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A review by bjr2022
Cove by Cynan Jones
5.0
This is a tiny masterpiece (92 pages with plenty of empty space in them) and possibly the most immediately visceral book I’ve ever read. How on earth did Cynan Jones write this without firsthand experience of being hit by lightning and adrift in the ocean? I cannot imagine how anybody could write this, yet it inspires me as a writer to discover my own depths in a new way.
I am so glad that an audio book of this does not exist, and it never should. This is a story and voice that you need to hear reverberating inside your own head. You need to experience the blank spaces in the text of this book and reread sentences and sections, letting them go down slowly. All of it contributes to the remarkable feeling of being subsumed by Nature in a journey into the loss of everything.
7/24/18 Update
I purchased a copy of this after reading the library book, and I just reread it. It is even more powerful the second time--when you know the story and can make more sense of the out-of-chronological-time events. I'm astounded. This is a book I'll return to whenever I need a certain kind of fix: good, pure, pithy perfection.
I am so glad that an audio book of this does not exist, and it never should. This is a story and voice that you need to hear reverberating inside your own head. You need to experience the blank spaces in the text of this book and reread sentences and sections, letting them go down slowly. All of it contributes to the remarkable feeling of being subsumed by Nature in a journey into the loss of everything.
7/24/18 Update
I purchased a copy of this after reading the library book, and I just reread it. It is even more powerful the second time--when you know the story and can make more sense of the out-of-chronological-time events. I'm astounded. This is a book I'll return to whenever I need a certain kind of fix: good, pure, pithy perfection.