fatamo's review against another edition
5.0
This book took me by surprise in every way. It was recommended to me by a patriotic Scotsman, so I was a bit skeptical, thinking that maybe his pride might be altering his judgment on the actual quality of the book. Also, science fiction and fantasy are not two of my favorite genres.
Despite all of this, the book blew me away. It's set in a wonderfully dystopic version of Glasgow, Scotland. The protagonist I suppose reflects the author's own upbringing and - to a limited extent - some of his experiences.
It's a bildungsroman of the most bizarre calibre; that's what I love about it. I don't think one reading will do it justice. I wasn't ready for it the first time!
I also truly loved the graphics, which were so in sync with the story itself, its impossible to imagine one without the other.
Despite all of this, the book blew me away. It's set in a wonderfully dystopic version of Glasgow, Scotland. The protagonist I suppose reflects the author's own upbringing and - to a limited extent - some of his experiences.
It's a bildungsroman of the most bizarre calibre; that's what I love about it. I don't think one reading will do it justice. I wasn't ready for it the first time!
I also truly loved the graphics, which were so in sync with the story itself, its impossible to imagine one without the other.
j04nna's review against another edition
challenging
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
mhairimel's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
kochella's review against another edition
5.0
One of my all-time favorites. Far too underread in the US.
rhiannoncs's review against another edition
4.0
Loved this - the format is funky (it is arranged in four books - book three, followed by a prologue, followed by books one and two, then most of book four, an epilogue, and then the final four chapters) but with actual purpose to it. It works.
The book begins with a man who does not know his own name or anything about himself (he chooses to call himself Lanark) arriving in a city he doesn't recognize (and no one is able to tell him its name). It is a city where everyone is afflicted by diseases that are deeply reflective of what is going on in their inner psyches. I won't tell you what happens here, because it is book three so it's rather late in the plot.
Books one and two tell us about Lanark before he was Lanark - when he was a boy named Thaw growing up in post-World War II Glasgow. Thaw is a deeply unsympathetic artist, but his story is compelling.
While it's slow going at moments, and sometimes it is absolutely overwhelming in its nihilism, the entire book is worth reading for the epilogue; it's one of the funniest, most brilliant things I've read in ages.
The book begins with a man who does not know his own name or anything about himself (he chooses to call himself Lanark) arriving in a city he doesn't recognize (and no one is able to tell him its name). It is a city where everyone is afflicted by diseases that are deeply reflective of what is going on in their inner psyches. I won't tell you what happens here, because it is book three so it's rather late in the plot.
Books one and two tell us about Lanark before he was Lanark - when he was a boy named Thaw growing up in post-World War II Glasgow. Thaw is a deeply unsympathetic artist, but his story is compelling.
While it's slow going at moments, and sometimes it is absolutely overwhelming in its nihilism, the entire book is worth reading for the epilogue; it's one of the funniest, most brilliant things I've read in ages.
athos's review against another edition
challenging
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
3.0
After 6 months, I've finally finished Lanark. Dear god, this was a frustrating book to read. There were bits I loved and got a lot of meaning out of, but these were rare in a sea of nonsense. No doubt that parts of the book I didn't understand may have great meaning for others, so I don't want to shun it just because I didn't get it.
My favourite parts were the middle two sections (book 1 and 2) detailing Duncan Thaw's life, probably because it was the least surreal compared to Lanark's books. And while book 3 and the first half of book 4 were annoying meaningless nonsense to me, I did enjoy the last 150 pages or so. All the stuff about intercalenderical zones, Lanark aging quickly and struggling to connect with his family or make a real change in the face of bureaucracy. The epilogue where Lanark meets the author was also a moment of clarity and explanation done in a very enjoyable meta/fourth wall break moment.
I don't think I'd recommend this book to everyone since it probably deserves a small cult audience who can actually gain meaning from this. If all the hospital stuff and dragonhide was taken from the book, and it was made about 200 pages shorter, I think I would've given this a higher rating.
Here's my favourite paragraph from the book, when Duncan Thaw looks at a photo of his late mother on her wedding day (p.316). I think it was beautifully written:
"With sudden curiosity he looked at a wedding photograph on the mantelpiece. His father (shy, pleased, silly and young-looking), stood arm in arm with a slender laughing woman in one of the knee-length bridal dresses fashionable in the twenties. Her high-heeled shoes made her look the taller of the two. Thaw could think of no connection between this lively shop girl full of songs and sexual daring and the stern gaunt woman he remembered. How could one become the other? Or were they like different sides of a globe with time turning the gaunt face into the light while the merry one slid round into shadow? But only a few old people remembered her youth nowadays and soon both her youth and her age would be wholly forgotten. He thought, "Oh no! No!" and felt for the only time in his life a pang of pure sorrow without rage of self-pity in it. He could not weep, but a berg of frozen tears floated near his surface, and he knew that berg floated in everyone, and wondered if they felt it as seldom as he did"
My favourite parts were the middle two sections (book 1 and 2) detailing Duncan Thaw's life, probably because it was the least surreal compared to Lanark's books. And while book 3 and the first half of book 4 were annoying meaningless nonsense to me, I did enjoy the last 150 pages or so. All the stuff about intercalenderical zones, Lanark aging quickly and struggling to connect with his family or make a real change in the face of bureaucracy. The epilogue where Lanark meets the author was also a moment of clarity and explanation done in a very enjoyable meta/fourth wall break moment.
