What do you think?
Rate this book
ApartFrom
A novella from Constance A. Dunn.
144 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published October 1, 2013
192 people want to read
About the author
Constance A. Dunn
2 books26 followersBorn on the west coast, writing from Belgrade Serbia. Constance's non-fiction is all over the web where she writes for magazines, sites, and think tanks about travel, being foreign, and the soul of cities.
Her literary fiction dives deep into these same themes: the other, the stranger, and the foreigner.
Her debut novel ApartFrom was published in October 2013 with KUBOA press.
Her literary fiction dives deep into these same themes: the other, the stranger, and the foreigner.
Her debut novel ApartFrom was published in October 2013 with KUBOA press.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
Read
November 26, 2014WHAT IS GOING ON WITH SELF PUBLISHED AUTHORS?
This is a short novel which might be pretty good but I’m not able to read it. Why? Well, it will not be a surprise to you, because I’ve seen the same complaint many many times times for many self-published books : the text is festooned with typos and punctuation errors, and really, it got to be a pain in the neck.
Here’s the one which finally stopped me.
She turned back toward the dunes where the heat made the air ungulate.
It did what?
un•gu•late (un'gyoo-lit) [L., unguis, a hoof; -atus suffix meaning provided with]
NOUN: a mammal having hooves
Yes, I know, our author obviously means undulate.
I also know very well how easy it is to miss typos. When I write a review I have to reread it three times before saving it, then I read it again and find another four mistakes. I still find horrible errors in old reviews of mine when someone votes for them (and I embarrassedly fix them, and faithfully untick the “add to my update feed” box, and STILL it goes into the update feed. But that’s another issue.)
If I had written a novel I would proofread that bugger until I could proofread no more, then I’d give it to a friend to proofread it again, and I’d pay for their trouble, because it’s no fun proofreading a long work, which is what I began to feel I was doing as I read Apartfrom. Why do self published authors not do this? I do not understand. You might think they would be very keen to have their lovely book go out into the world with a fresh coat of syntax and spruced up spelling and looking its best. But it seems not to be a priority. Huh?
If there is ever a corrected text I hereby promise Constance Dunn that will read it properly but until then, I am very sorry, it droove me nut's.
This is a short novel which might be pretty good but I’m not able to read it. Why? Well, it will not be a surprise to you, because I’ve seen the same complaint many many times times for many self-published books : the text is festooned with typos and punctuation errors, and really, it got to be a pain in the neck.
Here’s the one which finally stopped me.
She turned back toward the dunes where the heat made the air ungulate.
It did what?
un•gu•late (un'gyoo-lit) [L., unguis, a hoof; -atus suffix meaning provided with]
NOUN: a mammal having hooves
Yes, I know, our author obviously means undulate.
I also know very well how easy it is to miss typos. When I write a review I have to reread it three times before saving it, then I read it again and find another four mistakes. I still find horrible errors in old reviews of mine when someone votes for them (and I embarrassedly fix them, and faithfully untick the “add to my update feed” box, and STILL it goes into the update feed. But that’s another issue.)
If I had written a novel I would proofread that bugger until I could proofread no more, then I’d give it to a friend to proofread it again, and I’d pay for their trouble, because it’s no fun proofreading a long work, which is what I began to feel I was doing as I read Apartfrom. Why do self published authors not do this? I do not understand. You might think they would be very keen to have their lovely book go out into the world with a fresh coat of syntax and spruced up spelling and looking its best. But it seems not to be a priority. Huh?
If there is ever a corrected text I hereby promise Constance Dunn that will read it properly but until then, I am very sorry, it droove me nut's.
December 31, 2013
Much of the language in ApartFrom is fresh and evocative. I found myself immediately drawn in by Dunn's skilful use of less than obvious sensory details. The story opens in a Bulgarian apartment, and no location could have seemed more exotic or authentic. I felt something similar for the gaudy Spanish tourist town of the second part and for Toronto in the final third. It's clear that the author has a gift for place and atmosphere.
