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Tackling The Imago
What does a typical twenty-year old do when wooed by an older university teacher? Surrender or flee?
Gina vomits out of stress, writes crude poetry, and stops talking to Daniel because of deeply-rooted inhibitions. But she also submits indecent essays which expose her talent and weaknesses to him; she is the perfect target—lonely, ambitious, and chronically shy.
Gina sits in the last row, observing how Daniel subjects himself to her peers' ridicule as he tries to win her affections. She bites her nails, writes this diary, and hides a multitude of secrets, including a lifelong family conflict following a tragedy that blighted her childhood.
She is unlovable, having suffered rejection before, but she tries to keep herself amused. On the bad days, however, self-sabotage is what she does best. Daniel is a welcome distraction, but is he what she really needs?
How easy is it to fight guilt, low self-esteem, and an overwhelming need for attention? What to do with a long-kept secret when it is finally revealed? Is it easier to abandon or be abandoned? Does either have to happen?
Perhaps more kitschy than artistic, this often cringeworthy story is an unexpected combination of the two. Warning: this might be the silliest and most primitive novel you have ever read.
Gina vomits out of stress, writes crude poetry, and stops talking to Daniel because of deeply-rooted inhibitions. But she also submits indecent essays which expose her talent and weaknesses to him; she is the perfect target—lonely, ambitious, and chronically shy.
Gina sits in the last row, observing how Daniel subjects himself to her peers' ridicule as he tries to win her affections. She bites her nails, writes this diary, and hides a multitude of secrets, including a lifelong family conflict following a tragedy that blighted her childhood.
She is unlovable, having suffered rejection before, but she tries to keep herself amused. On the bad days, however, self-sabotage is what she does best. Daniel is a welcome distraction, but is he what she really needs?
How easy is it to fight guilt, low self-esteem, and an overwhelming need for attention? What to do with a long-kept secret when it is finally revealed? Is it easier to abandon or be abandoned? Does either have to happen?
Perhaps more kitschy than artistic, this often cringeworthy story is an unexpected combination of the two. Warning: this might be the silliest and most primitive novel you have ever read.
323 pages, Paperback
First published December 11, 2013
7 people are currently reading
387 people want to read
About the author
Anyer Feanix
1 book6 followersAnyer Feanix is a former teacher of English who has gone into hiding after suffering extreme trauma in her course of work and - consequently - quitting the profession. She is a tiny bit OCD and loves nature, scientific curiosities, globetrotting, and fellow weirdos.
I will send you a free kindle copy of my novel if you are willing to provide a review. Please drop me a line with your email address via Goodreads.
I will send you a free kindle copy of my novel if you are willing to provide a review. Please drop me a line with your email address via Goodreads.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
June 16, 2014
I was laughing aloud within the first five pages. In no time at all I was immersed in a richly worded Bridget Jonesy style journalized, comedic, coming of age story--or so I thought. It is a slow process, a slow read; not because it didn't keep me thoroughly intrigued and even enamored of the characters (the main character, Gina, most of all)...no, the thick and liberally plastered gooey rich wording made progress quite slow; very much like slogging through a warm pool of delicious fudge.
Imagine my surprise, when this cheeky romantic comedy turned into a dark romantic comedy and then, to my great despair, simply a dark comedy. I would have been content to have it linger as such, but then, with the slice of the written word, the dark comedy became a tragedy. This morphing, though distressing, is literary genius, baiting the reader to feel warmth and sympathy for the self deprecating heroine who, clear to the reader is nowhere near as ugly, fat, worthless or stupid as she thinks she is, while simultaneously making the unsuspecting reader quite unprepared for the dark reality they will be pulled into.
The subtlety of the first person narration is superb and many times reveals drastic and significant detail, disguised in the most understated fashion possible, forcing the reader to look back and ask "Wait! What was that? Did that really just happen?"
To be honest, I was half tempted to delete a star for the sneaky way I was led into being seduced, crushed and then restored half heartedly by the author. But I realized, she had accomplished something that few have...I was caught completely off guard by this story. Even though it was a slow sinking into fictional quicksand, I was neck deep before I realized what she had done. Bravo! If ever Anyer Feanix (I'm assuming an odd anagram for something...Faery Axe Inn perhaps?) decides to write mystery, her obvious talent for blindsiding the reader in slow motion, (like incrementally raising the temperature on a boiling pot so the frog doesn't know it is being cooked alive) would certainly earn her international acclaim as the queen of twisted plot suspense.
