Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.49 AVERAGE
3.49 AVERAGE
This book has enormous potential and a series of very interesting characters (the fox and the duck!!), but it doesn't come together as a novel or even as a coherent sequel to _Borne_. VanderMeer's works are by design explorations of questions around integration and disintegration of living organisms, transformations from one kind of life form to another, and somehow that drama of dis/integration affects the narrative structure of _Dead Astronauts_, leaving us with a book that doesn't feel like a completely intelligible experience. Are there too many characters here? Too many potential universes? Too many formal experiments? I suspect that VanderMeer's response to my criticism would be that books, like nature, don't need to be intelligible experiences. This may be true.
I like VanderMeer's works and his thinking enough that I'm very tempted to read this again, but I will need to wait awhile and read a few other works that are less challenging. The novel felt like more of a slog than even the later volumes of the Southern Reach trilogy, and I suspect that my reading of the novel might be improved by a) reading his novella from the Borne universe, _The Strange Bird_, and b) by restarting the book with a sense of its ultimate shape.
Readers of _Borne_, despite my criticism here, may still want to read this, as it does provide some potential answers to questions you had about the end of _Borne_, while there are also interesting cameos from other characters from _Borne_ beyond the "astronauts."
At its heart, however, _Dead Astronauts_ is a frightening exploration of human cruelty to animals and the ample reasons that nature has to be cruel to us in return if it was given the capacity and the chance.
I like VanderMeer's works and his thinking enough that I'm very tempted to read this again, but I will need to wait awhile and read a few other works that are less challenging. The novel felt like more of a slog than even the later volumes of the Southern Reach trilogy, and I suspect that my reading of the novel might be improved by a) reading his novella from the Borne universe, _The Strange Bird_, and b) by restarting the book with a sense of its ultimate shape.
Readers of _Borne_, despite my criticism here, may still want to read this, as it does provide some potential answers to questions you had about the end of _Borne_, while there are also interesting cameos from other characters from _Borne_ beyond the "astronauts."
At its heart, however, _Dead Astronauts_ is a frightening exploration of human cruelty to animals and the ample reasons that nature has to be cruel to us in return if it was given the capacity and the chance.
The middle section was a little too slow for me, but the rest was sooo good.
"The slowness and yet the speed of space. Slow because it was so vast that speed could not get the better of it. The desolation and violence of that, and yet the grim elation, too. The way it beckoned, rejected. The stars, once charted with such human precision, backing away, reduced again to the twinkling lights in some psychotic god's cosmology."
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
dark
slow-paced
1. What the fuck ?
2. This book is the textbook definition of "being disoriented" and "bewilderment"
This was a challenge to read. You have to accept to know + understand fuck all if you want the tiniest chance to enjoy the book. It's fucked up, I was lost most of the time, yet it's beautiful and leave me almost grieving, yet idk why I'm grieving ? It's so weird what Vandermeer's universe makes you feel, it's out of grasp, same with this book's plot !
Think experimental science-fictiony, environmental doom/horror, contemplating weird fiction, or something like that !
I thought a but of The Tiger Flu by Larissa Lai, but Dead Astronaut is less action driven and slow paced.
2. This book is the textbook definition of "being disoriented" and "bewilderment"
This was a challenge to read. You have to accept to know + understand fuck all if you want the tiniest chance to enjoy the book. It's fucked up, I was lost most of the time, yet it's beautiful and leave me almost grieving, yet idk why I'm grieving ? It's so weird what Vandermeer's universe makes you feel, it's out of grasp, same with this book's plot !
Think experimental science-fictiony, environmental doom/horror, contemplating weird fiction, or something like that !
I thought a but of The Tiger Flu by Larissa Lai, but Dead Astronaut is less action driven and slow paced.
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
I finished reading this last night, and just sat in my chair and wept. And to be honest, I wasn't completely sure why. But I was left feeling haunted, bereft, and frightened for human's impact on the earth. This book grabs you by the bones and does not let you go. It is not an easy book, it is frustrating and confusing and it takes work. I struggled to begin with, and then just decided to let it wash over me, like the Sound and the Fury. It is a psychedelic journey. I think "enviro-horror" is accurate, but it also creeps into meta-fiction. When I described the first 100 pages to my wife she said it sounded like the Bible. But written by Kafka.
I think VanderMeer has written a "terroir", like the kind he explored in Authority. The sights, the sounds, the words (and not necessarily their literal meaning), just create an environment for you. A terrifying landscape. This is a book to interpret through a prism, and your own subjectivity reality will interpret meaning for you.
I went back and forth deciding whether to give it three stars or four, but ultimately I decided on four began I am glad that literature like this exists. To challenge, to startle.
I think VanderMeer has written a "terroir", like the kind he explored in Authority. The sights, the sounds, the words (and not necessarily their literal meaning), just create an environment for you. A terrifying landscape. This is a book to interpret through a prism, and your own subjectivity reality will interpret meaning for you.
I went back and forth deciding whether to give it three stars or four, but ultimately I decided on four began I am glad that literature like this exists. To challenge, to startle.
i might return to this one but i borrowed this from the lib and time ran out! just wasn't the read i needed at the time.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No