But ultimately, ApartFrom pulled me in and let me go. I wasn't a fan of the way her narrative is broken into little slices of time. There were just too many breaks, with scenes often stopping just as they were about to deliver. The choppy technique works so well in movies, but in this book it felt overused, with breaks often pushing the reader only minutes into the future where standard narrative tools could have served just as effectively.
The novel is broken into three parts. That division could have worked, but the structural similarities between the three became tedious, and I never felt that they were really meant to be tied together. Rather, they were set out in parallel, with each so much alike that just one could have sufficed. The repetition didn't reveal more to me. Instead, I felt as if I were walking back over the same emotional and symbolic ground.
While I would have personally liked to see stronger supporting characters, more interplay between the stories, and less obfuscation in general, fans of dreamy literary fiction would likely do well to get lost in ApartFrom.
But ultimately, ApartFrom pulled me in and let me go. I wasn't a fan of the way her narrative is broken into little slices of time. There were just too many breaks, with scenes often stopping just as they were about to deliver. The choppy technique works so well in movies, but in this book it felt overused, with breaks often pushing the reader only minutes into the future where standard narrative tools could have served just as effectively.
The novel is broken into three parts. That division could have worked, but the structural similarities between the three became tedious, and I never felt that they were really meant to be tied together. Rather, they were set out in parallel, with each so much alike that just one could have sufficed. The repetition didn't reveal more to me. Instead, I felt as if I were walking back over the same emotional and symbolic ground.
While I would have personally liked to see stronger supporting characters, more interplay between the stories, and less obfuscation in general, fans of dreamy literary fiction would likely do well to get lost in ApartFrom.
January 18, 2015
This short novella is a reflection of life, relationships, guilt and repercussions. I’m sure that it is far more too, and I can guarantee that I was missing most of it.
The general premise is a simple one. Three people, seemingly unconnected, go about their daily lives in three different cities. The reader visits only one protagonist at a time, their stories never intertwining and always coming to a close before the next character is seen. Do they have anything in common? They are all loners, chewing on their past and on relationships which didn’t end well. They’re all living away from their homelands - out of place and running away from overbearing guilt and regret. Each comes across an enigmatic stranger who appears out of place and harbouring some hefty secrets.
The stories themselves are relatively uneventful. Their beauty lies rather in the author’s poetic turn of phrase and the many layers of meaning which the reader is able to decipher from it. I really felt that it was over to me how much I chose to read into it, so it’s possible that different readers will gain quite different messages from the same book, which is an interesting idea in itself. The version which I read still has the odd typo, but these were few and far between.
The general premise is a simple one. Three people, seemingly unconnected, go about their daily lives in three different cities. The reader visits only one protagonist at a time, their stories never intertwining and always coming to a close before the next character is seen. Do they have anything in common? They are all loners, chewing on their past and on relationships which didn’t end well. They’re all living away from their homelands - out of place and running away from overbearing guilt and regret. Each comes across an enigmatic stranger who appears out of place and harbouring some hefty secrets.
The stories themselves are relatively uneventful. Their beauty lies rather in the author’s poetic turn of phrase and the many layers of meaning which the reader is able to decipher from it. I really felt that it was over to me how much I chose to read into it, so it’s possible that different readers will gain quite different messages from the same book, which is an interesting idea in itself. The version which I read still has the odd typo, but these were few and far between.
August 25, 2014
This is a raw and haunting novella of dreamlike atmospheres and mysterious parallels. As the setting shifts from country to country, and from the present into memory then back again, you will be drawn into a world of three strangers who have far more in common than they could ever know.
At times eerily unnerving, and at other times reflective and wise, ApartFrom is a uniquely-written look into three lives that share a dark connection. Many thanks to the author for making me feel like I've just awoken from a dream.
Click here to view ApartFrom on Smashwords
At times eerily unnerving, and at other times reflective and wise, ApartFrom is a uniquely-written look into three lives that share a dark connection. Many thanks to the author for making me feel like I've just awoken from a dream.
