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A review by vaporization
The Bedlam Stacks by Natasha Pulley
5.0
I think this might be Natasha Pulley's best book. Of all her works this one was like the most perfect. It was solid all the way through. There are a lot of things in her other books that make me kinda stop a bit to think about and a lot of times there are lines or things mentioned that just make you go "oh! well why was that necessary?" because I guess it's historical fiction and in history people just said things that they didn't think were wrong but it's still weird for a modern writer to write and a modern reader to read.
Like all of her books the twist is not that surprising but it doesn't matter because the writing is gorgeous and you're not there for the plot that much you're just there to drown in the words. Natasha Pulley's writing was like MADE for me to enjoy it just hits all the right bits with me. It's exactly the kind of writing I like, in that it doesn't feel that real and a lot of the sentences are kinda disjointed which gives everything a sort of off-kilter, unreal and dreamy feeling. And I love that.
You are straight-up told everything so any shock from the twist depends on your suspension of disbelief. The only thing that shocked me was the violence. This happens in all her books: there's brutal violence and death but it's over in like two lines and the characters don't think about it that much. Like it just happens. And then you're like wait wtf.
I liked Merrick. I loved Merrick actually, more than all of Pulley's other protagonists even though they're all kind of the same. Merrick is one of the more unique ones I think. His relationship with his brother was interesting. Raphael was also interesting but mostly in relation to Merrick.
Also this book is not explicitly a romance nor is it explicitly queer and if this book were in isolation I don't know if I would accept that it is both. It is both. This book is really just a love story. Yeah there's coffee and trees and moving statues but like it's about Merrick and Raphael. That's what the book is about. Even though it's basically like a slow burn that never ends. I am not hugely in favor of praising books for covert queerness because it's, like, "inoffensive" or "half-hearted" a lot of the time. Because like can we at least be allowed to be open in literature. But Natasha Pulley writes this kind of romance and the only thing different about this book compared to her other ones in terms of the romance is that they don't kiss. Also Merrick so he kinda does more than her other protagonists do.
You don't get punched with sadness and emotion like some other books do, but there is a sort of pervasive melancholy to Natasha Pulley's writing and I did get emotional a bit at the end, honestly more at the idea of what happens than how it's written down.
Like all of her books the twist is not that surprising but it doesn't matter because the writing is gorgeous and you're not there for the plot that much you're just there to drown in the words. Natasha Pulley's writing was like MADE for me to enjoy it just hits all the right bits with me. It's exactly the kind of writing I like, in that it doesn't feel that real and a lot of the sentences are kinda disjointed which gives everything a sort of off-kilter, unreal and dreamy feeling. And I love that.
You are straight-up told everything so any shock from the twist depends on your suspension of disbelief. The only thing that shocked me was the violence. This happens in all her books: there's brutal violence and death but it's over in like two lines and the characters don't think about it that much. Like it just happens. And then you're like wait wtf.
I liked Merrick. I loved Merrick actually, more than all of Pulley's other protagonists even though they're all kind of the same. Merrick is one of the more unique ones I think. His relationship with his brother was interesting. Raphael was also interesting but mostly in relation to Merrick.
Also this book is not explicitly a romance nor is it explicitly queer and if this book were in isolation I don't know if I would accept that it is both. It is both. This book is really just a love story. Yeah there's coffee and trees and moving statues but like it's about Merrick and Raphael. That's what the book is about. Even though it's basically like a slow burn that never ends. I am not hugely in favor of praising books for covert queerness because it's, like, "inoffensive" or "half-hearted" a lot of the time. Because like can we at least be allowed to be open in literature. But Natasha Pulley writes this kind of romance and the only thing different about this book compared to her other ones in terms of the romance is that they don't kiss. Also Merrick
Spoiler
waits twenty years for this manYou don't get punched with sadness and emotion like some other books do, but there is a sort of pervasive melancholy to Natasha Pulley's writing and I did get emotional a bit at the end, honestly more at the idea of what happens than how it's written down.