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mmcloe's reviews
231 reviews
1666: A Novel by Lora Chilton
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
In the vein of Hartman-esque critical fabulation, I think this novel did a decent job at illustrating the details of lives very rarely recorded. There's a humanity and kindness and dignity displayed towards these Indigenous women that is rare to see in any kind of media. I appreciated the citations at the end and the glossary of terms - a powerful testament to language following a story about the restriction and destruction of language.
I thought the stylistic aspects could've been stronger at points. The prose was often rather dry and the storytelling a bit jerky. Excited to discuss this in my Quaker book club!
I thought the stylistic aspects could've been stronger at points. The prose was often rather dry and the storytelling a bit jerky. Excited to discuss this in my Quaker book club!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Slavery, Murder, and Colonisation
North Woods by Daniel Mason
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
A novel that definitely had its good moments! Some of the prose was excellent; there were sections of skilled storytelling; the polyphonic and hypertextual structure is always a fun time. We love an exploration of place.
Many problems, unfortunately:
Many problems, unfortunately:
- The entire framing was dreadfully narrow - a pity for a novel with such expansive aims. How can you possibly explore the history of human relationships to history and land while starting that history with white Puritans and only proceeding with white people from there? Why do plants and wampus cats and beetles get more humanity than Indigenous people or Black people? Where's the chapter about the enslaved woman seeking refuge in the house?
- The hypertextual structure didn't always land how it should've, largely a result of undercommitment to the bit. All of the different texts were typeset identically and largely in the same stylistic voice. All of them were neatly separated from one another, even with some gente referencing. The pictures and diagrams were completely contextless; no captions, titles, provenance, anything. (This might be an unfair jab) you can tell a natural scientist wrote this and not a historian or other kind of humanist - there's a disinterest in texts as objects that's disappointing.
I would recommend something like Lote, Savage Theories, or The Rabbit Hutch for novels doing what Mason is trying here a bit more successfully.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Gore, Slavery, Suicide, Medical trauma, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
informative
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
It took me like 2 months to read but goddammit Bolaño strikes again. Like 2666, this absolutely DRAGS in the massive center section, only to be completely unfolded, refolded, and folded into a new dimension by the outer sections.
This is a novel that teaches you how to read it. The hunt for Caeseria - combing through archives, talking to half-demented bar patrons and landowners, avoiding murderous pimps, writing mediocre poetry - mirrors the hunt for Lima Belano that the center lays before us like a little chess board. It's a faux archive tangled with real archives of the forgotten avant-garde of Mexico City and the savage detectives, the what's-outside-the-windows is us, the readers, playing Bolaño's archive game however we choose to.
Imagining a fun little novella framed as an edited anthology of contemporary literary scholars writing increasingly delirious analyses of Lima and Belano based on the testimonies of this book.
This is a novel that teaches you how to read it. The hunt for Caeseria - combing through archives, talking to half-demented bar patrons and landowners, avoiding murderous pimps, writing mediocre poetry - mirrors the hunt for Lima Belano that the center lays before us like a little chess board. It's a faux archive tangled with real archives of the forgotten avant-garde of Mexico City and the savage detectives, the what's-outside-the-windows is us, the readers, playing Bolaño's archive game however we choose to.
Imagining a fun little novella framed as an edited anthology of contemporary literary scholars writing increasingly delirious analyses of Lima and Belano based on the testimonies of this book.
The Fisherman by John Langan
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
I think it had its strong moments and there were some meditations on loss and community history and the built environment that were interesting. Reasonably spooky and mysterious at times. I think the tremendous tangent in the middle really threw the novel off-kilter and a lot of the scenes where the plot showed its hand (i.e. the monster) didn't live up to their exposition.
I'm not too well-versed in horror as a literary form so I'm interested to continue exploring.
I'm not too well-versed in horror as a literary form so I'm interested to continue exploring.
Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner
adventurous
dark
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
My first Kushner! On the whole I thought it was good - it mostly read like an extended Pynchon side plot, not a bad thing.
A novel concerned with human imposition of meaning onto dark, hollow worlds - whether they be surveillance capitalism, agribusiness, or underground cave networks - and the rot, revolution, or retreat that effort to impose can manifest. The narrator was insufferable (and intentionally so) and I enjoyed the ways ideology seduced her in different directions. Few of the characters ideas seduced me, unfortunately. No small product of the mouths that spoke them.
A novel concerned with human imposition of meaning onto dark, hollow worlds - whether they be surveillance capitalism, agribusiness, or underground cave networks - and the rot, revolution, or retreat that effort to impose can manifest. The narrator was insufferable (and intentionally so) and I enjoyed the ways ideology seduced her in different directions. Few of the characters ideas seduced me, unfortunately. No small product of the mouths that spoke them.
The Skating Rink by Roberto Bolaño
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Interesting to see Bolano's first novel to emphasize his maturation to his later work. This had a few excellent moments, especially towards the end, that really highlight his prose skills and his knack for limning out the dialectic between desire and violence.
I don't think the tone of his different characters was differentiated enough and his prose got a little too purple at moments. Still, a solid first novel of someone with many excellent later novels.
I don't think the tone of his different characters was differentiated enough and his prose got a little too purple at moments. Still, a solid first novel of someone with many excellent later novels.
The Spirit of Science Fiction by Roberto Bolaño
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Beautiful and strange, a minor work but a lovely one. Desire flees and swarms and evaporates in all places - romance, aesthetics, cool ass motorcycles, noxious literary circles. Bolano is mystical in his tracing of these lines of desire and the gentle hints of something foul coming.
Housemates by Emma Copley Eisenberg
funny
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I liked the narrative frame a lot! I thought it was a neat exploration of queer spectatorship and changing understandings of visibility across generations.
I wasn't as enamored with the Bernie and Leah plot, unfortunately. Read as a bit trite, overly sentimental at moments, and wrapped up too evenly at the end. I think something like All This Could Be Different captures the same energy and settings with stronger language and characterization.
On a personal note, I'm always bummed to see ostensibly diverse queer stories completely void of trans women.
I wasn't as enamored with the Bernie and Leah plot, unfortunately. Read as a bit trite, overly sentimental at moments, and wrapped up too evenly at the end. I think something like All This Could Be Different captures the same energy and settings with stronger language and characterization.
On a personal note, I'm always bummed to see ostensibly diverse queer stories completely void of trans women.
Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon
adventurous
emotional
informative
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
It was just OK. It was hitting all of the reasonably correct anarchist, slightly tenderqueer tendencies that leftish authors and critics are sure to snap up but a lot of it seemed void of any major artistry or rigorous examination of the systems its trying to tackle. It seemed as if 2/3 of the book was Vern in the parking lot of a different establishment trying to acclimate to life outside the woods and not much beyond that.
I'm also shocked that for all of the philosophical and literary allusions, Deleuze & Guattari or Jasbir Puar or Donna Haraway or Kim Tallbear or the many others who write on rhizomatic structures of colonial capitalism and the resistance which can emerge from them.
I'm also shocked that for all of the philosophical and literary allusions, Deleuze & Guattari or Jasbir Puar or Donna Haraway or Kim Tallbear or the many others who write on rhizomatic structures of colonial capitalism and the resistance which can emerge from them.
Let the Dead Bury Their Dead by Randall Kenan
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Sparkling and dazzling and bizarre and magical
Kenan does a tremendous job constructing community through their interactions to the fabulous and the ways these weird little intrusions from who knows where can shape and alter the resonances of history long held and society rooted to space.
Kenan does a tremendous job constructing community through their interactions to the fabulous and the ways these weird little intrusions from who knows where can shape and alter the resonances of history long held and society rooted to space.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia, Incest, Racism, and Rape