Click here to view ApartFrom on Smashwords
March 1, 2015
Ms. Dunn’s book follows three people struggling with their regrets. They rapidly lose touch with reality, and the results are predictably tragic. The author does a good job of setting the mood, but the balance between the philosophical and narrative elements of the novella is uneven. The supernatural elements only serve to confuse things, and too many long sentences of questionable grammatical merit don’t help. What could have been a fascinating study of one aspect of human emotion is instead a vaguely disturbing series of inexplicable events that aren’t particularly gripping.
First, the novella is more concerned with presenting the philosophical angst of the characters than it is with telling a story. What matters here is how they feel, the hints the reader is given as to why they feel that way, and the submission to their own despair that is the ultimate result. I enjoyed how writer gave just enough information to communicate what was wrong with these individuals, but otherwise the narrative was weak. There was no natural progression between events, and the characters had little or no agency. They felt more like pawns on a chessboard the author was using to make a point than actual people.
Second, there are too many strange things going on in the book that have absolutely no explanation. Now, this sort of thing certainly appeals to some readers, but I quickly lose interest when I realize it’s going to be impossible for me to determine why things are happening in any given scenario. It’s why I just trust physicists when they say that I’m not going to fly off the face of the Earth rather than enquiring into the matter myself. The supernatural elements in this book are just forces of nature shoving the characters towards their inevitable dooms, but they’re so amorphous that it’s impossible to develop a sense of dread or anticipation. Because of that, the strange happenings only serve to confuse things and dilute the point the author was trying to make.
Finally, there are issues with the writing itself, one that every single author bumps into at some point in their careers. The first is that there are too many run on or otherwise grammatically incorrect sentences. The second is that the author focuses so much on describing things that I got a great picture of the tiny details but could never get the gist of the characters or the world as a whole. Periodic tunnel vision can be a great way to set a scene and illuminate one detail that really brings the scene home to the reader, but done too much it becomes tedious. Third (and this is a sin I’m particularly guilty of myself), the author uses too many commas, which aid and abet her in constructing ungainly sentences.
The theme of the story is a good one: sometimes, bad things happen and the regret from those is more than any single person can handle. It marks them for life. Unfortunately, a supernatural muddle, uninteresting characters, and technical issues undermine what the author sought to accomplish. It’s a shame, because she does a good job of describing the small details and setting the mood. This one is a 2/5.
First, the novella is more concerned with presenting the philosophical angst of the characters than it is with telling a story. What matters here is how they feel, the hints the reader is given as to why they feel that way, and the submission to their own despair that is the ultimate result. I enjoyed how writer gave just enough information to communicate what was wrong with these individuals, but otherwise the narrative was weak. There was no natural progression between events, and the characters had little or no agency. They felt more like pawns on a chessboard the author was using to make a point than actual people.
Second, there are too many strange things going on in the book that have absolutely no explanation. Now, this sort of thing certainly appeals to some readers, but I quickly lose interest when I realize it’s going to be impossible for me to determine why things are happening in any given scenario. It’s why I just trust physicists when they say that I’m not going to fly off the face of the Earth rather than enquiring into the matter myself. The supernatural elements in this book are just forces of nature shoving the characters towards their inevitable dooms, but they’re so amorphous that it’s impossible to develop a sense of dread or anticipation. Because of that, the strange happenings only serve to confuse things and dilute the point the author was trying to make.
Finally, there are issues with the writing itself, one that every single author bumps into at some point in their careers. The first is that there are too many run on or otherwise grammatically incorrect sentences. The second is that the author focuses so much on describing things that I got a great picture of the tiny details but could never get the gist of the characters or the world as a whole. Periodic tunnel vision can be a great way to set a scene and illuminate one detail that really brings the scene home to the reader, but done too much it becomes tedious. Third (and this is a sin I’m particularly guilty of myself), the author uses too many commas, which aid and abet her in constructing ungainly sentences.
The theme of the story is a good one: sometimes, bad things happen and the regret from those is more than any single person can handle. It marks them for life. Unfortunately, a supernatural muddle, uninteresting characters, and technical issues undermine what the author sought to accomplish. It’s a shame, because she does a good job of describing the small details and setting the mood. This one is a 2/5.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews