dante_nathanael's review against another edition
4.0
"... I want to experience the end of Capitalism, I want to see the human species progress."
And certainly this book can imprint this sentiment as one of your foremost desires; catapult, after myriads of realizations, of reconsiderations and of finding what is your position on their selfish deluded Way, the ringing need of bringing the end of all this, and seeing, living, breathing something, if not better, fair, true evolution past the cycle of dressed-up enslavement and, as we say here on the south of the South, "atole con el dedo".
RSS opens this tale of made up war —and what human war isn't?— in a confusing and anachronistic South Carolina at the end of the 60's. Language is one of the first hurdles one has to jump in reading this novel, a roadblock that feels constructed by the need to reinstate an old order, the "True Way", one which even the narrator is a hired actor who's in the plot of this frankly ridiculous and comedic story. But, at the end of the day, stories reflect the world in its many registers, and this book picks the necessary ones for one to laugh away the probable tears againt the ludicrous flow of Capitalism —who is probably as much a main character as the United States is.
Traversing through the swampwords and the dictionary marshes, one is able to find Pynchonian named characters who have the most thought provoking of conversations: a man seeking a bomb with an experiment in mind, a physical jokery shadow entity, a renowed cock champion turned mountain, and one of the many embodiments of greed and self entitlement who thinks loves his wife so much that he'd kill for her but gives only superficial kisses to. As the story advances, by these people being the protagonists, everything only seems to be going backwards , like their horses.
Despite all... maybe because I'm not familiarized at all with the geography or the history of the US's Uppers, only their "revolutions". Maybe because I couldn't find a sound gripping point to anchor myself and plunge into the subtext. Maybe just because one cannot hold the book and a dictionary at the same time while travelling to and from their Capitalism-abler work... Despite all the frankly funny passages, the all out excellently written action scenes, I couldn't bring myself to give this a 5 star... but that doesn't mean I don't recommend it, or that is is very far off from the crown.
And in all, even though it is RSS' first published novel, it already has all the qualities for it to be considered a work coming from a very mature artist, and I'm hoping to see more of their work.
binstonbirchill's review
adventurous
challenging
funny
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
In Charleston, South Carolina, amidst the “root bulb, peduncle, and withered florette” the landed gentry are converging for a grand soirée and competitive croquet.
But before “the moribund shoots of embrowning verdure” welcome the Uppers one and all, a tug of war occurs with an interloper “loosely mapped behind the grid of the secondary screen door.”
Strange happenings ensue, ribald humor abounds, the south will not rise again. It is already risen. So our demagogue collects his band of cheerfully named misfits and marches… south.
But enough of the tale, or rather, let’s not presume to spoil the unspoilable.
For all of the wonderful prose of Robert S. Stickley, for all of the unfamiliar words and the relentless density, I never once felt confused by the narrative or the characters of the novel. Maybe reading the book during a vacation helped but I think it also speaks to what he was able to achieve with A Bended Circuity.
Stickley crafted a relentlessly dense, highly challenging maximalist novel, with enough obscurity to keep the reader guessing. He performed a complex high wire act by balancing that with an eminently understandable narration.
Around the midway point I wondered if the second half would be more of the same and maybe slip a bit as a whole, 300-400 pages probably would have been enough if that was the case. Thankfully things didn’t stop there.
The long descriptive passages which dominate and delight in the first half of the novel are concatenated with a poem, a song, a letter from a wife left behind, a screed of the highest order, and as this circuitous novel bends towards its righteous conclusion, something with more gravitas than mere philosophical musings consumes us. It gives this book that weight which is needed to stand the test of time.
I’ve marked a few sections for an immediate reread because there are some extended passages that need a closer look.
In the end Stickley gives the reader what any great book gives, something to chew on. A Bended Circuity is a difficult pleasure and promises to dwell in the mind long after it’s set aside.
“All of these lineaments are fused together into one constructed mess.”
“This is heavenly.”
“This is borderline incestuous.”
“This is Friday night in the Lowcountry.”
Grab your dictionary. Pull up a chair. Enjoy this delightfully dense ribald tale inspired by our troubled times.
But before “the moribund shoots of embrowning verdure” welcome the Uppers one and all, a tug of war occurs with an interloper “loosely mapped behind the grid of the secondary screen door.”
Strange happenings ensue, ribald humor abounds, the south will not rise again. It is already risen. So our demagogue collects his band of cheerfully named misfits and marches… south.
But enough of the tale, or rather, let’s not presume to spoil the unspoilable.
For all of the wonderful prose of Robert S. Stickley, for all of the unfamiliar words and the relentless density, I never once felt confused by the narrative or the characters of the novel. Maybe reading the book during a vacation helped but I think it also speaks to what he was able to achieve with A Bended Circuity.
Stickley crafted a relentlessly dense, highly challenging maximalist novel, with enough obscurity to keep the reader guessing. He performed a complex high wire act by balancing that with an eminently understandable narration.
Around the midway point I wondered if the second half would be more of the same and maybe slip a bit as a whole, 300-400 pages probably would have been enough if that was the case. Thankfully things didn’t stop there.
The long descriptive passages which dominate and delight in the first half of the novel are concatenated with a poem, a song, a letter from a wife left behind, a screed of the highest order, and as this circuitous novel bends towards its righteous conclusion, something with more gravitas than mere philosophical musings consumes us. It gives this book that weight which is needed to stand the test of time.
I’ve marked a few sections for an immediate reread because there are some extended passages that need a closer look.
In the end Stickley gives the reader what any great book gives, something to chew on. A Bended Circuity is a difficult pleasure and promises to dwell in the mind long after it’s set aside.
“All of these lineaments are fused together into one constructed mess.”
“This is heavenly.”
“This is borderline incestuous.”
“This is Friday night in the Lowcountry.”
Grab your dictionary. Pull up a chair. Enjoy this delightfully dense ribald tale inspired by our troubled times.
bae0fpigs's review
challenging
dark
funny
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
andrewmerritt00's review
5.0
I’ll add more substantial thoughts at a later date, but this was undoubtedly one of the finest works of fiction I have ever read
More...