John
A new take on a story we've all heard before: Guy considers his life, wonders "What if?", and then finds out. It's a mind-bending love story that questions the idea of true identity. And it's a rocket. I ate this thing up.
A new take on a story we've all heard before: Guy considers his life, wonders "What if?", and then finds out. It's a mind-bending love story that questions the idea of true identity. And it's a rocket. I ate this thing up.
3 of 5 is fair here, I think. The writing is good, and Ligotti's ability to turn every page into a nightmarish trance-like state is admirable. I really enjoyed a handful of the stories here, and "Gas Station Carnivals" is already on my list of favorite short stories ever.
However, I can't ignore the fact that the stories contained here get repetitive, and they are very much tools that Ligotti uses to push his philosophical position, at times, very heavy-handedly. I'm also fairly confused by how a person who (as I understand it) believes that nothing in life means anything can put together stories that people will later read and attempt to decipher the meaning of.
Maybe Ligotti would argue that his stories are also meaningless. Maybe he would argue that it was a waste of time for me to read the stories he wasted time in writing. It seems like a strange relationship between author and reader.
Would recommend: "Purity," "The Town Manager," and the aforementioned "Gas Station Carnivals."
3 of 5 is fair here, I think. The writing is good, and Ligotti's ability to turn every page into a nightmarish trance-like state is admirable. I really enjoyed a handful of the stories here, and "Gas Station Carnivals" is already on my list of favorite short stories ever.
However, I can't ignore the fact that the stories contained here get repetitive, and they are very much tools that Ligotti uses to push his philosophical position, at times, very heavy-handedly. I'm also fairly confused by how a person who (as I understand it) believes that nothing in life means anything can put together stories that people will later read and attempt to decipher the meaning of.
Maybe Ligotti would argue that his stories are also meaningless. Maybe he would argue that it was a waste of time for me to read the stories he wasted time in writing. It seems like a strange relationship between author and reader.
Would recommend: "Purity," "The Town Manager," and the aforementioned "Gas Station Carnivals."
