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A review by camstipated
Antkind by Charlie Kaufman
funny
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Very funny, refreshingly original, and ironically woke.
However, the story itself is a total mess by the end. In the novel, Kaufman's protagonist refers to Christopher Nolan movies as "smart movies for dumb people" (at least I think he does) which is funny criticism for a Kaufman character to make, because this (as you might guess if you've seen any of Kaufman's films) is a smart book for almost no people - I don't think anybody will say that this is a truly consistent, satisfying book, no matter how much of a pseudo-intellectual they may be.
It will be very rare, in the first place, that somebody who enjoys this kind of story (if such a person exists) will also enjoy this kind of humor. I'm starting to think that the smarter a book tries to be, the more it shoots itself in the foot by creating some kind of devastating tonal contrast or plot-related mess that cannot be resolved by the end.
Thankfully, next on my reading list is a bunch of Tolkien, so I'll have a palette-cleansing return to form, back to books that do not try to be anything more than they can handle being.
However, the story itself is a total mess by the end. In the novel, Kaufman's protagonist refers to Christopher Nolan movies as "smart movies for dumb people" (at least I think he does) which is funny criticism for a Kaufman character to make, because this (as you might guess if you've seen any of Kaufman's films) is a smart book for almost no people - I don't think anybody will say that this is a truly consistent, satisfying book, no matter how much of a pseudo-intellectual they may be.
It will be very rare, in the first place, that somebody who enjoys this kind of story (if such a person exists) will also enjoy this kind of humor. I'm starting to think that the smarter a book tries to be, the more it shoots itself in the foot by creating some kind of devastating tonal contrast or plot-related mess that cannot be resolved by the end.
Thankfully, next on my reading list is a bunch of Tolkien, so I'll have a palette-cleansing return to form, back to books that do not try to be anything more than they can handle being.