arthurbdd's review against another edition
3.0
One of Wolfe's more playfully obscure novels, sometimes to its detriment, and suffers from slightly odd pacing in its last movements. Full review: https://fakegeekboy.wordpress.com/2007/08/24/the-view-from-wolfe-country/
lottpoet's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
cheezvshcrvst's review against another edition
4.0
An enjoyable read. Almost entirely overwhelmingly bewildering and it's often difficult to keep track of every character, but the narrative does somehow flow and the story was fun. An interesting horror story, if nothing else.
eruanna317's review
1.0
Ugggghhhhhhhhh.
I wanted to like this book SO BAD. I've been told numerous times by many different people whose opinions I respect and admire that I should read some Gene Wolfe books. Apparently I picked the wrong one to start with?
This book reminded me of when I was little and we would go gem mining in the mountains every summer. They'd give you a gallon size bucket of muck from the bottom of the river and you would run it through your sieve and see what you ended up with. Once you washed away the mud and sand and algae, picked out the twigs and bland river rocks, sometimes you'd get lucky. You'd find garnet and amethyst and topaz. My brother found a beautiful sapphire once that he had made into a ring for my mom. But for a gallon's worth of material, you came away with just a few shining prizes to take home at the end of the day.
That was this book. A certain description here, a glorious paragraph there, a surprising but kind of perfect turn of events. And then the rest of it was garbage.
Okay, that's harsh.
But seriously? I was so excited about the description, so psyched about the idea behind this book, and so disappointed by the execution.
I've read some reviews where the writer insists if we didn't like the book we just didn't "get" it. That it's a book to be savored on subsequent rereadings, gleaning for symbolism, details, and connections you may have missed the first time around. I've always been annoyed by this way of thinking, like literature is some kind of exclusive "members only" club. Since I didn't get it, and didn't enjoy it, I'll pause here for a moment outside the glittering facade of Castleview and lob some eggs at its windows like the hoodlum these reviewers seem to think I am.
Problems I had with this book, in no particular order:
(1) The timeline. Jumping around in books is nothing new, but the way in which Wolfe chose to leap left it hard to piece together sometimes just exactly what was going on with certain characters, which isn't helpful in a plot like this that's already so chaotic to begin with.
(2) Character motivations and revelations. (Minor spoilers ahead) If you're a teenage boy and you've just discovered your dad is dead, do you leave your mom behind at the house and go seek out a girl you've met just a couple of hours ago to drive her in the rain up to a lookout spot where you might spy a mystical castle? Uh... sure, why not. If you're new to town and your employee decides to show you the town's museum and goes suddenly missing, do you automatically assume supernatural foul play? You do if you're this story's protagonist. And if you're nearly run off the road by a weird giant riding a horse, do you drive through a storm to a nearby girl's camp to confront the owners of the stables and scold them about riding safety? If it serves the plot, you betcha. None of it was believable. And even if the tone of this whole work is meant to be cartoonish and over-the-top, it wasn't CONSISTENTLY done. You can't say it's okay to suspend disbelief over here, then spend whole passages having characters explain in precise detail how and why certain other things happened. This is like the literary equivalent of fingernails on chalkboard!
(3) Racism? There's a Chinese man, a waiter at a restaurant in Castleview, that features prominently in the events of the plot. He is repeatedly referred to as "Oriental," "Chinaman," and "the Chinese." (Not "the Chinese MAN" but "the Chinese," like he's some sort of rare bird or something). It would be one thing if it was characters saying these things. You could just accuse them of being mildly racist. But sometimes the narrator himself uses the terms. I know this was written in 1990, so I shouldn't expect it to be uber politically correct, but I cringed every time this happen, and it pulled me out of the story.
Oh, who am I kidding? I could list a lot more but I don't want to waste my time or yours. Basically, I think I picked the absolute WORST Gene Wolfe book I possibly could have started with, which is a shame as I hear he's actually pretty great at times. I'll just have to wait a year or two to get the memory of this one out of my system before I try again.
I wanted to like this book SO BAD. I've been told numerous times by many different people whose opinions I respect and admire that I should read some Gene Wolfe books. Apparently I picked the wrong one to start with?
This book reminded me of when I was little and we would go gem mining in the mountains every summer. They'd give you a gallon size bucket of muck from the bottom of the river and you would run it through your sieve and see what you ended up with. Once you washed away the mud and sand and algae, picked out the twigs and bland river rocks, sometimes you'd get lucky. You'd find garnet and amethyst and topaz. My brother found a beautiful sapphire once that he had made into a ring for my mom. But for a gallon's worth of material, you came away with just a few shining prizes to take home at the end of the day.
That was this book. A certain description here, a glorious paragraph there, a surprising but kind of perfect turn of events. And then the rest of it was garbage.
Okay, that's harsh.
But seriously? I was so excited about the description, so psyched about the idea behind this book, and so disappointed by the execution.
I've read some reviews where the writer insists if we didn't like the book we just didn't "get" it. That it's a book to be savored on subsequent rereadings, gleaning for symbolism, details, and connections you may have missed the first time around. I've always been annoyed by this way of thinking, like literature is some kind of exclusive "members only" club. Since I didn't get it, and didn't enjoy it, I'll pause here for a moment outside the glittering facade of Castleview and lob some eggs at its windows like the hoodlum these reviewers seem to think I am.
Problems I had with this book, in no particular order:
(1) The timeline. Jumping around in books is nothing new, but the way in which Wolfe chose to leap left it hard to piece together sometimes just exactly what was going on with certain characters, which isn't helpful in a plot like this that's already so chaotic to begin with.
(2) Character motivations and revelations. (Minor spoilers ahead) If you're a teenage boy and you've just discovered your dad is dead, do you leave your mom behind at the house and go seek out a girl you've met just a couple of hours ago to drive her in the rain up to a lookout spot where you might spy a mystical castle? Uh... sure, why not. If you're new to town and your employee decides to show you the town's museum and goes suddenly missing, do you automatically assume supernatural foul play? You do if you're this story's protagonist. And if you're nearly run off the road by a weird giant riding a horse, do you drive through a storm to a nearby girl's camp to confront the owners of the stables and scold them about riding safety? If it serves the plot, you betcha. None of it was believable. And even if the tone of this whole work is meant to be cartoonish and over-the-top, it wasn't CONSISTENTLY done. You can't say it's okay to suspend disbelief over here, then spend whole passages having characters explain in precise detail how and why certain other things happened. This is like the literary equivalent of fingernails on chalkboard!
(3) Racism? There's a Chinese man, a waiter at a restaurant in Castleview, that features prominently in the events of the plot. He is repeatedly referred to as "Oriental," "Chinaman," and "the Chinese." (Not "the Chinese MAN" but "the Chinese," like he's some sort of rare bird or something). It would be one thing if it was characters saying these things. You could just accuse them of being mildly racist. But sometimes the narrator himself uses the terms. I know this was written in 1990, so I shouldn't expect it to be uber politically correct, but I cringed every time this happen, and it pulled me out of the story.
Oh, who am I kidding? I could list a lot more but I don't want to waste my time or yours. Basically, I think I picked the absolute WORST Gene Wolfe book I possibly could have started with, which is a shame as I hear he's actually pretty great at times. I'll just have to wait a year or two to get the memory of this one out of my system before I try again.
porsane's review
4.0
Even second rate Gene Wolfe is a first rate read. Arthurian myths are reenacted in a picket fence Midwestern town. People lie to themselves, mister eue and miser collect events and people. In typical Wolfeian elliptical style, the reader must tease out the truth.
More...