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daneekasghost 's review for:
Three Hundred Million
by Blake Butler
This is Blake Butler at his best. Pieces of his previous works are all present and woven into a huge, sprawling, grotesque, subconscious, narcotic novel. A possessed madman (Gretch Gravey) vows to kill everyone in America, and the story begins as the police (most notably detective E.N. Flood) arrest him.
[b:2666|63032|2666|Roberto Bolaño|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1412644327s/63032.jpg|3294830] is a clear influence. The epigraph comes from Bolano's book. Both books are divided into five parts with very similar titles 2666's "The Part About the Crimes" has become "The Part About the Killing", while the parts about Archimboldi and Amalfitano have become the parts about Gravey and Flood. But 300,000,000 reflects Bolano's structure through a seriously warped mirror.
Both books concern themselves with a seemingly endless string of murders; but where 2666 is supposedly told from the perspective of a detached, floating narrator of the future, Butler takes the opposite tack and mires the reader in the perspective of those that perpetrate the atrocities. That almost makes the reader complicit in the events. If we would stop reading, Gravey's reign of terror would come to end. This is driven home later on in the book.when the reader is forced to take part in their own murder
At the same time the style makes the story a personal one, and although Butler's prose is as dense as anything he's written, it's in service of a world that sticks with you and a strong narrative that feels satisfying at its conclusion.
A book that gave me a lot to think about. Four stars for now, but I reserve the right to upgrade that in the future.
[b:2666|63032|2666|Roberto Bolaño|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1412644327s/63032.jpg|3294830] is a clear influence. The epigraph comes from Bolano's book. Both books are divided into five parts with very similar titles 2666's "The Part About the Crimes" has become "The Part About the Killing", while the parts about Archimboldi and Amalfitano have become the parts about Gravey and Flood. But 300,000,000 reflects Bolano's structure through a seriously warped mirror.
Both books concern themselves with a seemingly endless string of murders; but where 2666 is supposedly told from the perspective of a detached, floating narrator of the future, Butler takes the opposite tack and mires the reader in the perspective of those that perpetrate the atrocities. That almost makes the reader complicit in the events. If we would stop reading, Gravey's reign of terror would come to end. This is driven home later on in the book.
At the same time the style makes the story a personal one, and although Butler's prose is as dense as anything he's written, it's in service of a world that sticks with you and a strong narrative that feels satisfying at its conclusion.
A book that gave me a lot to think about. Four stars for now, but I reserve the right to upgrade that in the future.