レビュー

• Arty for art sake

  Very pretentious style, stretched allegories, artificial trains of thoughts. Hard read that doesn’t flow and is a pain to keep track of the narrative. Regretting to get involved in this one

• Poses more questions than it answers

  Excellent, underrated book. Admittedly confusing and ambiguous, with the use of stream of consciousness narration leading you places you often aren't prepared to (nor want to) go. But it's just such a fascinating representation of the authorial self, of the personal imbued with the political. Wideman shows us the challenging process of writing about a significant & difficult event, the struggle between being both on the inside and the outside, the near impossibility of giving a sufficient representation. If you want a linear, "objective" retelling of the fire, there are other books for that. If you want a cleanly-tailored adventure story about a heroic protagonist finding a lost boy, there are other books for that. Wideman's novel does something strikingly different, and if you're willing to step out of your comfort zone, it's absolutely worth the read.

• Five Stars

  Great read

• Three Stars

  Bought it as a gift

• One Star

  forced to read this book for school. so boring

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