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A review by hemloc
Eunoia by Christian Bök
2.0
Two reasons to read Eunoia:
1) The self-imposed limitation of writing univocalic chapters is impressive beyond words. I can't imagine the effort that must have gone into writing this book.
2) Many pages have the odd rhythm and senseless sensefulness of poetry.
Four drawbacks to Eunoia:
1) Asking for a cohesive narrative may be too much given the single-vowel constraint, but this book lacks purpose beyond showing off its chosen technique. The process is what matters, not the end result, so there's no substance to the stories, nothing to think about other than the headache caused by the repeated vowels (the A and U chapters are particularly painful).
2) Certain chapters are more pleasant than others (the E chapter), but even it becomes repetitive after a few pages and the lack of meaningful content invites diagonal reading.
3) The I chapter – although it happens elsewhere also – is full of the author tooting his own horn, congratulating his cleverness, and insulting critics. Modesty may not be required if you've spent seven years of your life working on something this demanding and complex, but it wouldn't hurt.
4) The author returns to sex a lot, in a way that is gratuitous, self-indulgent, and often gross.
1) The self-imposed limitation of writing univocalic chapters is impressive beyond words. I can't imagine the effort that must have gone into writing this book.
2) Many pages have the odd rhythm and senseless sensefulness of poetry.
Four drawbacks to Eunoia:
1) Asking for a cohesive narrative may be too much given the single-vowel constraint, but this book lacks purpose beyond showing off its chosen technique. The process is what matters, not the end result, so there's no substance to the stories, nothing to think about other than the headache caused by the repeated vowels (the A and U chapters are particularly painful).
2) Certain chapters are more pleasant than others (the E chapter), but even it becomes repetitive after a few pages and the lack of meaningful content invites diagonal reading.
3) The I chapter – although it happens elsewhere also – is full of the author tooting his own horn, congratulating his cleverness, and insulting critics. Modesty may not be required if you've spent seven years of your life working on something this demanding and complex, but it wouldn't hurt.
4) The author returns to sex a lot, in a way that is gratuitous, self-indulgent, and often gross.