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A review by radioactve_piano
Alibis: Essays on Elsewhere by André Aciman
1.0
I don't think it should have taken me this long to slog through 200 pages, but there we have it. I definitely slogged. There's absolutely no other word for it. The writing is verbose without being enjoyable, and that's okay -- Aciman does state that he writes to find truth, not that he writes with an outline of where he's going. I'd expect meandering sentences and thoughts from that style of writing.
These essays were repetitive, which also shouldn't be surprising -- the author is always in one place, thinking about being in another. He is searching for meanings but only defining them by falsified memories or imaginary happenings. It's human nature to reframe situations, but I honestly lost patience with the author's way of creating context that didn't exist for absolutely everything.
The brief touching upon the difference between fact and fiction, especially in memoirs (and memories), set the tone for my entire enjoyment level of this book. Ultimately, he wants the reader to connect with everything -- his take on place, his idea about belonging, his tenuous grasp of truth. I don't like liars; I don't like people who make half-apologies for intentional lies; and I don't like someone who combines the two things and reasons through his choices to try to force the reader accept what he's saying -- and beyond that, to force the reader to say, "Yes, I completely agree with you! Well done!"
These essays were repetitive, which also shouldn't be surprising -- the author is always in one place, thinking about being in another. He is searching for meanings but only defining them by falsified memories or imaginary happenings. It's human nature to reframe situations, but I honestly lost patience with the author's way of creating context that didn't exist for absolutely everything.
The brief touching upon the difference between fact and fiction, especially in memoirs (and memories), set the tone for my entire enjoyment level of this book. Ultimately, he wants the reader to connect with everything -- his take on place, his idea about belonging, his tenuous grasp of truth. I don't like liars; I don't like people who make half-apologies for intentional lies; and I don't like someone who combines the two things and reasons through his choices to try to force the reader accept what he's saying -- and beyond that, to force the reader to say, "Yes, I completely agree with you! Well done!"