I can only hope there are other masterpieces in the works from this author. I want to be on the first read list for all of them.
This novel is not for the casual popcorn reader. Its thickly worded passages will challenge you. I must admit, I was required to use my Kindle dictionary feature for the very first time.
I would recommend this story to anyone who likes romantic comedy, journal style coming of age stories, dark comedy, and isn't afraid of a couple of dark twists in the midst of loving the main character.
Imagine my surprise, when this cheeky romantic comedy turned into a dark romantic comedy and then, to my great despair, simply a dark comedy. I would have been content to have it linger as such, but then, with the slice of the written word, the dark comedy became a tragedy. This morphing, though distressing, is literary genius, baiting the reader to feel warmth and sympathy for the self deprecating heroine who, clear to the reader is nowhere near as ugly, fat, worthless or stupid as she thinks she is, while simultaneously making the unsuspecting reader quite unprepared for the dark reality they will be pulled into.
The subtlety of the first person narration is superb and many times reveals drastic and significant detail, disguised in the most understated fashion possible, forcing the reader to look back and ask "Wait! What was that? Did that really just happen?"
To be honest, I was half tempted to delete a star for the sneaky way I was led into being seduced, crushed and then restored half heartedly by the author. But I realized, she had accomplished something that few have...I was caught completely off guard by this story. Even though it was a slow sinking into fictional quicksand, I was neck deep before I realized what she had done. Bravo! If ever Anyer Feanix (I'm assuming an odd anagram for something...Faery Axe Inn perhaps?) decides to write mystery, her obvious talent for blindsiding the reader in slow motion, (like incrementally raising the temperature on a boiling pot so the frog doesn't know it is being cooked alive) would certainly earn her international acclaim as the queen of twisted plot suspense.
I can only hope there are other masterpieces in the works from this author. I want to be on the first read list for all of them.
This novel is not for the casual popcorn reader. Its thickly worded passages will challenge you. I must admit, I was required to use my Kindle dictionary feature for the very first time.
I would recommend this story to anyone who likes romantic comedy, journal style coming of age stories, dark comedy, and isn't afraid of a couple of dark twists in the midst of loving the main character.
July 9, 2014
Fenix has created an amazingly deep character study in Tackling the Imago. The novel is told in first person diary format. The stream of consciousness of the main character Gina immerses you in her world. For me, this was a difficult world. Though Gina's thoughts initially seem to be light and frivolous, she soon descends into a darker world of self doubt that borders on self hatred.
Gina is a Polish university student studying English. She is intelligent, witty and likable, but she seems unable to see these qualities in herself. As we ultimately discover, this is the result of a tragedy from her childhood that affected not only her but her mother and the relationship between the two of them. Fenix’s narrative was incredibly adept. She brought me into Gina’s mind as well as her world. I found echoes of Gina following me into my own life outside the book. I don’t know anyone like Gina, but through Fenix’s words I found Gina becoming a part of me. I have to admit, this was difficult. Gina doesn’t think like I do, and I found her struggles deeply troubling. But, to Fenix’s credit, I was not detached from Gina, I felt her.
In this novel, it can truly be said that it is the journey, not the destination that matters. I was, however, happy that by the end Gina achieved some measure of mental peace.
I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a deep, well-crafted character study. I do have a few caveats, however. Be prepared to have your thoughts invaded. This was not an easy journey, nor do I believe it was intended to be. It is the author’s very strength of craft that heightens the discomfort of the journey. In terms of pure writing, I found this book absolutely amazing. My choice of four rather than five stars is more a reflection of my own difficulty in taking this journey. I have to admit that I had a hard time separating my experience with this book from the aptitude of the narrative itself. Simply put, this book took me to dark places that I was not comfortable visiting. And it was surprising adept and insidious in doing so.
Gina is a Polish university student studying English. She is intelligent, witty and likable, but she seems unable to see these qualities in herself. As we ultimately discover, this is the result of a tragedy from her childhood that affected not only her but her mother and the relationship between the two of them. Fenix’s narrative was incredibly adept. She brought me into Gina’s mind as well as her world. I found echoes of Gina following me into my own life outside the book. I don’t know anyone like Gina, but through Fenix’s words I found Gina becoming a part of me. I have to admit, this was difficult. Gina doesn’t think like I do, and I found her struggles deeply troubling. But, to Fenix’s credit, I was not detached from Gina, I felt her.
