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A review by nicka
The Cyclist Conspiracy by Svetislav Basara, Randall A. Major
3.0
This is difficult to review because it's not so much a novel; in that the 'story' is a smattering of journal articles, poems, epistles, universal omniscient narration, historical documents, illustrations and biographies of the Little Brothers of the Evangelical Bicyclists of the Rose Cross (a nod to the Rosicrucian secret society, i believe). If the numerous form don't make it disjointed enough, the book is steeped in esoterica, Marxist politics, and classical European philosophy, notably that of Hegel.
While there are certainly moments of brilliance that recall both Borges and Pynchon, the text is so deliberately obfuscating that it's difficult to really sink your teeth into. Now, I'm cognizant the telling of a secret society that meets only in dreams requires something more than a conventional narrative, but I'd like to think it possible to imbue the novel with the experimental (such as it is) without sacrificing readability.
The crux of the story evokes Pynchon's Chums of Chance in Against the Day, an airborne society that functions as a super-universal omniscient narrative perspective, allowing Pynchon to transcend time and geography, and jettison conventional linear narrative for something much more fluid and integrated. Where the Chums of Chance--and Pynchon for that matter--were playful and imaginative, the Little Brothers are entrenched in the arcane, the recondite. Moreover, the telling of their story is wrapped in too many riddles to ultimately provide satisfaction.
While there are certainly moments of brilliance that recall both Borges and Pynchon, the text is so deliberately obfuscating that it's difficult to really sink your teeth into. Now, I'm cognizant the telling of a secret society that meets only in dreams requires something more than a conventional narrative, but I'd like to think it possible to imbue the novel with the experimental (such as it is) without sacrificing readability.
The crux of the story evokes Pynchon's Chums of Chance in Against the Day, an airborne society that functions as a super-universal omniscient narrative perspective, allowing Pynchon to transcend time and geography, and jettison conventional linear narrative for something much more fluid and integrated. Where the Chums of Chance--and Pynchon for that matter--were playful and imaginative, the Little Brothers are entrenched in the arcane, the recondite. Moreover, the telling of their story is wrapped in too many riddles to ultimately provide satisfaction.