Reviews with content warning for Death - Confessions of the Fox

It's an impressive book, i appreciated the anticolonialist, anticapitalist, trans centred and affirming (albeit magically rather than plausibly optimistic) lens.

I wanted to love this as much as i loved LOTE, which has similar alternate-history vibes but I just didn't. i personally found the obtuse academic style prose referencing Derrida etc in the sort of language that is only understood by philosophers to be alienating and a bit of a slog to get through. I understand that it makes sense for the realistic characterisation of Voth, and is realistic for the metapremise of the novel, but still, I didn't really enjoy the interjections/the personal story within the footnotes. I know that you don't have to like the characters to like or appreciate a work of art but it was an issue for me here. I often love the tangents of footnotes (Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell my loveeeee) and i did appreciate the ways in which the stories mirrored each other. However I was half-expecting from this mirroring

the manuscript to have been written /by Voth/ due to the sheer coincidence of finding this very relatable manuscript on a niche topic they study whilstthey are having a life crisis due to their breakup. which i guess in a metatextual sense it /was/, by /Rosenberg/, but it wasnt in the world of this book which made it lack in-universe plausibility. Or maybe it was just one meta- too far for me

Another personal issue i had with the book was its idea of queerness was often too easily found though queer sex, queer bodies, more than through all ways of being/loving/not-loving that are othered by society. As an ace person i just didn't relate to the horniness in the book that was often posited as some universally relatable and transformative queer experience. This is not to say that it shouldn't have been so horny, it is an important part of the characterisation and indeed of the queerness of the book.

I enjoyed more the stories within the story: enjoyed learning about the Fen-Tigers and enjoyed the imagined paradise society of the Maroons. The little details of Jack's woodworking/technical knowledge.

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felishacb's review

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adventurous challenging emotional informative mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

This novel is an experimental, wild ride. The story features a trans and/or intersex character and is told by a trans scholar and professor. The basis of the novel is the true legend of a historical figure, a white English man named Jack Sheppard whom I had never heard of. In CONFESSIONS, Rosenberg, a trans author, queers the story and imagines Jack as a gender-expansive thief.

Footnotes tell the story of the narrator of sorts who is translating and interpreting the tale. They are also dealing with a faceless entity who wants to control the translation and treats Jacks's transness with an otherness. These layers give Rosenberg the opportunity to comment on queerness, as well as class, colonialism, and power.

Another main character based on reality is Bess who in this book is an Asian sex worker. Bess offers a safe place for Jack and teaches him more about class revolution by sharing her own family's tragic story. Her lived experience could connect with Jack's own experience of class oppression (and queer repression) and inform him on how it intersects with racism.

Although it is fiction, this book serves as a powerful reminder that trans people (and people of color) have always been here and have always been the main characters in their stories even if their history is lost or never told.

Towards the last third of the novel, I did find myself not picking this up as much. But the authors voice and perspective kept me wanting to see how this story ended and what nuggets of truth they would share.

From the book: "All history should be the history of how we exceeded our own limits."

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cosypuck's review

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4.5

I much preferred the narrative about Jack & Bess to the footnote narrative about Dr Voth, but the latter didn't spoil the book for me and in some places did add to it. I didn't like that

the collective group of queer editors

wasn't expanded on - for the sake of how much it was touched on it could have been left out, for me.

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caseythereader's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense 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? No

4.5

Thank you to One World Books for the free copy of this book.

- CONFESSIONS OF THE FOX is one of the strangest, most fascinating books I’ve ever read. I loved the structure, with the body of the book being the “lost manuscript” and the footnotes being the professor telling his story alongside the manuscript.
- There is so much going on here, I hardly know where to start. Everything from the historical erasure of trans people to the prison industrial complex is pinpointed and torn down in a frenzy.
- For me, things got a bit muddled at the end of the book, but overall this book is well worth the trip there. Do pay attention to those content warnings though, as it’s pretty grossly graphic throughout.

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carbs666's review

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Deeply researched and lovingly crafted, this book is like nothing I've ever read before. Confessions layered on top of confessions, the inherent queerness of the disobedient archive, funny and insightful and personal footnotes, unreliable and fantastical and multiplicitous narration, a utopia outside of time, an escape. It's good. You have to read it.

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octopus_farmer's review

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hopeful lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I liked the conceit - in many ways this is what i wanted The Starless Sea to be. I was almost annoyed by the researcher at times but came around on him. I also loveddd how the footnotes and related readings are all real texts! However, there’s a fair amount of piss that at times is kinky.

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perpetualpages's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

CWs: references to parental abandonment; descriptions of indentured servitude; physical assault, injury, and graphic descriptions of blood and surgery; misgendering; racism; mentions of anxiety and compulsive tendencies; and references to contagious disease

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