emilycarney's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
I REALLY enjoyed this. Weird in a way that is still very tangible in the first half so you’ve got a decent grip of it when it starts becoming more abstract and tangled.
Had a gut instinct about what the ending meant, but the more I think about it the more options there are. I wonder what that says about me, but I’m not sure I want to know.
Had a gut instinct about what the ending meant, but the more I think about it the more options there are.
Spoiler
My immediate thought was that he wouldn’t be accepted into any new community and would probably be killed even if it did exist and wasn’t some crazed hallucination. So much of this book is him really struggling to integrate into different settings comfortably. But then the idea that he would, that it’s where all of the missing people are and that it’s full of people who just had to escape their lives is probably a happier ending, in a way, and I don’t think it’s impossible to interpret it that way either - or as a big old metaphor for him processing his grief and getting eaten by bugs along the way but now he gets to swim in the sea and not go to work, etc etc.unbornwhiskey's review against another edition
3.0
somewhere between the spiral fictions of paul auster and stanislaw lem lies martin macinnes' hallucinatory interior, an evocative landscape in which minutes seem to widen and squeeze together like the bellows of an accordion, where the dense forest which makes up most of the interior's surface area seems to swallow any human settlement and any temporary perception acquired by the main character, an unnamed detective who moves through the story in a state of almost total confusion and uncertainty. around and within this interior, macinnes' investigates less the disappearance of a single person than the phenomena of disintegration itself. how do things and people just evaporate, escaped through some fold in our perception? is the process of disappearance abrupt, a gust of air and then nothing but space and swirled particles, or do they rot out of shape, slowly eaten through by an inner error until nothing remains of their original body? and to paraphrase michelle branch, where do you go when you're gone?
carlaonion's review against another edition
I have not yet given this book a star rating as still a bit confused as to what I read! I certainly did enjoy it but it's not what I expected (and I wasn't even expecting a classic detective novel!)
silviasodr's review against another edition
3.0
3 1/2
Bought this one solely because it was recommended by Jeff VanderMeer on the cover and (as expected) what a *weird* book! Like a sick child of Murakami and an X Files episode.
Sometimes surreal, interesting and engaging, sometimes it felt like the writer went a little over his head, but still thoroughly enjoyable.
Bought this one solely because it was recommended by Jeff VanderMeer on the cover and (as expected) what a *weird* book! Like a sick child of Murakami and an X Files episode.
Sometimes surreal, interesting and engaging, sometimes it felt like the writer went a little over his head, but still thoroughly enjoyable.
jv1066's review
challenging
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
v171's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Often, readers will describe their preference in books as being interested in plot-driven vs. character-driven narratives. But what really drew me to the New Weird genre is the introduction of the atmosphere-driven stylistic choice.
Infinite Ground is a fever dream of a story, loosely focusing on an inspector's investigation into the disappearance of a 29 year old man named Carlos. The beginning of the book did well in keeping up the narrative of the investigation while peppering in hazy, dreamlike (and often horrific) encounters and experiences of the unnamed protagonist. The surreal aspects get dialed up as you progress further into the book, making you feel like you're lost in a dense forest of prose, hunting for the plot. This complemented the actual story perfectly, and really enhanced my reading experience.
This (just barely) revitalized my faith in the New Weird genre. After a string of misses from VanderMeer, I'd started to question if I actually enjoyed New Weird, or if I just enjoyed science fiction that had a New Weird edge to it. Infinite Ground was a breath of fresh air, and a reminder that this can be done very well. A typical review of mine might focus on character development, structure, and dialogue, but this kind of book can't really be analyzed in that way. I hate to say it's only vibes, but I really do have to holistically focus on how this book made me feel. And I just liked it.
Infinite Ground is a fever dream of a story, loosely focusing on an inspector's investigation into the disappearance of a 29 year old man named Carlos. The beginning of the book did well in keeping up the narrative of the investigation while peppering in hazy, dreamlike (and often horrific) encounters and experiences of the unnamed protagonist. The surreal aspects get dialed up as you progress further into the book, making you feel like you're lost in a dense forest of prose, hunting for the plot. This complemented the actual story perfectly, and really enhanced my reading experience.