In this novel, it can truly be said that it is the journey, not the destination that matters. I was, however, happy that by the end Gina achieved some measure of mental peace.
I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a deep, well-crafted character study. I do have a few caveats, however. Be prepared to have your thoughts invaded. This was not an easy journey, nor do I believe it was intended to be. It is the author’s very strength of craft that heightens the discomfort of the journey. In terms of pure writing, I found this book absolutely amazing. My choice of four rather than five stars is more a reflection of my own difficulty in taking this journey. I have to admit that I had a hard time separating my experience with this book from the aptitude of the narrative itself. Simply put, this book took me to dark places that I was not comfortable visiting. And it was surprising adept and insidious in doing so.
January 24, 2014
I have to admit, this book is a pretty good fit for me. While it crosses a few different genres, I'm a fan of chicklit, comedy and romance, and I loved this.
The beginning, I'll admit, was a little difficult to get through. I under-appreciated the complicated dialect until I understood the book and the protagonist a little better. But appreciate it I eventually did, and from that point, I raced through the rest of the book with ease.
And though the book crosses genres that I've enjoyed reading about in the past, it also feels entirely fresh. I haven't read anything quite like it before, but I'd very happily read something similar in the future should it be so well written and personality-infused. If you like the sound of the book description, then it's probably safe to say that you'll have a great time reading Tackling The Imago.
The beginning, I'll admit, was a little difficult to get through. I under-appreciated the complicated dialect until I understood the book and the protagonist a little better. But appreciate it I eventually did, and from that point, I raced through the rest of the book with ease.
And though the book crosses genres that I've enjoyed reading about in the past, it also feels entirely fresh. I haven't read anything quite like it before, but I'd very happily read something similar in the future should it be so well written and personality-infused. If you like the sound of the book description, then it's probably safe to say that you'll have a great time reading Tackling The Imago.
August 2, 2014
Meet Regina – Gina for short. And get to like her, because if you read Anyer Feanix’s Tackling the Imago, you’re going to get to know her better than you know most human beings. It’ll be hard work; but I found, in the end, that it was worth the effort.
Tackling the Imago is set in a provincial city in Poland in the mid-2000s. The country has just joined the European Union, and living and working abroad is starting to look more practical than it did. Gina has come to the university in the town to take a degree in English. She is highly intelligent, but lacks confidence. She is troubled by her difficult family background, with a father who abandoned her (or so she understands) and a mother who blames all her problems on Gina’s existence. And now Gina is about to become besotted with one of her lecturers, Daniel, a greying-fortyish type whose marital status is uncertain.
The book takes the form of Gina’s diary, which she writes in English. This is both the book’s strength and its weakness. Feanix has got into character in a big way. The writing is that of a young student who has an outstanding technical grasp of English but has not lived among native speakers. Sometimes this comes across through words that are correct but that would not really be used. “Sleepless nights shuffle out into darkness like chess pawns. In the quiescence of the passive city, lone, normally somnambulistic ideas bump into occasional binary systems and the tintinnabulation of their laughs... A susurration of snowflakes pellets my skin, perishing against the dying ember in their wafty ballet suicide.” This is what makes the book hard going sometimes. But it also makes Gina very real.
The diary of a pretentious student with a crush on one of her lecturers. It doesn’t sound very promising, and for much of the first half of the book, I found I was wondering why I was supposed to be interested in Gina. Why did she matter? Was she going to create great art? End war and starvation? But as the book goes on, Gina gets a lot more complicated, and interesting. Her father, it turns out, did not abandon her in quite the way she thought, and the truth is disturbing. Moreover her feelings for Daniel torture her, to the extent that she has a good vomit before every lecture with him. It doesn’t help that Daniel seems to teasingly encourage these feelings – or is it her imagination? (For what it’s worth, I thought he was playing games. In fact, I thought he was a complete tosser. But Feanix rightly lets you be the judge of that.) By the time Gina reaches her third year, she is dealing with a toxic cocktail of unfulfilled sexuality and low self-esteem. But by this time, you understand what she’s been up against. Then you do get involved in Gina’s story and you do want to know whether she will beat her demons.
