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A review by stephashryver
White Tears by Hari Kunzru
5.0
This is another book of 2022 that I ended up basically almost completely re-reading for an essay and then felt compelled to come back and review properly/change my rating here. Note to self: hard books generally are worth reading twice.
This book is a genuine masterpiece and perhaps one of the best books I've ever read. It covers so many important themes and it has so many disparate elements working in tandem the whole time - it's just an amazing feat of writerly craftsmanship in the sense that so many things have to fit together for it to work, and they do! Links are created across time and between characters, seemingly random elements are really pointing to something specific, symbols and motifs are repeated throughout, chronological confusion adds to the atmosphere and heightens the message. All of these are techniques that I have grown to love in fiction - and White Tears pulls all of it off at once!
I can see why so many reviewers felt that the book lost the plot in the second half. It's true - it becomes confusing and incoherent and difficult to follow and the tone shifts markedly - but while difficult and confusing it IS possible to extract meaning from the confusion and follow what's going on, it just takes a lot of work on the part of the reader. And the very confusion that seems to have put so many people off I think in fact adds to the atmosphere and the layers of meaning through the blurring together of different characters' narratives and the temporal fluidity.
So you definitely have to be in the right state of mind to tackle this book. It's not an easy read, the content is often sickening if not blatantly triggering and the story and ideas become difficult to comprehend at times. But if you feel that you're up to the challenge, it really is an intellectual marvel. This book pushed me right out of my comfort zone, that's for sure, but this made for one of the most stimulating and engaging reading experiences I've had in a long while.
initial thoughts
This is so hard to rate. Ahhh.
Halfway through I was so gripped and I was thinking a definite 5 stars - but towards the end it became such a discombobulating mindfuck - it will probably take me about 2 rereads and 3 essays to decipher all the layers of meaning, never mind form my own opinion.
However, it made some great points. I felt the more experimental narrative style generally served a purpose to try and say something interesting and wasn't just a gimmick.
So overall good, I think.
*4.5*
This book is a genuine masterpiece and perhaps one of the best books I've ever read. It covers so many important themes and it has so many disparate elements working in tandem the whole time - it's just an amazing feat of writerly craftsmanship in the sense that so many things have to fit together for it to work, and they do! Links are created across time and between characters, seemingly random elements are really pointing to something specific, symbols and motifs are repeated throughout, chronological confusion adds to the atmosphere and heightens the message. All of these are techniques that I have grown to love in fiction - and White Tears pulls all of it off at once!
I can see why so many reviewers felt that the book lost the plot in the second half. It's true - it becomes confusing and incoherent and difficult to follow and the tone shifts markedly - but while difficult and confusing it IS possible to extract meaning from the confusion and follow what's going on, it just takes a lot of work on the part of the reader. And the very confusion that seems to have put so many people off I think in fact adds to the atmosphere and the layers of meaning through the blurring together of different characters' narratives and the temporal fluidity.
So you definitely have to be in the right state of mind to tackle this book. It's not an easy read, the content is often sickening if not blatantly triggering and the story and ideas become difficult to comprehend at times. But if you feel that you're up to the challenge, it really is an intellectual marvel. This book pushed me right out of my comfort zone, that's for sure, but this made for one of the most stimulating and engaging reading experiences I've had in a long while.
initial thoughts
This is so hard to rate. Ahhh.
Halfway through I was so gripped and I was thinking a definite 5 stars - but towards the end it became such a discombobulating mindfuck - it will probably take me about 2 rereads and 3 essays to decipher all the layers of meaning, never mind form my own opinion.
However, it made some great points. I felt the more experimental narrative style generally served a purpose to try and say something interesting and wasn't just a gimmick.
So overall good, I think.
*4.5*