Scan barcode
A review by fairymodmother
Elysium by Jennifer Marie Brissett
2.0
An ambitious, imaginative retelling that I think juuuuust didn't quite gel.
CONTENT WARNINGS: (no actual spoilers, just a list of topics)
Things that were very well done:
-The glitching. Gender, location, purpose, cause all kept changing around an evolving theme in a way that felt hallucinatory, fragmented and critical.
-The concept. From the retelling (I won't mention it, either you'll figure it out or it's at the back of the book and I don't want to spoil it) to the solution to the issues, it's quite a unique take.
-It's succinct. This really should have been a novella, but the author realized this was a literary experiment and wisely kept it brief.
Things I did not think worked:
-The love story. Okay, well, I don't like most love stories. But this one in particular was...not terribly believable for me. Perhaps it had to do with how fragmented it was or how we linger on certain aspects but I wanted it a bit more fleshed out if this was to be the central plot.
-The narrative structure. I wanted each section to build more upon the last than I think they did. I wanted to find the strand of truth and be uncertain as to the rest and I wasn't.
-The pacing. The first third really drags on and the last third is quite rushed.
-Characterization. I like that the author made such a strong attempt at using a diverse cast, but am a bit uncomfortable with the portrayal of gay people, Latinx people, people in open relationships, homelessness, and parenthood. I think these got pretty stereotypical without any thought as to why it would be this way. Perhaps it's more glitch, but I would have needed more context for that.
-The actual defrag portions. This could have conveyed so much more than it did! A wasted opportunity.
2.5 stars rounded down because I saw where it was aiming and I think it just didn't deliver.
CONTENT WARNINGS: (no actual spoilers, just a list of topics)
Spoiler
suicide, wasting illness, loss of a loved one, gore/effluvia, adultery, domestic violence.Things that were very well done:
-The glitching. Gender, location, purpose, cause all kept changing around an evolving theme in a way that felt hallucinatory, fragmented and critical.
-The concept. From the retelling (I won't mention it, either you'll figure it out or it's at the back of the book and I don't want to spoil it) to the solution to the issues, it's quite a unique take.
-It's succinct. This really should have been a novella, but the author realized this was a literary experiment and wisely kept it brief.
Things I did not think worked:
-The love story. Okay, well, I don't like most love stories. But this one in particular was...not terribly believable for me. Perhaps it had to do with how fragmented it was or how we linger on certain aspects but I wanted it a bit more fleshed out if this was to be the central plot.
-The narrative structure. I wanted each section to build more upon the last than I think they did. I wanted to find the strand of truth and be uncertain as to the rest and I wasn't.
-The pacing. The first third really drags on and the last third is quite rushed.
-Characterization. I like that the author made such a strong attempt at using a diverse cast, but am a bit uncomfortable with the portrayal of gay people, Latinx people, people in open relationships, homelessness, and parenthood. I think these got pretty stereotypical without any thought as to why it would be this way. Perhaps it's more glitch, but I would have needed more context for that.
-The actual defrag portions. This could have conveyed so much more than it did! A wasted opportunity.
2.5 stars rounded down because I saw where it was aiming and I think it just didn't deliver.