I don't think I'd recommend this book to everyone since it probably deserves a small cult audience who can actually gain meaning from this. If all the hospital stuff and dragonhide was taken from the book, and it was made about 200 pages shorter, I think I would've given this a higher rating.
Here's my favourite paragraph from the book, when Duncan Thaw looks at a photo of his late mother on her wedding day (p.316). I think it was beautifully written:
"With sudden curiosity he looked at a wedding photograph on the mantelpiece. His father (shy, pleased, silly and young-looking), stood arm in arm with a slender laughing woman in one of the knee-length bridal dresses fashionable in the twenties. Her high-heeled shoes made her look the taller of the two. Thaw could think of no connection between this lively shop girl full of songs and sexual daring and the stern gaunt woman he remembered. How could one become the other? Or were they like different sides of a globe with time turning the gaunt face into the light while the merry one slid round into shadow? But only a few old people remembered her youth nowadays and soon both her youth and her age would be wholly forgotten. He thought, "Oh no! No!" and felt for the only time in his life a pang of pure sorrow without rage of self-pity in it. He could not weep, but a berg of frozen tears floated near his surface, and he knew that berg floated in everyone, and wondered if they felt it as seldom as he did"
laurette26's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
medium-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
3.0
whogivesabook's review against another edition
4.0
I know, I know. I said I wouldn't do it this year, give half stars, but this one really stumped me.
He weaves in his political feelings about bodies governing, from far and on high, the lives of the people they are meant to be helping. (He wanted an independent Scotland)
He uses his own upbringing to give a heavy authentic weight to the character. (Similar upbringing to my own)
There’s elements of fantasy and oppressive impoverished reality. (A strong juxtaposition)
This isn’t a book you read once. It is a book to read again and again. It's a book that I wish I had written. Same as Gormenghast. Same as The White Hotel. Same as a lot of these similarly eccentric novels that don’t seem to see the light of commissioning editor’s desk lamps these days. (I can only think that Susanna Clarke is a wild exception)
I think there’s this element of decadence to the older novels that is lacking these days. Even Clarke is a sort of cleansed reduction of the heady and vital work that used to get shipped to bookshops. Smaller publishers are doing great work, but the last ten years has been a bit of a lacklustre decade for vibrant fiction. At least, for my tastes... It's the same in cinema too. Television has gotten better, but the rest has really taken a nose dive.
Maybe I’m just getting old.
Or maybe I just miss the books that were a little filthy and crude and full of themselves. Books with characters you can dislike.
I’m in a funny mood. Wild hyperbole abounds. There are, of course, a wealth of great works being produced. I just wish that more of them were a bit more smutty and raw. Leave in the blood. Be unpleasant! Any suggestions for truly contemporary work that has the same vitality as this one, please send me a note. Many thanks.
Lanark is a trip into strange worlds. A look at a childhood that still has a familiar flavour enough to remind me of my own, despite being a few decades out. It is a wonderful book, strangely plotted out to entice and mystify.
Rating: (4.5)
He weaves in his political feelings about bodies governing, from far and on high, the lives of the people they are meant to be helping. (He wanted an independent Scotland)
He uses his own upbringing to give a heavy authentic weight to the character. (Similar upbringing to my own)
There’s elements of fantasy and oppressive impoverished reality. (A strong juxtaposition)
This isn’t a book you read once. It is a book to read again and again. It's a book that I wish I had written. Same as Gormenghast. Same as The White Hotel. Same as a lot of these similarly eccentric novels that don’t seem to see the light of commissioning editor’s desk lamps these days. (I can only think that Susanna Clarke is a wild exception)
I think there’s this element of decadence to the older novels that is lacking these days. Even Clarke is a sort of cleansed reduction of the heady and vital work that used to get shipped to bookshops. Smaller publishers are doing great work, but the last ten years has been a bit of a lacklustre decade for vibrant fiction. At least, for my tastes... It's the same in cinema too. Television has gotten better, but the rest has really taken a nose dive.
Maybe I’m just getting old.
Or maybe I just miss the books that were a little filthy and crude and full of themselves. Books with characters you can dislike.
I’m in a funny mood. Wild hyperbole abounds. There are, of course, a wealth of great works being produced. I just wish that more of them were a bit more smutty and raw. Leave in the blood. Be unpleasant! Any suggestions for truly contemporary work that has the same vitality as this one, please send me a note. Many thanks.
Lanark is a trip into strange worlds. A look at a childhood that still has a familiar flavour enough to remind me of my own, despite being a few decades out. It is a wonderful book, strangely plotted out to entice and mystify.
Rating: (4.5)