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A review by corinnekeener
The Book of X by Sarah Rose Etter
3.0
We read The Book of X for episode 56 of the Bookstore Podcast. You can listen to it on our website or almost anywhere you get your podcasts.
So what we've got here is a surreal story that does a bit of experimenting with form. It's told in first person present tense (FPPT) - which is, famously, my least favorite tense for narrative - as well as short little sections it could have been a real mess. But it reads quickly and doesn't do too much self-reflection, so as far as FPPT, pretty great. It's the story of Cassie X, a girl born with her stomach tied in a knot and if like me you read that and think stomach as in internal organ, you're wrong, it's her torso tied in a knot. I was a big fan of this as bold absurdist sort of choice for the author to make, but to also be honest, I didn't understand the logistics, not of it being tied that way, I can suspend my expectations of realism, but what it must have looked like. The descriptions were sometimes wildly inconsistent, some characters knew from seeing her, other men didn't know until she had them at home naked in her bed.
Most impressive here are the vision sections. They're fantastically surreal and often quite emotional little daydreams that Cassie has of what she wishes her life were like. Lovers removing their heads to touch hearts, fields of throats, rivers of swimming thighs. A lot of fun to read.
Ultimately though, I felt a lack of direction with the story and I was really quite shocked and disappointed in the turn taken at the end. But if you're at all interested in surreal stories or work that's taking some real risks I absolutely recommend checking it out.
Thanks to Two Dollar Radio for the review copy.
So what we've got here is a surreal story that does a bit of experimenting with form. It's told in first person present tense (FPPT) - which is, famously, my least favorite tense for narrative - as well as short little sections it could have been a real mess. But it reads quickly and doesn't do too much self-reflection, so as far as FPPT, pretty great. It's the story of Cassie X, a girl born with her stomach tied in a knot and if like me you read that and think stomach as in internal organ, you're wrong, it's her torso tied in a knot. I was a big fan of this as bold absurdist sort of choice for the author to make, but to also be honest, I didn't understand the logistics, not of it being tied that way, I can suspend my expectations of realism, but what it must have looked like. The descriptions were sometimes wildly inconsistent, some characters knew from seeing her, other men didn't know until she had them at home naked in her bed.
Most impressive here are the vision sections. They're fantastically surreal and often quite emotional little daydreams that Cassie has of what she wishes her life were like. Lovers removing their heads to touch hearts, fields of throats, rivers of swimming thighs. A lot of fun to read.
Ultimately though, I felt a lack of direction with the story and I was really quite shocked and disappointed in the turn taken at the end. But if you're at all interested in surreal stories or work that's taking some real risks I absolutely recommend checking it out.
Thanks to Two Dollar Radio for the review copy.