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janey's review against another edition
3.0
I was slightly disappointed. He pulled it together in the end but there was a fair amount in the middle that didn't really seem like it was going anywhere.
emjwoods's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
lizetteratura's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
really interesting, disturbing and very american, not bad but i guess these trumpism books arent really my thing
margot_books's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
kayleepopovich's review against another edition
2.0
I think this was the wrong book of Kunzru's for me to start with. He is obviously a very talented and eloquent author, with a lot of interesting takes to share. But--and maybe the whole book was a little too on-the-nose of the current political and ideological climate of today--I really had a hard time getting through this one. I had no sympathy for the narrator whatsoever until I felt a *little* bit for him at the end of the story, and found him annoying and whiny and in need of a therapist the whole book. "I can't come home until I've made substantial progress on my super obscure book" no sir. u need mental health treatments. The narrator's susceptibility to the principles of Romanticism (the contrived mirroring of Kleist's life with his own) is an indication of vulnerability to depression, anxiety, etc., and while that was touched on later in the novel, I still find it antiquated and problematic to link mental instability with literary and poetic genius. I'm very sensitive to it, and I think many others are. The novel tows the line with this comparison (I wouldn't say it was an outright connection between the two), but nevertheless, it made it a more painful read for me.
The exploration of the fringe far right ideologies and the dangerous esoteric shit that come along with it was interesting and scarily accurate. This novel was released in 2020, before the riots at the Capitol, but it almost felt like it could have headed the way. It was jarring for me to read something of fiction that was directly situated in the context of the 21st century, namely the 2016 presidential election that is forever seared into the American psyche. Anton's ambiguous presence in the novel, his unremarkable physical appearance but disturbingly vivid moral canon, was entertaining to me. This guy meets a neo nazi at a party, lets himself become obsessed with this twat, and then changes the course of his life to pursue and oppose him? Farfetched in novel that was mostly grounded in reality. I rolled my eyes every time Anton spoke. Like buddy: just stop watching his fucking show and don't do a deep dive into the white nationalist movement. The regular world is enough a rabbit hole in itself. You don't need to seek information on those fuckers and validate their existence. God. I had a hard time with it. The far right isn't glamorous. It's dangerous, powerful, and needs to be countered with logic and light, not middle-aged Romantic-enthralled men who need therapy.
I don't know, maybe my criticisms are exactly the comments Kunzru is making with this book. But I put it down a few times because I just couldn't see when my eyes had rolled so far back in my skull.
The exploration of the fringe far right ideologies and the dangerous esoteric shit that come along with it was interesting and scarily accurate. This novel was released in 2020, before the riots at the Capitol, but it almost felt like it could have headed the way. It was jarring for me to read something of fiction that was directly situated in the context of the 21st century, namely the 2016 presidential election that is forever seared into the American psyche. Anton's ambiguous presence in the novel, his unremarkable physical appearance but disturbingly vivid moral canon, was entertaining to me. This guy meets a neo nazi at a party, lets himself become obsessed with this twat, and then changes the course of his life to pursue and oppose him? Farfetched in novel that was mostly grounded in reality. I rolled my eyes every time Anton spoke. Like buddy: just stop watching his fucking show and don't do a deep dive into the white nationalist movement. The regular world is enough a rabbit hole in itself. You don't need to seek information on those fuckers and validate their existence. God. I had a hard time with it. The far right isn't glamorous. It's dangerous, powerful, and needs to be countered with logic and light, not middle-aged Romantic-enthralled men who need therapy.
I don't know, maybe my criticisms are exactly the comments Kunzru is making with this book. But I put it down a few times because I just couldn't see when my eyes had rolled so far back in my skull.
erickibler4's review against another edition
4.0
With this and White Tears, Hari Kunzru has become one of my favorite writers. This is an unsettling book about the fascism that has been creeping back into the world of late.
ilimati's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-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
3.5