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A review by pearloz
My Volcano by John Elizabeth Stintzi
3.0
Was really loving this novel, its quirks, it's myriad characters, its winding, twisting, time-jumping plot, and oh! That volcano in the middle of New York City! But then the volcano took a backseat, and the quirks started to irk, and I got confused by the time-jumping. All the old Otherwises as Gods riding up animal-legged mobile homes is a fantastic visual, and I think resetting the world to pre-plot is a helpful device when you write yourself into a corner (which is not to suggest that happened here).
I found the epigraphic remembrances of the trans victims of hate crimes jarring, as I think the author intended. Their frequency and their senselessness is disturbing and took me right out of the book; I often found myself in research/internet black holes for long stretches while I read about the victims and tried to find instances of justice being served on their perpetrators. Some were new to me, some were familiar. I had a hard time connecting them to the themes of the novel, such as it is, and can only postulate that they are there to break up the experience of our escapism with the harsh realities these lives have to bear, realities they cannot escape, not even for a moment to enjoy a sorta silly book about a volcano sprouting up in Central Park.
I found the epigraphic remembrances of the trans victims of hate crimes jarring, as I think the author intended. Their frequency and their senselessness is disturbing and took me right out of the book; I often found myself in research/internet black holes for long stretches while I read about the victims and tried to find instances of justice being served on their perpetrators. Some were new to me, some were familiar. I had a hard time connecting them to the themes of the novel, such as it is, and can only postulate that they are there to break up the experience of our escapism with the harsh realities these lives have to bear, realities they cannot escape, not even for a moment to enjoy a sorta silly book about a volcano sprouting up in Central Park.