Kam
Okay, I think that was a delightful read, but it’s also got some issues.
This wasn’t as challenging as some people are making it out to be, both pre- and post-release. The author does use academic language and conceits, but it’s honestly Academic Lite compared to some other novels I’ve read. I admit that my previous experience in academia serves me well here, but in truth the prose is not that difficult. Any previous experience in reading academic papers will suffice, as will previous experience reading classic literature (American or British will do; no need to go chasing the Russians or the French for this).
As for the references, they aren’t really that deep - certainly not to the same level as the references to Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene and the Scottish ballad Tam Lin in Pamela Dean’s Tam Lin, or to Greek tragedy in Donna Tartt’s The Secret History. The references in this book feel more like a passing nod to the texts they refer back to, but do not feel like they deeply inform the story. It’s more like they’re being used to show how clever and well-read the characters are, instead of being a fundamental part of the narrative. Which can be fun: intertextuality, after all, is a fine game for authors and readers to play with each other. But in order for that game to truly be enjoyable, the author has to try to anticipate and match their readership’s depth and breadth of experience - and sadly, in this case, it would appear the author is playing in the Minor Leagues, when I was expecting the Majors.
(I do want to point out that, of all my previous experiences with narrative across various media, the one reference point that I found most cogent while reading this book was Hiromu Arakawa’s Fullmetal Alchemist. Those familiar with that manga/anime will see what I mean, and those who are not- Well, I highly recommend it.)
Despite that, though, the story was pretty fun: Alice and Peter were lovely characters to read about - especially Alice, with all her complicated feelings about being an Asian woman in academia. Peter was a darling, though I do wish we’d been more strongly developed. The way the novel explores the highs and lows of academia - its light and its shadows, its glories and its abuses - through Alice and Peter’s narratives was deeply relatable and felt accurate on the emotional level and in the broader strokes of the narrative, but of course readers must remember that it’s not a completely accurate, one-is-to-one portrayal. People vary, courses vary, and universities and colleges vary; one person’s experience of academic life will be different from what is portrayed in this book.
Overall, this was a fun story to get lost in, but I do wish that there had been more meat on its bones. I can see what the author was trying to do, what the author was trying to build, and can’t help but think she could have done more with the material they were using. It could have been so much deeper, so much richer, if the literary references were more than just winked at, or if the characters had been given more development. This will serve well, I suppose, as an introduction to more complex work, but it is not, in and of itself, very complex at all.
Originally posted at kamreadsandrecs.tumblr.com.
Okay, I think that was a delightful read, but it’s also got some issues.
This wasn’t as challenging as some people are making it out to be, both pre- and post-release. The author does use academic language and conceits, but it’s honestly Academic Lite compared to some other novels I’ve read. I admit that my previous experience in academia serves me well here, but in truth the prose is not that difficult. Any previous experience in reading academic papers will suffice, as will previous experience reading classic literature (American or British will do; no need to go chasing the Russians or the French for this).
As for the references, they aren’t really that deep - certainly not to the same level as the references to Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene and the Scottish ballad Tam Lin in Pamela Dean’s Tam Lin, or to Greek tragedy in Donna Tartt’s The Secret History. The references in this book feel more like a passing nod to the texts they refer back to, but do not feel like they deeply inform the story. It’s more like they’re being used to show how clever and well-read the characters are, instead of being a fundamental part of the narrative. Which can be fun: intertextuality, after all, is a fine game for authors and readers to play with each other. But in order for that game to truly be enjoyable, the author has to try to anticipate and match their readership’s depth and breadth of experience - and sadly, in this case, it would appear the author is playing in the Minor Leagues, when I was expecting the Majors.
(I do want to point out that, of all my previous experiences with narrative across various media, the one reference point that I found most cogent while reading this book was Hiromu Arakawa’s Fullmetal Alchemist. Those familiar with that manga/anime will see what I mean, and those who are not- Well, I highly recommend it.)
Despite that, though, the story was pretty fun: Alice and Peter were lovely characters to read about - especially Alice, with all her complicated feelings about being an Asian woman in academia. Peter was a darling, though I do wish we’d been more strongly developed. The way the novel explores the highs and lows of academia - its light and its shadows, its glories and its abuses - through Alice and Peter’s narratives was deeply relatable and felt accurate on the emotional level and in the broader strokes of the narrative, but of course readers must remember that it’s not a completely accurate, one-is-to-one portrayal. People vary, courses vary, and universities and colleges vary; one person’s experience of academic life will be different from what is portrayed in this book.
Overall, this was a fun story to get lost in, but I do wish that there had been more meat on its bones. I can see what the author was trying to do, what the author was trying to build, and can’t help but think she could have done more with the material they were using. It could have been so much deeper, so much richer, if the literary references were more than just winked at, or if the characters had been given more development. This will serve well, I suppose, as an introduction to more complex work, but it is not, in and of itself, very complex at all.
Originally posted at kamreadsandrecs.tumblr.com.