I read this backwards, which wasn't as bad a time as you might expect, sort of like a dated Choose-Your-Own-Adventure novelization of a fever dream.
II read this backwards, which wasn't as bad a time as you might expect, sort of like a dated Choose-Your-Own-Adventure novelization of a fever dream.
I did BEGIN reading it forwards, and swapped at around page 50, when I read a review that said it had a terrific last line. What to say that hasn't already been said? It's a classic; I know more than one person with a Kerouac tattoo; I wanted to be able to spell his last name correctly every time; I wanted to have my eyes on it.
I am not getting a Kerouac tattoo, but I feel I understand everyone in my life with one better now....more
It's been a hot second since my last novel. After I finally concluded the world of the Raven Cycle, I knew I wanted to approach my next project like oIt's been a hot second since my last novel. After I finally concluded the world of the Raven Cycle, I knew I wanted to approach my next project like one might approach a bear: intentionally. With a plan. With a desire to use all the skills I've acquired over fifteen years to curate the bear's emotional experience.
(this is how you approach bears, right?)
I wanted to write controlled, intense, strange, sensual, truthful novel set firmly in a genre I'm increasingly thinking of as Wonder (what is the opposite of Horror? or at least, what do you call it when the speculative aspects are more likely to provoke awe than terror?). I wanted it to be magical, but I wanted the story and characters so firmly stitched into the fabric of human history that it all felt truer than true. Am I describing magic? Probably not. I wanted to write myth. I wanted to write something ambitious enough to make me work harder than I ever had before. My readers have grown into curious, sophisticated folks, and I wanted my writing to grow with them.
THE LISTENERS is that novel, my adult debut, published by Viking in the US and Headline in the UK. It's a very Stiefvater novel. There's odd prose, slippery magic, class conflict, an ensemble cast, about four different kinds of love, and the mountains in whose shadow I was born.
It's the most authentic thing I've ever written. I did my best. I adore it. I hope you guys will, too....more
"If we don't find anything," she said, "it's still nice to walk in the woods."
This is exactly how I feel about this really splendid collection of inte"If we don't find anything," she said, "it's still nice to walk in the woods."
This is exactly how I feel about this really splendid collection of interconnected short stories. For three hundred pages, Ben Shattuck moseys purposefully around New England, carefully observing the shapes between people, lightly penciling historical detail, and spending enough time talking about art and music to please me. A lot. Unlike many collections, this one is full of sympathetic characters. They don't always get what they want, but sometimes—again, unlike many collections—they do.
I think I'd recommend this even to those who don't normally prefer shorts—if you liked Anthony Doerr or Emily St. John Mandel, try this one....more
A slippery, vaguely speculative novel from 1960s Austria about an invisible wall that descends to separate the narrator from everyone else; impossibleA slippery, vaguely speculative novel from 1960s Austria about an invisible wall that descends to separate the narrator from everyone else; impossible to not read through the lens of postwar ennui—Haushofer would've been a wide-eyed liberal arts student when WW2 upended every plan she thought she had for her life. Haushofer's naturalistic attention to detail reminded me, strangely enough, of I Capture the Castle and My Side of the Mountain more than any older speculative titles.
Am I happy I read it? Yes. Would I recommend it? I don't know; it's too long, for starters, and deeply pessimistic, for finishers. Haushofer didn't live long enough to see the war disappear from the rearview mirror, and you can feel it on every page. But the mood of the novel has lingered with me for weeks; I suspect that means it was great. ...more
Sometimes, books are sequels to books you haven't read, but it only dawns on you after two hundred pages.Sometimes, books are sequels to books you haven't read, but it only dawns on you after two hundred pages....more
Ah, I thought this book was great—it made me feel the way I did after reading SOMEDAY THIS PAIN WILL BE USEFUL TO YOU by Peter Cameron. I read it in 1Ah, I thought this book was great—it made me feel the way I did after reading SOMEDAY THIS PAIN WILL BE USEFUL TO YOU by Peter Cameron. I read it in 1.5 sittings, which is the way to do it, I think; I would have been happier with a single sitting, but my plane ride was 25 minutes too short.
Like SOMEDAY THIS PAIN WILL BE USEFUL TO YOU, this book is largely about nothing. No, let me back up and 'splain. HUMMINGBIRD dives so deeply into the details of a Marco Carrera's life that it forms a naturalistic snapshot rather than a plotty page turner. Letters from a childhood friend/ possible flame offer some delicate structure, but the real propulsive pleasure is in meeting Marco and getting to know him better and better and better, through Veronesi's careful observation. Marco's a kindly, durable soul, and we want the best for him. Unfortunately, he doesn't always get the best. That's pretty much the only point of the novel. For me, that was enough.
I offer this recommendation in much the same way I offer recommendations for THE NEW POPE (another piece of media that is both full of Italians and often about nothing), knowing it's not for everyone, but also knowing it was only a recommendation that made me pick it up in the first place. Don't judge it by book jacket copy; try the first few pages. Nothingness might be just what you're after....more
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