By Adam Johnson. A novel. So- I'm reading this book, and I'm thinking, ok - this is funny at times, some good writing in here, but otherwise, it just feels like I dunno, pop fiction or an empty shell of an attempt at literary fiction. There's, well, lots of useless stuff in this book. Several characters who serve no purpose. One major character whose presence is absurdly coincidental and absolutely unessential. A shitload of stuff on the Clovis people who migrated to North America over the Bering Strait land bridge that just doesn't really seem to pay off. I was sorely disappointed by the novel by such a great short story writer.
However- that being said, the ending of this book makes it all worthwhile. Okay- so you know what the ending is if you read the back of the book (the description on the back of the book tells WAY TOO MUCH because it actually kind of misleads you about the kind of book you are about to read), but the execution of the ending rocks totally.
Recommend: yes, if you have any empathy for pigs.
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4 comments:
Hey, that's crazy! I just finished reading this book last week. I agree with you a lot. I think the author is capable of putting words and ideas together in really amazing, original ways; so when that happened in this book, I got very excited. But sometimes it would be two or five more chapters before it happened again.
If you've read any of his other material, do you recommend it?
adam johnsons collection Emporium (short stories) is outstanding. I highly recommend it. It's his only other work to date.q
Yeah, Emporium has some pretty fine stories in it. I will wave the flag of the Canadanaut forever.
As much as I love Canadanaut, I've always been particularly attached to Trauma Plate
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