Moreover, three things attract about Gina. First, she has a gift for friendship. Second, she is deeply intelligent, and unable to resist self-analysis; she throws up before seeing Daniel, but she knows it’s absurd, and there is a paradox about her that fascinates. And last but not least, there’s no self-pity. She’s too funny for that. (A morning vomit session before one of Daniel’s lectures. Crouching over the toilet bowl: “‘I’m a ghost of what I was before...’ I was talking to the latrine. ‘I guess it’s cruel of me to moan to you when you get so much crap in your life.’” )
The reader doesn’t know until very late just how this will end for Gina, and that’s how it should be (and I am not going to give any hints here).
It’s a longish book (probably a little too long, on balance), and not always an easy read. I felt that it should have been a little shorter, and I also thought the author should have given us more reason, more quickly, to care about the narrator. In the end, though, I did care. Tackling the Imago is an acute but humane psychological study and it, and Gina, are worth your time.
Tackling the Imago is set in a provincial city in Poland in the mid-2000s. The country has just joined the European Union, and living and working abroad is starting to look more practical than it did. Gina has come to the university in the town to take a degree in English. She is highly intelligent, but lacks confidence. She is troubled by her difficult family background, with a father who abandoned her (or so she understands) and a mother who blames all her problems on Gina’s existence. And now Gina is about to become besotted with one of her lecturers, Daniel, a greying-fortyish type whose marital status is uncertain.
The book takes the form of Gina’s diary, which she writes in English. This is both the book’s strength and its weakness. Feanix has got into character in a big way. The writing is that of a young student who has an outstanding technical grasp of English but has not lived among native speakers. Sometimes this comes across through words that are correct but that would not really be used. “Sleepless nights shuffle out into darkness like chess pawns. In the quiescence of the passive city, lone, normally somnambulistic ideas bump into occasional binary systems and the tintinnabulation of their laughs... A susurration of snowflakes pellets my skin, perishing against the dying ember in their wafty ballet suicide.” This is what makes the book hard going sometimes. But it also makes Gina very real.
The diary of a pretentious student with a crush on one of her lecturers. It doesn’t sound very promising, and for much of the first half of the book, I found I was wondering why I was supposed to be interested in Gina. Why did she matter? Was she going to create great art? End war and starvation? But as the book goes on, Gina gets a lot more complicated, and interesting. Her father, it turns out, did not abandon her in quite the way she thought, and the truth is disturbing. Moreover her feelings for Daniel torture her, to the extent that she has a good vomit before every lecture with him. It doesn’t help that Daniel seems to teasingly encourage these feelings – or is it her imagination? (For what it’s worth, I thought he was playing games. In fact, I thought he was a complete tosser. But Feanix rightly lets you be the judge of that.) By the time Gina reaches her third year, she is dealing with a toxic cocktail of unfulfilled sexuality and low self-esteem. But by this time, you understand what she’s been up against. Then you do get involved in Gina’s story and you do want to know whether she will beat her demons.
Moreover, three things attract about Gina. First, she has a gift for friendship. Second, she is deeply intelligent, and unable to resist self-analysis; she throws up before seeing Daniel, but she knows it’s absurd, and there is a paradox about her that fascinates. And last but not least, there’s no self-pity. She’s too funny for that. (A morning vomit session before one of Daniel’s lectures. Crouching over the toilet bowl: “‘I’m a ghost of what I was before...’ I was talking to the latrine. ‘I guess it’s cruel of me to moan to you when you get so much crap in your life.’” )
The reader doesn’t know until very late just how this will end for Gina, and that’s how it should be (and I am not going to give any hints here).
It’s a longish book (probably a little too long, on balance), and not always an easy read. I felt that it should have been a little shorter, and I also thought the author should have given us more reason, more quickly, to care about the narrator. In the end, though, I did care. Tackling the Imago is an acute but humane psychological study and it, and Gina, are worth your time.
May 25, 2014
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a non-reciprocal review.
(This review will contain spoilers).
This was a very interesting book. Written somewhat like a diary, it follows the story of Gina as she studies English.
I think it's a great exploration of someone's psyche. There's not too much hand-holding - Gina does analyze herself quite a bit, but it's not done in an unnatural way. She mentions events in her life that have led her to be self-deprecating and desperate for attention. It all makes sense, and in many ways Gina is very relatable. It's easy to feel for her and root for her.
