going on. Obscure and meandering, vague themes, virtually no character development. I love the psychedelic nature of vandermeer’s writing but this was just too scattered for me.
I think I need to read this again at some point to understand it fully.
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
huh?
challenging
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I went into this expecting something more along the lines of Control with a more psychedelic undertone a la being backed by the Beyond the Black Rainbow soundtrack.
Prefacing with the fact that I love me some good abstraction and non-linearity and "just for the vibes" writing, I think Emma Grey Ellis' review for Wired calling Dead Astronauts "stream of consciousness, jazz" is a perfect line in terms of how it reads. Not for the best, though.
I think it's pretentious for a writer to call themselves an improv creator, a "stream-of-consciousness" artist. A lot of artists try to replicate jazz and go for a "bigger than us stoner podcast" thing, and that's fine. The only thing I've ever consumed that really is jazz is Cowboy Bebop, and that's for different reasons. Animation is maybe what these writers really want to use for their stories, but text has to do because it's all they have.
This is a pretty good example of the thin line between pretentious and misspoken jazz/stream-of/improv writing, it reads like Vandermeer wanted something contemplative and philosophical and ominous but in the end it's just a lot of words dissociated from their meanings and thus from the reader. There's nothing of value here for me, it feels more like it was written *for* Vandermeer and for Vandermeer alone, and that's ok too.
Edit: if you remember the "lol random" era of the internet, this sort of reads like a more serious version of that phenomena. Cite stuff like how he lumps as many contrary words into a description of something with the utmost confidence that we know what he's talking about, or how Chen just is salamanders now or Moss is and isn't and is a wall and also a portal and there's no visual descriptor of what's actually happening so we have no grounding to establish stakes or a comprehension of "this is how we're supposed to feel about this." If I'm being harsh it's just the sci-fi version of "my favorite food is trains aha, I like turtles, moustache! lol!"
Prefacing with the fact that I love me some good abstraction and non-linearity and "just for the vibes" writing, I think Emma Grey Ellis' review for Wired calling Dead Astronauts "stream of consciousness, jazz" is a perfect line in terms of how it reads. Not for the best, though.
I think it's pretentious for a writer to call themselves an improv creator, a "stream-of-consciousness" artist. A lot of artists try to replicate jazz and go for a "bigger than us stoner podcast" thing, and that's fine. The only thing I've ever consumed that really is jazz is Cowboy Bebop, and that's for different reasons. Animation is maybe what these writers really want to use for their stories, but text has to do because it's all they have.
This is a pretty good example of the thin line between pretentious and misspoken jazz/stream-of/improv writing, it reads like Vandermeer wanted something contemplative and philosophical and ominous but in the end it's just a lot of words dissociated from their meanings and thus from the reader. There's nothing of value here for me, it feels more like it was written *for* Vandermeer and for Vandermeer alone, and that's ok too.
Edit: if you remember the "lol random" era of the internet, this sort of reads like a more serious version of that phenomena. Cite stuff like how he lumps as many contrary words into a description of something with the utmost confidence that we know what he's talking about, or how Chen just is salamanders now or Moss is and isn't and is a wall and also a portal and there's no visual descriptor of what's actually happening so we have no grounding to establish stakes or a comprehension of "this is how we're supposed to feel about this." If I'm being harsh it's just the sci-fi version of "my favorite food is trains aha, I like turtles, moustache! lol!"
I loved this book. The writing was almost poetic, and the use of perspective was very inventive. I still don't know what the fuck actually happened.
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Reading this book makes me want to read the whole series again. I have academic articles pulled up to read after finishing this. Good god.
I saw a review somewhere describe this as a~270 page poem , and I think that's accurate. I think it needs to be read once for the experience, and many more times for understanding.
Definitely requires your complete and undivided focus. I want many quotes from this book on my wall.
EDIT: Forgot to mention, in looking for a way to read this online, I found an academic article about it! Caracciolo, Marco & Ulstein, Gry. (2022). The Weird and the Meta in Jeff VanderMeer's Dead Astronauts. Configurations. 30. 1-23. 10.1353/con.2022.0000.
The article classifies the book in the genre of "weird fiction" and mentions a few similar books. It also explains a bit of the plot, so it's a good place to look if you want some clarification on things.
I saw a review somewhere describe this as a
Definitely requires your complete and undivided focus. I want many quotes from this book on my wall.
EDIT: Forgot to mention, in looking for a way to read this online, I found an academic article about it! Caracciolo, Marco & Ulstein, Gry. (2022). The Weird and the Meta in Jeff VanderMeer's Dead Astronauts. Configurations. 30. 1-23. 10.1353/con.2022.0000.
The article classifies the book in the genre of "weird fiction" and mentions a few similar books. It also explains a bit of the plot, so it's a good place to look if you want some clarification on things.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Gore
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Cursing
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is a hugely acerbic, mobius strip-esque novel that weaves in parallel realities and explores the concept of archetypes in a post-apocalyptic wasteland following an ecological disaster. Saying that means nothing; Dead Astronauts is, like so much of VanderMeer's work, a book where the prose and format are immensely important to imparting the surreality of death and destruction. In this sense, it's like ecological ergodic literature - you travel throughout different perspectives of machines, mutants, creatures, and survivalists in which the organization of words on-page tells you more about their lens and experiences than the actual words on-page. Some reviews of this book lamented the difficulty in following the plot, but that's kind of the point - if you're interested in a speculative fiction take on early 20th century modernism and mid-20th century environmentalism (though that's putting it too reductively), then this is absolutely for you. Given VanderMeer's residency in Tallahassee, FL, it's hard for me to imagine he isn't a little bit inspired by fellow USA southerner William Faulkner.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror
Moderate: Death, Violence, War
Minor: Gun violence, Sexual content
This is by far one of the coolest books I have ever read. Vandermeer does a really incredible job taking the perspective of forms of consciousness that humans would generally have a hard time conceptualizing. The story is relatively scant, and very odd but I think this serves the incredibly moving and melancholic feel of this book.
I pretty much read this book with my jaw on the floor the whole time. I thought it was incredibly beautiful and also utterly mortifying.
I pretty much read this book with my jaw on the floor the whole time. I thought it was incredibly beautiful and also utterly mortifying.