alskn's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
meganmilks's review against another edition
3.0
i often loved this book but had a hard time with the bourgie-ness of its main character/narrator - maybe i am misreading ava's cosmopolitanism as bourgeois but in any case i resented it. it's beautifully written, yes. i prefer crudeness. also, too many men. i prefer women.
maybe i only want to read books about myself. is that true? gosh.
maybe i only want to read books about myself. is that true? gosh.
poetkoala's review against another edition
5.0
"Ava" is an absolutely beautiful book. Though it's difficult to riddle out and figure out how to talk about it, the imagery and the emotion within its pages are both breath-taking. Well worth the read, but requiring a mite bit of patience, and enough time to tackle large chunks at a time, or you'll never notice the leitmotif. Absolutely gorgeous.
maddness22's review against another edition
5.0
Oh man!!! What a tremendous novel!!! There's so much love and heart in this. I've never read a book that focused on a relationship between a father and daughter before and this was so well done. The final line had me in TEARS. I highly recommend everyone checks it out if possible because there is so much joy and warmth provided in this novel with some extra bits of fun (Rocky is my favorite side character, NGL). The depth of Ava & Theo's relationship is done in such a beautiful and endearing capacity, I loved it! What a wonderful book!!!
blankgarden's review against another edition
4.0
My review: https://theblankgarden.com/2018/08/06/review-ava-carole-maso/
literarywanderess's review
5.0
Ava Klein, you are a rare bird.
Ava by Carole Maso. Ava Klein, 39 years old, a professor of comparative literature, lies dying in a hospital bed on her last one on earth. The reader is submerged in the maelstrom of Ava’s conscious as she clings to the last remnants of her life, as she chases after memories, places, and loves, as she scours the literature and the writers of her life and work to find some way to save herself.
What odd constellation of events has brought us here?
My passionate, promiscuous reading of the literature of this world.
In Ava, there is no linearity. Not even from line to line, separated by white space. Her thoughts drift between past and present. Between her own thoughts and the words and texts of others. Between reality and art. The traditional narrative structure has been shattered to pieces. A breakdown in narrative structure to mirror the breakdown of her body, leaving the reader to piece together the fractured fragments.
What is this ache, deep within, for something I do not directly remember, but which was mine?
Finally, it is the power of the individual lines that makes this book so stunning. Each of these lines or short blocks of text consists of words, phrases, sometimes a sentence or two. Each line, standing alone in a sea of blank space, demands to be looked at individually, forcing you to linger on the poetic brilliance of each line, before you grasp at possible meanings and connections to the juxtaposing lines, before you place it back within the larger picture and her life as a whole. Ava is a book filled with so much beauty— a spare and poetic beauty that has the power to haunt you long afterwards.
There is a necessary melancholy that comes over one when it is realized that there will remain places unseen, books unread, people untouched. Ferocious, hungry, amorous as I imagined myself to be—
And it will seem like music.
A blue like no other.
Ava.
You are ravishing.
Ava by Carole Maso. Ava Klein, 39 years old, a professor of comparative literature, lies dying in a hospital bed on her last one on earth. The reader is submerged in the maelstrom of Ava’s conscious as she clings to the last remnants of her life, as she chases after memories, places, and loves, as she scours the literature and the writers of her life and work to find some way to save herself.
What odd constellation of events has brought us here?
My passionate, promiscuous reading of the literature of this world.
In Ava, there is no linearity. Not even from line to line, separated by white space. Her thoughts drift between past and present. Between her own thoughts and the words and texts of others. Between reality and art. The traditional narrative structure has been shattered to pieces. A breakdown in narrative structure to mirror the breakdown of her body, leaving the reader to piece together the fractured fragments.
What is this ache, deep within, for something I do not directly remember, but which was mine?
Finally, it is the power of the individual lines that makes this book so stunning. Each of these lines or short blocks of text consists of words, phrases, sometimes a sentence or two. Each line, standing alone in a sea of blank space, demands to be looked at individually, forcing you to linger on the poetic brilliance of each line, before you grasp at possible meanings and connections to the juxtaposing lines, before you place it back within the larger picture and her life as a whole. Ava is a book filled with so much beauty— a spare and poetic beauty that has the power to haunt you long afterwards.
There is a necessary melancholy that comes over one when it is realized that there will remain places unseen, books unread, people untouched. Ferocious, hungry, amorous as I imagined myself to be—
And it will seem like music.
A blue like no other.
Ava.
You are ravishing.
blankgarden's review against another edition
4.0
My review: https://theblankgarden.com/2018/08/06/review-ava-carole-maso/
seanwatson's review against another edition
i'm amazed this isn't more popular. at first i thought the comparisons to david markson might have just been superficial and based solely on the format, but the similarities go deeper: both writers play with this kind of cyclical repetition of phrases/ideas that works toward building a character's full consciousness. wittgenstein's mistress, to me, is the definitive portrait of total aloneness in literature, but ava is something different. for someone deeply anxious about death at the best of times, it was an occasionally painful read, even though it is very passionate and life affirming. it's about piecing together the fragments of past selves in an attempt to build something meaningful, just before they evaporate forever. and kind of a radical forbearer to contemporary feminist autofiction. a beautiful book.
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