Reviews

• ぜひ事前情報無しで読んで欲しい驚愕の一冊

  ネタバレありませんので、安心してください。 Gennie（Scary Sue）が、その昔、自分がKentuckyの荒野の“paradise”に住んでいた頃を回想する形で物語は始まる。Gennieが母親の従兄妹であるLinus Lancasterの元に嫁いだのは14歳の時。Kentuckyの荒野にあるLinusの家には、彼と前妻との間の二人の娘ZinniaとCleomeがいた。Gennieはその娘たちと年が近く、最初は野原で花冠を作り、物語を語り合い、空の雲を眺めて3人でゆっくりとした時間を過ごすのだが…。その後、様々な出来事が彼女たちを襲うのだが、Gennieの語り口がなんとも客観的でかつ曖昧で、時々何が起こったのかを正確に理解するのが難しい。家に住むAlcofibrasや訪問者らが時々物語を語るのだが、それらがまた効果的なメタフォーとなっている。途中、語り手が娘の１人であるZinniaになり、そこからは明示的にある情報が開示されるので非常にわかり易い。逆に、この情報が開示されていなかったので、最初は決定的な情報の欠如による混乱があって、なんだかよく分からなかったのだ。でも、これは著者が意図的に読者に与える情報を操作できる文学ならではの成せるワザ。著者がなぜ最初は読者に対して限定的な情報しか与えなかったのかを考えつつ、二度目はまったく違った視点で読むことができるので、二回読書が楽しめる。ただ、よく見ると表紙に既にヒントがあったのね。このヒント、まったく見落としていた自分に驚愕。というか、知る前と知った後で、表紙の「ある要素」が違って見えるというのがオモシロイ。なので、読むときは前情報（帯や裏表紙のストーリラインなど）がまったくない状態で読むのがお薦め。

• "When the night stretched before us, she would open her tale."

  Slavery twists all those who are caught in its chains. Along the way, the hatred winds its way deep. In this book there is the kind one at a ferry boat and a nephew born on the run. For those in"Paradise", the road to peace is rocky. Forgiveness for oneself is hard won as Sue the owner's widow can tell you. And the chains of pain and hate are heavy for the enslaved dig deep. I loved much of this language, and the balance of the characters are finely wrought. I don't usually see this as an issue, but in this book, some of the female experience is missed by the male author. There is a tone of internal effect that just misses. Given that small exception, this is a fine book. The insights are beautifully etched and worth the time to consider.

• Intriguing Writing Style

  Since this book won an Anisfield-Wolf Award for 2013, I was interested in reading it. The story was brutal in places and I never felt deeply involved in any of the characters. After finishing it I read through some of the reviews and began to appreciate it a little better. It's not a book I would recommend to anyone with great enthusiasm, however.

• Superb writing (and reading!)

  Fabulous language, gripping story, engaging - if not particularly empathetic! - characters. I would also very strongly recommend the Audible reading: the female reader, in particular, inhabits the characters totally and is enthralling to listen to.

• Very, ..... Very dark

  Amazing how Laird Hunt THROWS you into a nightmare, that is so frightening, so fascinating, that you become consumed by it. As much as you might want to stop reading it, you can't. What he writes, and the way he writes it, is visceral-horrifying and magical at the same time. It resonates on some level, even when it is incomprehensible.

• Disorganized and depressing

  For those that enjoyed this book, I’m happy for you. I did not. The author’s style is disorganized, and in his attempts to provide some “twists” along the way he fails to make clear at times just who is narrating each section. (I am still unsure who is speaking in the very first section.) Only two characters were likable, neither of whom have a happy ending, and the narrative is just plain depressing. I don’t recommend it.

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