This (just barely) revitalized my faith in the New Weird genre. After a string of misses from VanderMeer, I'd started to question if I actually enjoyed New Weird, or if I just enjoyed science fiction that had a New Weird edge to it. Infinite Ground was a breath of fresh air, and a reminder that this can be done very well. A typical review of mine might focus on character development, structure, and dialogue, but this kind of book can't really be analyzed in that way. I hate to say it's only vibes, but I really do have to holistically focus on how this book made me feel. And I just liked it.
aligeorge's review against another edition
4.0
Jen Campbell described this on booktube as a 'marmite' book - which I kind of agree with, but not in the sense of love/hate. My feelings on marmite are that sometimes it's just right for me, but I can go for long periods without it. Infinite Ground is an interesting read, but being a post modernist text it's one that demands concentration, so not really the best thing to read before bed for instance.
The premise is interesting and there are lots of good ideas in here, the writing is good and it's always quite unexpected. But if you're looking for a bit of tartan noir, that is not what this is.
The premise is interesting and there are lots of good ideas in here, the writing is good and it's always quite unexpected. But if you're looking for a bit of tartan noir, that is not what this is.
funaek's review against another edition
2.0
Interesting premise and started off great, but it didn't live up to its potential for me.
cattytrona's review
4.0
So far a third of the books I’ve read in 2022 have correlated contemporary work environments with a descent into sickness. What a weird coincidence which surely doesn’t reflect any issues in modern day society!
This is a weird little book, that encompasses a whole lot. The first part (probably my favourite), definitely shared some connection with Dr Edith Vane, the other work=madness novel I just read. There’s a Jeff Vandermeer testimonial on the front cover, which is what got me to take the book home from the library with me, and which delightfully makes sense, because the second half shares the same kind of terror of the bursting possibilities of flora as his Southern Reach trilogy. Both Vandermeer and MacInnes are also concerned with what corporate entities do when up against nature, and seem to conclude that annihilation sometimes is the most satisfying ending you can get —
They are both totally conspiracy stories, although it actually was a totally different text that brought the theme out in Infinite Ground for me. I couldn’t stop thinking about Moonfall, Roland Emmerich’s new film whilst reading. And partly that’s because I just saw Moonfall and, given I mostly watch slow arty films, it was kind of a shock to the system, but it’s mostly because Moonfall’s treatment of conspiracy theories is very bad and Infinite Ground’s is very good.
See, Infinite Ground is all paranoia and no answers, whilst Moonfall is all answer, no paranoia. Vague spoilers for Moonfall here, but it’s a film which confirms a whole bunch of big conspiracies — without wanting to ruin the film’s big surprises, I’ll just mention that there are allusions to moonlanding faking and elites holing up in a secret bunker — and then says, no worries. It’s not being done maliciously, the people in charge are just a bit silly but ultimately, pretty nice. If you ask politely, there’s space in the bunker for you. Which ignores the whole thrust and fear behind those kind of conspiracy theories, which are (if interpreted kindly and non-racistly) fundamentally anti-capitalist. Fundamentally concerned with the fact that the wealthy have no qualms about seeing the world and its inhabitants burn (out), so long as there’s profit to be made. Infinite Ground, on the other hand, is just creeping unease, invented and confusing theories, and no answers. There’s no time for answers when there’s money to make, no place for real connection with others because everyone around you is hired. What if your suspicions are true, and that’s not okay, and you have to go forward anyway because there’s no explanation beyond realisation, and no cover-up from above, only bureaucratic complicity. “He at least, if he concentrated, could condition how he walked, go faster or slower as he chose, and could stop it entirely – although always temporarily”. Onwards.
There's a section, pages 145 to 151, which has one of the best uses of a conspiracy theory in fiction. Even more than the unhelpful theories that come up in relation to the missing person case this book is (theoretically — note this is my first mention of it) investigating, this is extra irrelevant to the solving of the mystery. It’s just 6 pages of conspiracy, reading into links between airplane crashes, none of which involved any characters in the story. We’re told it’s been invented by online forums, and it’s also detailed and peopled and written in the same voice as the ‘reality’ of the rest of the text. It is totally absurd and it’s also a metaphor for, or microcosm of, or, in some way, is, society. Capitalist society. Which is absurd. But also deeply normalised, just like the invented world lived in by this conspiracy’s inhabitants. And it made me realise, ah. This is how surreal conspiracy theories should be deployed in fiction. This is how it can be useful and intelligent and not just, like, The Mothman Prophesies or something. This is why I haven’t been able to stop thinking about Moonfall — because it’s the evil twin of whatever this is, which makes it also thought generating, but in a bad way. (This is not an anti-Moonfall account btw, please go see Moonfall it is so stupid.)
There’s a lot more going on than conspiracy theories in the novel, but I read most of it the day after watching Moonfall and so that was what stuck out to me. I’d be interested in a post-colonial reading and dissection of both the story and its motivations, which I don’t feel qualified to do here and now, but which I’m sure would be rich.
