A review by leighkhoopes
Riddance: Or the Sybil Joines Vocational School for Ghost Speakers & Hearing-Mouth Children by Shelley Jackson
4.0
Deeply weird, gorgeously florid, and unsettling as all get out. I went in with only the knowledge of the title and interest in the cover art and came out questioning, well, everything.
This is not a book for those who want tidy linear narratives or clear & purposeful character motivations. I want to recommend it to everyone, but I know that it is not for everyone, and in fact most people may throw it across the room in exasperation at the all the old-fashioned language, the too-formal phrasing, the dissolution into chaos. I almost did at at several points, but the very idea of all of it kept me coming back for more.
I’m giving the eBook four stars, because I’m frankly mad at myself for not buying a hard copy—the art and illustrations that seem critical to the overall experience are poorly rendered on a digital screen. This is a book that calls for paper, for ink, for corporeality. If you read it, and like it, you’ll understand why.
This is not a book for those who want tidy linear narratives or clear & purposeful character motivations. I want to recommend it to everyone, but I know that it is not for everyone, and in fact most people may throw it across the room in exasperation at the all the old-fashioned language, the too-formal phrasing, the dissolution into chaos. I almost did at at several points, but the very idea of all of it kept me coming back for more.
I’m giving the eBook four stars, because I’m frankly mad at myself for not buying a hard copy—the art and illustrations that seem critical to the overall experience are poorly rendered on a digital screen. This is a book that calls for paper, for ink, for corporeality. If you read it, and like it, you’ll understand why.