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A review by __emma__
Man-Eating Typewriter by Richard Milward
challenging
dark
slow-paced
3.0
This is a really hard book to rate and review.
There were so many bits I really didn’t enjoy, but so many bits I did too — so much I found impressive, yet so much I found almost too difficult and disgusting to even bring myself to read, and everything in between.
I think there was something about the structure of the story — the build-up vs conclusion — that just didn’t quite work for me. The book as a whole felt like a great big swing and a (for me) sort-of miss, and don’t get me wrong, the sheer size of that swing is to be admired and was well worthwhile as a reading experience.
I never write reviews this long, and this book was never once boring, so it’s clearly stuck with me, as well. There is a lot to be said for any book that does that.
But!
Novak was so horrible, a truly, truly vile main character, and I don’t think the structure and eventual climax and denouement of the story was sufficient pay-off for the outright misery and difficulty I experienced over 500 pages reading it to get there.
Don’t get me wrong: I like an unlikable character. I like a long book. But this character was too unlikable, the book too long, and I think it lost me in that. It was too much of a struggle and, while I was initially impressed by the twist ending, it left me feeling a bit disappointed.
A meese meshigena liver indeed!
There were so many bits I really didn’t enjoy, but so many bits I did too — so much I found impressive, yet so much I found almost too difficult and disgusting to even bring myself to read, and everything in between.
I think there was something about the structure of the story — the build-up vs conclusion — that just didn’t quite work for me. The book as a whole felt like a great big swing and a (for me) sort-of miss, and don’t get me wrong, the sheer size of that swing is to be admired and was well worthwhile as a reading experience.
I never write reviews this long, and this book was never once boring, so it’s clearly stuck with me, as well. There is a lot to be said for any book that does that.
But!
Novak was so horrible, a truly, truly vile main character, and I don’t think the structure and eventual climax and denouement of the story was sufficient pay-off for the outright misery and difficulty I experienced over 500 pages reading it to get there.
Don’t get me wrong: I like an unlikable character. I like a long book. But this character was too unlikable, the book too long, and I think it lost me in that. It was too much of a struggle and, while I was initially impressed by the twist ending, it left me feeling a bit disappointed.
A meese meshigena liver indeed!