Scan barcode
A review by sixtythreecents
The Familiar, Volume 1: One Rainy Day in May by Mark Z. Danielewski
2.0
"...most experimental stuff is hellaciously unfun to read...it requires an amount of work on the part of the reader that's grotesquely disproportionate to its payoff." - DFW
While I'm not certain that "The Familiar: Vol. 1" would even qualify as the type of experimental literature to which Wallace is referring, I do think he'd have a similar reaction upon reading this book. The heavy-handed gimmick which permeates and in some ways defines Danielewski's style does little to enhance the narrative here, instead suffocating the few truly beautiful and affecting passages and making it difficult to want to continue.
I'll probably still read Volume 2, though.
While I'm not certain that "The Familiar: Vol. 1" would even qualify as the type of experimental literature to which Wallace is referring, I do think he'd have a similar reaction upon reading this book. The heavy-handed gimmick which permeates and in some ways defines Danielewski's style does little to enhance the narrative here, instead suffocating the few truly beautiful and affecting passages and making it difficult to want to continue.
I'll probably still read Volume 2, though.