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ellecarman's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Incest and Sexual content
hasmazlom13's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, and Sexual content
leslielychee's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Incest and Sexual content
aegagrus's review against another edition
3.5
In terms of literary craft, Autobiography of Red is a tour de force. Carson writes gorgeous sentences, careful and serpentine or elegant and clipped. The frame device with which she brackets her story is highly inventive. She has a keen eye for vignettes. She treats her classical source material with a reverent unorthodoxy.
As a coming-of-age story, Autobiography of Red dwells on interiority. Geryon muses on the gap between his internal and external worlds; the novel captures this fixation by consistently creating a sense of dreamlike disconnect. Photography, philosophy, and volcanoes are all interesting motifs Carson finds ways of applying to this theme. I enjoyed the subtlety with which Carson treats Geryon's wings, as well. Many queer coming-of-age stories directly center the awkwardness of holding a non-normative identity. Here the wings, always present but rarely the focal point and only occasionally noticed, are an effective way of striking at the quieter ways that we carry identities with us (without neglecting a more direct discussion of queer experiences, which the novel also provides).
I preferred the first half of Autobiography of Red to the second half. As Geryon travels to South America, Carson gets somewhat bogged-down in the trope of foreign-travel-as-self-discovery. The unfamiliar landscapes. The cultural barriers. The final, climactic moment of finding self-knowledge in the traditional beliefs of a far-away people. Carson sometimes does interesting things with these tropes, but none of this is quite up to the standards of her earlier work. Some of the characters, notably Herakles, suffer in being transplanted to a novel environment (the young adult Herakles being far more exaggerated and far less interesting than the adolescent Herakles). None of this is really necessary. While Carson's prose is far from dense, her conceptual work is extremely dense, meaning that there are many compelling directions the story could have gone without getting a bit muddled and losing some urgency by getting into the business of this sort of travel narrative.
Though this change of direction is a drawback, in my opinion, the novel's concluding portions are hardly "bad", and the lasting impressions this book is likely to leave with me are much more likely to reflect its many virtues than its one significant defect.
As a coming-of-age story, Autobiography of Red dwells on interiority. Geryon muses on the gap between his internal and external worlds; the novel captures this fixation by consistently creating a sense of dreamlike disconnect. Photography, philosophy, and volcanoes are all interesting motifs Carson finds ways of applying to this theme. I enjoyed the subtlety with which Carson treats Geryon's wings, as well. Many queer coming-of-age stories directly center the awkwardness of holding a non-normative identity. Here the wings, always present but rarely the focal point and only occasionally noticed, are an effective way of striking at the quieter ways that we carry identities with us (without neglecting a more direct discussion of queer experiences, which the novel also provides).
I preferred the first half of Autobiography of Red to the second half. As Geryon travels to South America, Carson gets somewhat bogged-down in the trope of foreign-travel-as-self-discovery. The unfamiliar landscapes. The cultural barriers. The final, climactic moment of finding self-knowledge in the traditional beliefs of a far-away people. Carson sometimes does interesting things with these tropes, but none of this is quite up to the standards of her earlier work. Some of the characters, notably Herakles, suffer in being transplanted to a novel environment (the young adult Herakles being far more exaggerated and far less interesting than the adolescent Herakles). None of this is really necessary. While Carson's prose is far from dense, her conceptual work is extremely dense, meaning that there are many compelling directions the story could have gone without getting a bit muddled and losing some urgency by getting into the business of this sort of travel narrative.
Though this change of direction is a drawback, in my opinion, the novel's concluding portions are hardly "bad", and the lasting impressions this book is likely to leave with me are much more likely to reflect its many virtues than its one significant defect.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Sexual content
serotonone's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Incest, Rape, and Sexual assault
Minor: Animal death and Sexual content
aurorasgrande's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual content
upward_not_northward's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
An interesting, modern-day adaptation of the Herakles/Geryon myth with elements of Peruvian folklore thrown in, all told in verse form. One of the more unique things I've read. My only complaint is that the edition I read, Vintage Contemporaries, has the narrowest interior margins on the right-facing pages that had me feeling like I was breaking the spine of the book just to be able to read them.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse and Sexual content
Minor: Animal death
jarrms's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault
Moderate: Sexual content
l_oser's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual content
very_mellifluous's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I had never read a book like Autobiography of Red before, and Anne Carson completely and utterly captivated me. Her use of rhythm was especially delicious. Some might find the skips in time and memory confusing or a bit disorienting at first, but I personally enjoyed reading it back for second or third layers of meaning.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content