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A review by sshabein
There Is No Year by Blake Butler
(I can't put a star rating on this because it's the sort of book that resists it.)
I am impressed with Blake Butler's ability to redefine what we typically consider "the novel." This book is unlike anything else I have ever read.
There is No Year is a challenging read, to put it mildly, though its 400 pages certainly did not drag. However, readers looking for anything resembling a straightforward plot or a resolution are not likely to enjoy the book. The ending is only a designated cut-off point, the end of the exhibit. Butler's writing comes closer to performance art in some ways, the literary version of disorienting video installations, housed in dark rooms at the MOMA. It would be disingenuous of me to define this book in terms of "good" or "bad" — All I can tell you is that it's an experience.
(My full review can be found on Glorified Love Letters.)
I am impressed with Blake Butler's ability to redefine what we typically consider "the novel." This book is unlike anything else I have ever read.
There is No Year is a challenging read, to put it mildly, though its 400 pages certainly did not drag. However, readers looking for anything resembling a straightforward plot or a resolution are not likely to enjoy the book. The ending is only a designated cut-off point, the end of the exhibit. Butler's writing comes closer to performance art in some ways, the literary version of disorienting video installations, housed in dark rooms at the MOMA. It would be disingenuous of me to define this book in terms of "good" or "bad" — All I can tell you is that it's an experience.
(My full review can be found on Glorified Love Letters.)