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A review by jooniperd
Cataract City by Craig Davidson
3.0
i just posted this comment in a group and thought it sounded about how i wanted my review to sound...so i am just copying it over here now.
i spend a lot of time questioning the reliability of first-person narratives. but with [b:Cataract City|17671886|Cataract City|Craig Davidson|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1382351362s/17671886.jpg|24670873], it was quite a different experience.
i finished the novel last night and while the book was okay, i think i am being harder on it because it's a finalist for the giller prize. the judges are: [a:Jonathan Lethem|6404|Jonathan Lethem|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1378884492p2/6404.jpg], [a:Margaret Atwood|3472|Margaret Atwood|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1282859073p2/3472.jpg] and [a:Esi Edugyan|245590|Esi Edugyan|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1330993142p2/245590.jpg]. that's a serious panel of judges to impress. i felt like i was too aware of the writing the whole way through the read and, i am about to say something really stupid now, it felt like an MFA project. (this is stupid for me to say because i have no idea what this means, really. other than in my mind it's a bit show-offy or tries to push the envelope...just for the sake of pushing the envelope. like, a 'look how clever i am'-type thing. also...i wasn't feeling the authenticity of the story, most of the time.)
i didn't end up feeling manipulated and there were parts of the story i liked a lot...but as a whole...i couldn't get past the writing and just enjoy the story. there were also little editing issues all the way through. i was reading a tree-book and didn't mark it up...but there was one spot where the same phrase was repeated within three (brief) sentences. and then the intro to the story (the first two sentences) were repeated nearly verbatim later in the book. what's up with that?)
also -- would a person who has done hard time (hard time, contemporary era, north american maximum security prison) really call the police 'the fuzz'?
as well...i am feeling slightly uncomfortable that the native characters included in this novel were all caricatures. now, i do recognize that there were a lot of caricatures being portrayed, given the way davidson addressed the city of niagara falls, but i did feel disappointed in how the native characters were portrayed. though [a:Joseph Boyden|88550|Joseph Boyden|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1253557607p2/88550.jpg] blurbed the novel...so, there's that... :/ #confused
i spend a lot of time questioning the reliability of first-person narratives. but with [b:Cataract City|17671886|Cataract City|Craig Davidson|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1382351362s/17671886.jpg|24670873], it was quite a different experience.
i finished the novel last night and while the book was okay, i think i am being harder on it because it's a finalist for the giller prize. the judges are: [a:Jonathan Lethem|6404|Jonathan Lethem|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1378884492p2/6404.jpg], [a:Margaret Atwood|3472|Margaret Atwood|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1282859073p2/3472.jpg] and [a:Esi Edugyan|245590|Esi Edugyan|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1330993142p2/245590.jpg]. that's a serious panel of judges to impress. i felt like i was too aware of the writing the whole way through the read and, i am about to say something really stupid now, it felt like an MFA project. (this is stupid for me to say because i have no idea what this means, really. other than in my mind it's a bit show-offy or tries to push the envelope...just for the sake of pushing the envelope. like, a 'look how clever i am'-type thing. also...i wasn't feeling the authenticity of the story, most of the time.)
i didn't end up feeling manipulated and there were parts of the story i liked a lot...but as a whole...i couldn't get past the writing and just enjoy the story. there were also little editing issues all the way through. i was reading a tree-book and didn't mark it up...but there was one spot where the same phrase was repeated within three (brief) sentences. and then the intro to the story (the first two sentences) were repeated nearly verbatim later in the book. what's up with that?)
also -- would a person who has done hard time (hard time, contemporary era, north american maximum security prison) really call the police 'the fuzz'?
as well...i am feeling slightly uncomfortable that the native characters included in this novel were all caricatures. now, i do recognize that there were a lot of caricatures being portrayed, given the way davidson addressed the city of niagara falls, but i did feel disappointed in how the native characters were portrayed. though [a:Joseph Boyden|88550|Joseph Boyden|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1253557607p2/88550.jpg] blurbed the novel...so, there's that... :/ #confused