Scan barcode
A review by thekingcrusoe
Mapping the Interior by Stephen Graham Jones
2.0
Unfortunately, this didn't work for me. I had hoped that it would be the SGJ book that, like, WORKED for me, while the majority of his work hasn't fully clicked. (I did enjoy TOGI overall despite the climax falling flat and a couple other decisions being a little more mixed; I enjoyed NotM and actually remember it more fondly over time; and I of course, didn't click with Flushboy AT ALL.)
With that being said, the first 15-20 of this were actually really good. I loved the picture they painted of loss and the way a child who doesn't FULLY understand it might cope with it over the years. The story itself, however, didn't really do anything for me. I found it generally convoluted and confusing, and although I think I could spend another day re-reading this now that I know what it is, the story itself definitely underwhelmed and I unfortunately did not like the ending either.
Although I liked the opening a good bit - and really liked the conceptual and thematic underbelly of this story - the overall execution of it was not for me, hence the 2 stars, as I could never justify just 1 when I liked the first 1/5th of it so much.
[Side-note: the paragraph description of this book found on the back is a little misleading and inaccurate. It mentions a "fifteen-year-old" as the main character but never is the narrator of the story that age. He recounts stuff from when he was younger and then jumps to a time when he was THIRTEEN, and a little bit of stuff at the end at another different age, but never fifteen, so that's weird.
Plus the thing the book is supposedly about according to this paragraph doesn't actually come to pass in the story until the last like 30-ish pages or something, so that's weird too XD]
With that being said, the first 15-20 of this were actually really good. I loved the picture they painted of loss and the way a child who doesn't FULLY understand it might cope with it over the years. The story itself, however, didn't really do anything for me. I found it generally convoluted and confusing, and although I think I could spend another day re-reading this now that I know what it is, the story itself definitely underwhelmed and I unfortunately did not like the ending either.
Although I liked the opening a good bit - and really liked the conceptual and thematic underbelly of this story - the overall execution of it was not for me, hence the 2 stars, as I could never justify just 1 when I liked the first 1/5th of it so much.
[Side-note: the paragraph description of this book found on the back is a little misleading and inaccurate. It mentions a "fifteen-year-old" as the main character but never is the narrator of the story that age. He recounts stuff from when he was younger and then jumps to a time when he was THIRTEEN, and a little bit of stuff at the end at another different age, but never fifteen, so that's weird.
Plus the thing the book is supposedly about according to this paragraph doesn't actually come to pass in the story until the last like 30-ish pages or something, so that's weird too XD]