Reviews

A Field Guide to Reality by Joanna Kavenna, Oly Ralfe

leahrenz's review

adventurous challenging mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

I've just finished this book and I'm glad it's over. Though short, I found it a difficult read. Objectively it is well-written, with interesting words and the odd inspired description (I seem to remember 'walls shrill with damp').

The book revolves around a mystery so mysterious, and events so difficult to assimilate into a whole, that I found it difficult to immerse myself in the storyline. It didn't help that I believed the protagonist to be a man, only to discover she was a woman several chapters in.

This book strikes me as the sort of read that is exactly up a certain person's alley, and otherwise not altogether readable by anyone else.

stephjones71's review

4.0

A Field Guide To Reality by Joanna Kavenna is a beautiful book, a back and white hardback with a charming layout and stunning illustrations by Oly Ralfe. Set in the landscape of a part real and part imaginary Oxford, the book’s main protagonist is Eliade Jencks, a waitress in a museum cafe who was befriended by Professor Solete, an academic at Nightingale Hall. Upon Solete’s sudden death, Eliade is gifted a box which is due to contain his Field Guide to Reality; eagerly sought after by Solete’s academic colleagues. After this bequest Eliade embarks upon a journey to find the truth and location of Solete’s masterpiece. Joanna Kavenna’s writing is beautiful (hardly surprising that she is currently one of Granta’s Best Young British Authors) and we follow Eliade on her journey of discovery through a surreal landscape including a cast of legendary academics such as Robert Grosseteste, Roger Bacon and Albert Einstein to name but a few. Some of Eliade’s escapades are bizarre, particularly her visit to The Society of the Universal Chrysanthemun where she is given psychotropic tea but Kavenna’s writing and story telling is always engaging and enjoyable. I am still thinking about the ending of the book now and must admit do find some of the philosophical concepts puzzling but I would recommend A Field Guide to Reality to anyone looking for a thought provoking read.

Thank you to www.realreaders.co.uk for the review copy of A Field Guide To Reality.

ulrikworm's review

4.0

En fascinerende og underlig læsning om regnbuer, lys og livet efter døden. Flot prosa men måske lidt fortænkt nogle steder - eller i hvert fald fyldt med passager som gik hen over hovedet på mig. Men den vigtigste del er dens vidunderlige visuelle design fra Oly Ralfe, som skaber en bog fyldt med fantastiske sort/hvide illustrationer.

hayleyshortcake's review

I'm not really sure how to rate this one,it's a very pretentious and comes across as quite self satisfied but it's also engaging and amusing at times.

theelliemo's review

4.0

I loved this book! It felt quirky, which is always a good thing, but highly readable too. I loved the main characters of Eliade and Anthony, and enjoyed the other, mostly bizarre, characters, including the city and its weather.

catdad77a45's review

4.0

Certainly original, and for most of the mind-bending trip, it is both very enjoyable and enlightening. There are a couple of sections, though, where I found it not only hard to follow, but downright incomprehensible, even on the lowest level of just following the plot, let alone some high-brow philosophy and quantum physics. But I persevered, and it more or less all makes sense in the end. I'd be interested in reading some of Kavenna's back list.

roba's review

5.0

A proper reaction to basically all of Western philosophy, awed and spiky at the same time. And a beautiful book as a designed thing - the illustrations deepen the mood, and even the typeface is perfect. (There's a note on the baseline grid. Don't read this on Kindle.)