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menschmaschine's reviews
27 reviews
Kill the Mall by Pasha Malla
funny
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.25
prose: detail-oriented, neurotic and obssessive, delightfully true; a first person stream of consciousness from the mind of a true freak (meant affectionately). not sure whether the protagonist was intended to come off as autistic but one can easily interpret them as such
themes/plot: the novel is more so a collection of ideas than a coherent narrative. bullshit jobs, customer service, consumerism, what it feels like to shop as someone who also works in retail, love of the product and alienation from the other (and its causal relationship under capitalism). it's also a love story with a hopeful ending.
if you want a story in which the haunted building is a character, this might disappoint you. the mall is a setting, upsettingly captured and made static, then reproduced and extrapolated to absurd ends, as if one had fed DALL-E a hundred children's descriptions of what a mall is and asked it to draw a coherent image.
the cover of the novel features a quote by ian williams, claiming "malla writes like a reincarnated kafka". don't believe him too much. the protagonist of kill the mall would find themselves inconsolably out of place in the metamorphosis or the trial but completely at home in the stanley parable.
i encourage any prospective reader to try and engage with the novel on its level. go with its flow and don't overthink whether it's 'too absurd'. it has some interesting things to say, but in the end it's just a fun, light read. classifying it as 'horror' really baffles me.
verdict: i was shocked to see how low the novel was rated here, but in the end i couldn't rate it much higher than that myself. this should tell you enough.
themes/plot: the novel is more so a collection of ideas than a coherent narrative. bullshit jobs, customer service, consumerism, what it feels like to shop as someone who also works in retail, love of the product and alienation from the other (and its causal relationship under capitalism). it's also a love story with a hopeful ending.
if you want a story in which the haunted building is a character, this might disappoint you. the mall is a setting, upsettingly captured and made static, then reproduced and extrapolated to absurd ends, as if one had fed DALL-E a hundred children's descriptions of what a mall is and asked it to draw a coherent image.
the cover of the novel features a quote by ian williams, claiming "malla writes like a reincarnated kafka". don't believe him too much. the protagonist of kill the mall would find themselves inconsolably out of place in the metamorphosis or the trial but completely at home in the stanley parable.
i encourage any prospective reader to try and engage with the novel on its level. go with its flow and don't overthink whether it's 'too absurd'. it has some interesting things to say, but in the end it's just a fun, light read. classifying it as 'horror' really baffles me.
verdict: i was shocked to see how low the novel was rated here, but in the end i couldn't rate it much higher than that myself. this should tell you enough.
Devotion by Madeline Stevens
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
prose: easy to read, though not particularly high-quality
themes: personally relatable at times; interesting exploration of being a poor person "adopted" by the rich. eroticism and sexuality that makes one feel deeply uncomfortable
plot: several superfluous subplots. good ideas interwoven with the most boring clichés. meandering and purposeless at times. could be a hundred pages shorter.
verdict: not hopeless for a debut novel, but one would think an author with an MFA knows how to kill her darlings
themes: personally relatable at times; interesting exploration of being a poor person "adopted" by the rich. eroticism and sexuality that makes one feel deeply uncomfortable
plot: several superfluous subplots. good ideas interwoven with the most boring clichés. meandering and purposeless at times. could be a hundred pages shorter.
verdict: not hopeless for a debut novel, but one would think an author with an MFA knows how to kill her darlings
Consider This: Moments in My Writing Life After Which Everything Was Different by Chuck Palahniuk
informative
inspiring
4.5
Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl by Andrea Lawlor
adventurous
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.0
"I love that you're a big dyke now, Paul. I really do. But if you cramp my style I will out you so fast your head will spin."
"No political revolution is possible without a radical shift in one's notion of the possible and the real," said Paul.
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