A review by friendyfyre
The Etched City by K.J. Bishop

2.0

I think Etched city is one of those books for people looking for experimental forms of story telling. After giving it a bit of thought as to why i could not finish this and why this book wasnt for me. I came to the conclusion that, it just didnt fit the format of story telling that i know and love. I enjoy a little bit of subversion from the standard ‘hero’s journey’ and this just didnt really fit the conventions or story beats that most traditional books have.Its kind of jarring to read and the more i pushed on, the less sense it made to me but i think thats kind of the point of this book.
Not all stories have to make sense or have clean cut scenario’s that play out into endings. Its more about the journey and not about the destination. If anything, it didnt offer much answers to my questions but made me ask questions about what i was reading and what meaning i want to take away from the chapters.
Books like these do have a strong following and if anything its what makes books like House of Leaves and Infinite jest so controversially popular. These types of books are both polarizing and popular. You either hardcore love em or you hate it.
I think this pick taught me a pretty valuable lesson about they type of reader i am and what i like about reading.