Scan barcode
A review by persimmon_lover
Fossil Sky by David Hinton
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
4.5
There is only a vague sense in which this is a "book", more of an art piece that uses language and poetry as the primary medium. This is basically a large map, measuring 4.5 feet by 4.5 feet roughly. It consists of winding text that flips and turns all around the "page", and you have to sort of walk all around the piece in order to read it. I laid it out on my floor and I feel like a table wouldn't be that opportune unless you can walk around all four edges and the table is huge. It doesn't make sense to mount it on a wall or as a poster even, because you have to keep flipping it around or walking around it in order to read it.
The poetic language itself is amazing, better than any of the other stuff I have read by Hinton. It is very evocative, deep, meaningful, coherent, exciting, light yet wise. I was really impressed. The layout is also extremely interesting because the poem has no beginning or end. You read one part of it as a "beginning", and then five minutes later when you're all flipped around, you read that same section as the "middle" of a section you are reading. It is frustrating, but very hypnotic. It feels similar to hiking a very slightly difficult hill or mountain, where you want to keep going and are having fun, but at the same time you have to step over roots and be careful to not fall. You sometimes have to read text at weird angles or upside-down, or slow down your reading so you can flip the page to continue the "line". There isn't a huge amount of sheer text, like it would probably take only five to ten minutes to read this if it was just a normally lineated poem, but the layout is really an inherent part of the piece that gives it a completely new character. Sadly I seem to have put something on my copy and it has a few oil marks on a blank section. Sad but true.
I can't say I have "read" this work in the sense that I have exhausted it. I am excited to revisit this work over the next months/years. Really impressed with this work.
The poetic language itself is amazing, better than any of the other stuff I have read by Hinton. It is very evocative, deep, meaningful, coherent, exciting, light yet wise. I was really impressed. The layout is also extremely interesting because the poem has no beginning or end. You read one part of it as a "beginning", and then five minutes later when you're all flipped around, you read that same section as the "middle" of a section you are reading. It is frustrating, but very hypnotic. It feels similar to hiking a very slightly difficult hill or mountain, where you want to keep going and are having fun, but at the same time you have to step over roots and be careful to not fall. You sometimes have to read text at weird angles or upside-down, or slow down your reading so you can flip the page to continue the "line". There isn't a huge amount of sheer text, like it would probably take only five to ten minutes to read this if it was just a normally lineated poem, but the layout is really an inherent part of the piece that gives it a completely new character. Sadly I seem to have put something on my copy and it has a few oil marks on a blank section. Sad but true.
I can't say I have "read" this work in the sense that I have exhausted it. I am excited to revisit this work over the next months/years. Really impressed with this work.