A review by werdfert
Scorch Atlas by Blake Butler

2.0

the book is made to look weathered and worn as if it has survived the apocalypse and the stories themselves are chronicles of that era. all of the stories have the same tone and rhythm, something approaching but never achieving iambic pentameter. there seems to be a flaw in the concept. there is no surviving the apocalypse. and those living through it certainly aren't going to write about it. art is the first thing to go in a crisis. every generation has thought itself as the last, on the brink of destruction. but it certainly feels like we are closer than ever to no recovery. these stories certainly reflect a kind of doomsday bleakness but also, surprisingly, an aching beauty. the hope, if there is any, is not that things will get better, but that pain, destruction and decay are also creative forces.
except that the lulling language devoids itself of meaning over time. so that each added layer subtracts from the whole. the warning is that creativity can be destructive.