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modern_life_is_mediocre's review against another edition
5.0
I’m sat on a train in London heading towards my job. It’s noisy, it smells, it’s miserable. I reach into my backpack and take out this little 80 page book with beautiful crosshatch illustrations. Suddenly all I hear are waves crashing against rocks, wind howling making the trees rustle and bend and birds singing. In an instant I’m somewhere else. Somewhere dark and magical. The book is poetic and lyrical with hints of legends and fables, and I’m reminded a little of ‘Sir Gawain & The Green Knight’ (as someone else on GoodReads also mentioned). Finally I look up from the last page and wonder where I am! It’s my stop! I’m there! I’ve been completely entranced in this wonderful tale, reading the whole thing in one commute.
nickc777's review against another edition
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.75
miss_vonnegut's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
I love weird books and this was certainly weird. It was a fast read and such an interesting way to reflect on humanity and war and nuclear weapons, and also nature and the interconnectedness of everything.
theghostintheattic's review
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
hannahh's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
devermismysteris's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
katyab's review against another edition
5.0
Drift is always becoming. Drift has unbounded potential. Drift is unimaginably vast & if you had to describe Drift you would need a new kind of map & a new kind of language.
& they have no need of watches for they keep time with tree-rings, with pollen grains, with the unvarying decay-rates of carbon-14 and uranium-235. & time to them is not deep, not deep at all, for time is only ever overlapping tumbling versions of the now.
I'm not sure I can actually describe this. I need that new kind of map and that new kind of language. At once it might be a cross between parts of Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas and Lanny by Max Porter, but at the same time Ness is entirely its own beast. Feel like I fell into some deep water, or got lost in a great forest, while I was reading it. The fact that it's so short makes it so much easier to get sucked into the weirdness of it.
It does feel like a mythology of a very specific place, but it's timeless and surreal and the pacing is slow and fast at the same time, the scale is small and world-encompassing simultaneously – can you tell my brain gets all excited about this kind of thing?? Reading this is an experience you can't explain to anyone else, at least, not immediately. I'm not even sure that, if you gave me a week to think about it, I'd have a clear explanation (although I'll admit the synopsis did help me understand it a little). I don't really want an explanation. I was happy coming away from this feeling like I knew something more than I did before, but also not quite understanding what the hell just happened.
When I'm reading something like this, I think I really love, in a way that leaves me both scared and awed, that kind of "weird", almost supernatural presence that's immeasurable and vast and cool. Like N.K. Jemisin's The City We Became (and the Lovecraftian stuff that inspired her), like Lanny, like Piranesi, like some of Neil Gaiman's stuff – like Ness. Something that your brain can't quite hold fully, but the fact that it can't is what makes it feel amazing and powerful. I reckon it's really hard to do well, in terms of writing. But I bloody love it when someone does it.
& they have no need of watches for they keep time with tree-rings, with pollen grains, with the unvarying decay-rates of carbon-14 and uranium-235. & time to them is not deep, not deep at all, for time is only ever overlapping tumbling versions of the now.
I'm not sure I can actually describe this. I need that new kind of map and that new kind of language. At once it might be a cross between parts of Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas and Lanny by Max Porter, but at the same time Ness is entirely its own beast. Feel like I fell into some deep water, or got lost in a great forest, while I was reading it. The fact that it's so short makes it so much easier to get sucked into the weirdness of it.
It does feel like a mythology of a very specific place, but it's timeless and surreal and the pacing is slow and fast at the same time, the scale is small and world-encompassing simultaneously – can you tell my brain gets all excited about this kind of thing?? Reading this is an experience you can't explain to anyone else, at least, not immediately. I'm not even sure that, if you gave me a week to think about it, I'd have a clear explanation (although I'll admit the synopsis did help me understand it a little). I don't really want an explanation. I was happy coming away from this feeling like I knew something more than I did before, but also not quite understanding what the hell just happened.
When I'm reading something like this, I think I really love, in a way that leaves me both scared and awed, that kind of "weird", almost supernatural presence that's immeasurable and vast and cool. Like N.K. Jemisin's The City We Became (and the Lovecraftian stuff that inspired her), like Lanny, like Piranesi, like some of Neil Gaiman's stuff – like Ness. Something that your brain can't quite hold fully, but the fact that it can't is what makes it feel amazing and powerful. I reckon it's really hard to do well, in terms of writing. But I bloody love it when someone does it.
annepiraat's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.5
A book that almost reads like poetry, very intriguing and makes you think about what has been put onto paper.