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A review by libraryvee
The House of Rumour by Jake Arnott
3.0
This is a hard one to rate; Arnott's writing is stellar. He can turn a phrase beautifully, he creates different settings and times with ease, and his characters are woven with care and detail.
The House of Rumour is a good opportunity for this talent to be put on display: each chapter is so different in tone that it feels more like a collection of short stories than a novel. Yet slowly, after spending time with pulp science fiction writers, World War II spies, outer space theorists and drag queen New Romantics, a connecting thread begins to show itself.
Arnott's phrasing and characterization is beautiful and sharp, but by the time everything in this book finally ties together, I had lost a bit of patience. It's something that comes down to personal preference and mood; either you want a more coherent line or you like spending time in the space between things.
The space between. Possibility. Each chapter in The House of Rumour takes place during one of these moments - called "jonbar points" in the world of sci-fi writing - where history and consequence hang in the balance.
There is a lot to digest and explore, here. Fictional characters cross paths with real figures (Ian Fleming, Aleister Crowley, Jim Jones, to name a few) and their lives are set around moments of historical importance.
There are tons of clever, stylistic nods to Science Fiction, and a hundred more winks to people, places, and events. It's fun, it's well-done, and it's also a bit exhausting. To be honest, when I reached the last page, I was relieved.
Arnott has created something worth reading with The House of Rumour. The trouble is, after all that effort and cleverness and deliberate weaving through and around history, I still don't know exactly what that something is.
The House of Rumour is a good opportunity for this talent to be put on display: each chapter is so different in tone that it feels more like a collection of short stories than a novel. Yet slowly, after spending time with pulp science fiction writers, World War II spies, outer space theorists and drag queen New Romantics, a connecting thread begins to show itself.
Arnott's phrasing and characterization is beautiful and sharp, but by the time everything in this book finally ties together, I had lost a bit of patience. It's something that comes down to personal preference and mood; either you want a more coherent line or you like spending time in the space between things.
The space between. Possibility. Each chapter in The House of Rumour takes place during one of these moments - called "jonbar points" in the world of sci-fi writing - where history and consequence hang in the balance.
There is a lot to digest and explore, here. Fictional characters cross paths with real figures (Ian Fleming, Aleister Crowley, Jim Jones, to name a few) and their lives are set around moments of historical importance.
There are tons of clever, stylistic nods to Science Fiction, and a hundred more winks to people, places, and events. It's fun, it's well-done, and it's also a bit exhausting. To be honest, when I reached the last page, I was relieved.
Arnott has created something worth reading with The House of Rumour. The trouble is, after all that effort and cleverness and deliberate weaving through and around history, I still don't know exactly what that something is.