I should say that the prose is deliberately alienating (which is fine with me) and sometimes a little tell don’t show when it comes to its more philosophical point (which is necessary for the approach but also alienating in a less deliberate, less fine feeling way). The ending lost me a bit, but I think that was also appropriate to a novel whose ending (whose whole?) is about being deeply lost.
If I had to sum up Infinite Ground in one sentence it would be: we live in a society. Because we sure do.
This is a weird little book, that encompasses a whole lot. The first part (probably my favourite), definitely shared some connection with Dr Edith Vane, the other work=madness novel I just read. There’s a Jeff Vandermeer testimonial on the front cover, which is what got me to take the book home from the library with me, and which delightfully makes sense, because the second half shares the same kind of terror of the bursting possibilities of flora as his Southern Reach trilogy. Both Vandermeer and MacInnes are also concerned with what corporate entities do when up against nature, and seem to conclude that annihilation sometimes is the most satisfying ending you can get —
Spoiler
into the sea go our nameless protagonists.They are both totally conspiracy stories, although it actually was a totally different text that brought the theme out in Infinite Ground for me. I couldn’t stop thinking about Moonfall, Roland Emmerich’s new film whilst reading. And partly that’s because I just saw Moonfall and, given I mostly watch slow arty films, it was kind of a shock to the system, but it’s mostly because Moonfall’s treatment of conspiracy theories is very bad and Infinite Ground’s is very good.
See, Infinite Ground is all paranoia and no answers, whilst Moonfall is all answer, no paranoia. Vague spoilers for Moonfall here, but it’s a film which confirms a whole bunch of big conspiracies — without wanting to ruin the film’s big surprises, I’ll just mention that there are allusions to moonlanding faking and elites holing up in a secret bunker — and then says, no worries. It’s not being done maliciously, the people in charge are just a bit silly but ultimately, pretty nice. If you ask politely, there’s space in the bunker for you. Which ignores the whole thrust and fear behind those kind of conspiracy theories, which are (if interpreted kindly and non-racistly) fundamentally anti-capitalist. Fundamentally concerned with the fact that the wealthy have no qualms about seeing the world and its inhabitants burn (out), so long as there’s profit to be made. Infinite Ground, on the other hand, is just creeping unease, invented and confusing theories, and no answers. There’s no time for answers when there’s money to make, no place for real connection with others because everyone around you is hired. What if your suspicions are true, and that’s not okay, and you have to go forward anyway because there’s no explanation beyond realisation, and no cover-up from above, only bureaucratic complicity. “He at least, if he concentrated, could condition how he walked, go faster or slower as he chose, and could stop it entirely – although always temporarily”. Onwards.
There's a section, pages 145 to 151, which has one of the best uses of a conspiracy theory in fiction. Even more than the unhelpful theories that come up in relation to the missing person case this book is (theoretically — note this is my first mention of it) investigating, this is extra irrelevant to the solving of the mystery. It’s just 6 pages of conspiracy, reading into links between airplane crashes, none of which involved any characters in the story. We’re told it’s been invented by online forums, and it’s also detailed and peopled and written in the same voice as the ‘reality’ of the rest of the text. It is totally absurd and it’s also a metaphor for, or microcosm of, or, in some way, is, society. Capitalist society. Which is absurd. But also deeply normalised, just like the invented world lived in by this conspiracy’s inhabitants. And it made me realise, ah. This is how surreal conspiracy theories should be deployed in fiction. This is how it can be useful and intelligent and not just, like, The Mothman Prophesies or something. This is why I haven’t been able to stop thinking about Moonfall — because it’s the evil twin of whatever this is, which makes it also thought generating, but in a bad way. (This is not an anti-Moonfall account btw, please go see Moonfall it is so stupid.)
There’s a lot more going on than conspiracy theories in the novel, but I read most of it the day after watching Moonfall and so that was what stuck out to me. I’d be interested in a post-colonial reading and dissection of both the story and its motivations, which I don’t feel qualified to do here and now, but which I’m sure would be rich.
I should say that the prose is deliberately alienating (which is fine with me) and sometimes a little tell don’t show when it comes to its more philosophical point (which is necessary for the approach but also alienating in a less deliberate, less fine feeling way). The ending lost me a bit, but I think that was also appropriate to a novel whose ending (whose whole?) is about being deeply lost.
If I had to sum up Infinite Ground in one sentence it would be: we live in a society. Because we sure do.