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A review by graywacke
Metamorphica by Zachary Mason
2.0
43. Metamorphica (audio) by Zachary Mason
Readers: Bronson Pinchot, Kevin Kenerly, Robertson Dean, Will Damron, Xe Sands, Amy Landon, Kate Reading, Robin Miles
published: 2018
format: 6:31 Libby audiobook (~181 pages, 304 pages in hardcover)
acquired: Library
listened: Aug 8-16
rating: 2½
A very recent promising release with some super positive professional reviews, a beautiful hardcover (which I've only seen as pictures), and, for audio, an elaborate audiobook cast with several very good readers. I feel bad not joining the party and lumping on the praise.
Mason has a nice idea and poetic writing style. He uses Ovid as inspiration and re-writes an expansive variety of mythological stories in his own way. He changes the stories in ways he likes, and presents contemporary sounding voices, mostly in the style of first person confessionals of a sort. He includes notes with explanations for some of the story changes he chose.
I liked revisiting all these stories, but I never took to how Mason tells them. Worse, I got bored and annoyed. But I can't say they were bad, more they weren't for me. I can pick out a few things that I maybe didn't like. The style is unoriginal, the stories feel very similar in many aspects, and so many are open ended with a with characters staring into the vast emptiness and depths of no-meaning, but he only pulls this last bit off with, for me, mild interest...over and over again. And, finally, his poetic voice did nothing for me. He has a nice vocab, but it felt to me like he was trying to sound lyrical but instead managed to sound like weak imitation. So, that's a lot of criticism.
What to make of this? Well, my criticism are very moody and I do hope no one takes them too seriously. I honestly am not sure why I didn't like this book. I'm curious how my response will compare with that of other readers, especially those holding that nice hardcover in their hands.
Readers: Bronson Pinchot, Kevin Kenerly, Robertson Dean, Will Damron, Xe Sands, Amy Landon, Kate Reading, Robin Miles
published: 2018
format: 6:31 Libby audiobook (~181 pages, 304 pages in hardcover)
acquired: Library
listened: Aug 8-16
rating: 2½
A very recent promising release with some super positive professional reviews, a beautiful hardcover (which I've only seen as pictures), and, for audio, an elaborate audiobook cast with several very good readers. I feel bad not joining the party and lumping on the praise.
Mason has a nice idea and poetic writing style. He uses Ovid as inspiration and re-writes an expansive variety of mythological stories in his own way. He changes the stories in ways he likes, and presents contemporary sounding voices, mostly in the style of first person confessionals of a sort. He includes notes with explanations for some of the story changes he chose.
I liked revisiting all these stories, but I never took to how Mason tells them. Worse, I got bored and annoyed. But I can't say they were bad, more they weren't for me. I can pick out a few things that I maybe didn't like. The style is unoriginal, the stories feel very similar in many aspects, and so many are open ended with a with characters staring into the vast emptiness and depths of no-meaning, but he only pulls this last bit off with, for me, mild interest...over and over again. And, finally, his poetic voice did nothing for me. He has a nice vocab, but it felt to me like he was trying to sound lyrical but instead managed to sound like weak imitation. So, that's a lot of criticism.
What to make of this? Well, my criticism are very moody and I do hope no one takes them too seriously. I honestly am not sure why I didn't like this book. I'm curious how my response will compare with that of other readers, especially those holding that nice hardcover in their hands.