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kaph's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Suggested to me by the bookseller at St George in Berlin.
I really did not get this book. It just seem a constant, disconnected and incoherent rambling of an old man about his past and his obsessions. Among those obsessions are colored glass panes, religion and women. Thought about dropping it multiple times, at least it's short (though not quick). I also have an ick with the overuse of "one or the other", it killed the flow every single time. Also, some parenthesis were either never closed or never opened, and I'm not sure whether it is a typo or not.
Underdeveloped to say the least.
I really did not get this book. It just seem a constant, disconnected and incoherent rambling of an old man about his past and his obsessions. Among those obsessions are colored glass panes, religion and women. Thought about dropping it multiple times, at least it's short (though not quick). I also have an ick with the overuse of "one or the other", it killed the flow every single time. Also, some parenthesis were either never closed or never opened, and I'm not sure whether it is a typo or not.
Underdeveloped to say the least.
chillcox15's review against another edition
5.0
Gerald Murnane with his supposedly final work, confirms once again he is one of the pre-eminent masters of narratology.
mandibibbs37's review against another edition
2.0
This was a challenging read for me. The author's style was obscure. I lost track of the place and characters, who are all without names or clear definitions. And with this book, that's kind of the point.
I hit a stride with the writing style at times, but it felt once I was in the reading groove, the author went off on a description of a person or location that was unintelligible again.
I really wanted to like this one because it came so highly recommended to me as someone who loved "Atocha Station" but the reading experience between this and Atocha was completely different.
I hit a stride with the writing style at times, but it felt once I was in the reading groove, the author went off on a description of a person or location that was unintelligible again.
I really wanted to like this one because it came so highly recommended to me as someone who loved "Atocha Station" but the reading experience between this and Atocha was completely different.
greenblack's review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
highestiqinfresno's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
spocco's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
wndrbread's review against another edition
2.0
It was 'well-written', but my god do I wish I hadn't read it.
Skipped the last 8 pages, wasn't worth my time.
Skipped the last 8 pages, wasn't worth my time.
davygibbs's review against another edition
5.0
What a strange and wonderful book!
The writing here is beautiful and precise, yes, but alien. It's too rootsy and plainspoken to be called exotic, and it's not at all pretentious, but it *is* undeniably other. The plot...is there one? Doesn't matter. The pacing is either hypnotic or exists out of time altogether. Tangents pull you away from narrative threads and may not return you for 50 pages. Pronouns referring initially to individual characters soon lose their focus and dissolve into other characters (some of which are the same characters at different times, or on different trajectories). It might be called confusing, if following everything exactly was the point. I suggest that it's not. You spend so many pages lost in this narrator's mind, this repository of memories and images, wandering around, simultaneously enraptured, bemused, clueless. But this lost-ness is a good kind of lost -- and then, suddenly, the book is done. The catalog comes to an end.
Fans of Sebald who have read all of his novels but haven't yet stumbled onto Murnane: rejoice. Here is a new treasure chest.
The writing here is beautiful and precise, yes, but alien. It's too rootsy and plainspoken to be called exotic, and it's not at all pretentious, but it *is* undeniably other. The plot...is there one? Doesn't matter. The pacing is either hypnotic or exists out of time altogether. Tangents pull you away from narrative threads and may not return you for 50 pages. Pronouns referring initially to individual characters soon lose their focus and dissolve into other characters (some of which are the same characters at different times, or on different trajectories). It might be called confusing, if following everything exactly was the point. I suggest that it's not. You spend so many pages lost in this narrator's mind, this repository of memories and images, wandering around, simultaneously enraptured, bemused, clueless. But this lost-ness is a good kind of lost -- and then, suddenly, the book is done. The catalog comes to an end.
Fans of Sebald who have read all of his novels but haven't yet stumbled onto Murnane: rejoice. Here is a new treasure chest.
liberrydude's review against another edition
1.0
And you thought Vegemite was the only bad thing out of Australia. I so wanted to like this book. It’s a rambling stream of consciousness on memory and light and God knows what else. Horrendous run-on sentences that leave the reader with a WTF feeling.
Yet I persisted as it’s only 132 pages and I had bought the book. Like the TV comedy Seinfeld it’s about nothing in a sense. Indeed Murnane in an article considers writers who can write about nothing as the masters of their craft. It blurs the lines between fiction and nonfiction. Creative writing gone wild.
I watched some YouTube videos of the author and read some articles about his escape to the rural countryside of Victoria. He has never flown in a plane. He has never left Victoria or the ACT-Canberra. Pretty amazing. Wonder what Anthony Bourdain would say about that.
This is allegedly his last book, a farewell, but he also has another book out this year too. Lots of buzz about a Nobel Prize in literature for him.
Yet I persisted as it’s only 132 pages and I had bought the book. Like the TV comedy Seinfeld it’s about nothing in a sense. Indeed Murnane in an article considers writers who can write about nothing as the masters of their craft. It blurs the lines between fiction and nonfiction. Creative writing gone wild.
I watched some YouTube videos of the author and read some articles about his escape to the rural countryside of Victoria. He has never flown in a plane. He has never left Victoria or the ACT-Canberra. Pretty amazing. Wonder what Anthony Bourdain would say about that.
This is allegedly his last book, a farewell, but he also has another book out this year too. Lots of buzz about a Nobel Prize in literature for him.
rachel_the_managing_editor's review against another edition
3.0
3.62 stars
A quiet collection of images and memories of images, that although at times intriguing or lovely, often felt rather dulled by time. It's hard to feel nostalgic for the fragments of another mind, at least rendered in this way largely devoid of feeling.
"After I had failed to see what I had hoped to see, I allowed my eyes to pass again from lighted patch to lighted patch."
A quiet collection of images and memories of images, that although at times intriguing or lovely, often felt rather dulled by time. It's hard to feel nostalgic for the fragments of another mind, at least rendered in this way largely devoid of feeling.
"After I had failed to see what I had hoped to see, I allowed my eyes to pass again from lighted patch to lighted patch."