As a main character, Gina can be amusing and 'quirky', but isn't quirky in a way that feels forced. She expresses a lot of personal thoughts that most people probably have at times, from naughty fantasies to introspection. She can be very humorous and sometimes looks back at her own thoughts and gags when she was being overly melodramatic.
Likewise, her 'romance' with D is a breath of fresh air compared to most books. I've read a lot of books where the romance can be boiled down to, "I saw him and he was hot, so we're in love". In this book a lot of characters take jabs at D's looks. With the way Gina describes him compared to the way others describe him, you could see a fairly normal looking guy who is attractive to her, and the attraction doesn't necessarily stem from his looks. She gets a lot of praise from him and they spend time dueling with their wits, to the amusement of both.
A real chemistry is developed between them and built up over the entire span of the book. They both felt like people instead of caricatures who existed to fill a romance quota.
One of the strangest things about this book that I both disliked but understood was the word choices. This book has a bad case of what some would call "thesaurus abuse". It can take a reader out of a book because it sounds stunted and unnatural, and if you don't happen to know all the obscure words you either lose the meaning or have to pause to look it up.
Unlike most cases, this actually makes sense for this particular book. The story revolves around characters who are learning English as a second language, and the person writing the entries to 'practice her English' mentions things like memorizing words from the dictionary. Someone learning from a dictionary wouldn't know which words people actually use. Having studied a second language, I can understand that well. Memorizing dialogue or vocabulary doesn't give you much insight to how people actually speak.
Still, it happens so much that it's distracting.
For one example, Gina used a word that I've never heard anyone say or write before, "simulacrum". I was curious, "Are people tossing this word about and I just missed it somehow?", so I looked it up. Google brought up half a million hits. Every single link on the first page was to dictionaries or articles explaining what the word means. Not a single one was people naturally using it in their writing. Other word choices get similar results. "Apotropaic", "desideratum", "potvaliancy"... some with far less results than the first example. Every word you've never heard of has been dug up from obscurity to make a brief cameo.
The writing style left me confused sometimes. Just as an example of how some parts might be written: Gina might be sitting next to D, go into a metaphorical paragraph about insects or something, and then the next paragraph she'd be running away while 'pulling her clothes back on'. And I'd be left wondering, "Wait, when did the clothes come off?"
There were also times when the book lingered on something when I was ready to move on. If Gina was anxious about a test I could understand that, but I didn't necessarily want to read several pages about it.
Overall, it was a good read with a lot of depth to it. It's a good book to pick up if you're looking for something different.
(This review will contain spoilers).
This was a very interesting book. Written somewhat like a diary, it follows the story of Gina as she studies English.
I think it's a great exploration of someone's psyche. There's not too much hand-holding - Gina does analyze herself quite a bit, but it's not done in an unnatural way. She mentions events in her life that have led her to be self-deprecating and desperate for attention. It all makes sense, and in many ways Gina is very relatable. It's easy to feel for her and root for her.
As a main character, Gina can be amusing and 'quirky', but isn't quirky in a way that feels forced. She expresses a lot of personal thoughts that most people probably have at times, from naughty fantasies to introspection. She can be very humorous and sometimes looks back at her own thoughts and gags when she was being overly melodramatic.
Likewise, her 'romance' with D is a breath of fresh air compared to most books. I've read a lot of books where the romance can be boiled down to, "I saw him and he was hot, so we're in love". In this book a lot of characters take jabs at D's looks. With the way Gina describes him compared to the way others describe him, you could see a fairly normal looking guy who is attractive to her, and the attraction doesn't necessarily stem from his looks. She gets a lot of praise from him and they spend time dueling with their wits, to the amusement of both.
A real chemistry is developed between them and built up over the entire span of the book. They both felt like people instead of caricatures who existed to fill a romance quota.
One of the strangest things about this book that I both disliked but understood was the word choices. This book has a bad case of what some would call "thesaurus abuse". It can take a reader out of a book because it sounds stunted and unnatural, and if you don't happen to know all the obscure words you either lose the meaning or have to pause to look it up.
Unlike most cases, this actually makes sense for this particular book. The story revolves around characters who are learning English as a second language, and the person writing the entries to 'practice her English' mentions things like memorizing words from the dictionary. Someone learning from a dictionary wouldn't know which words people actually use. Having studied a second language, I can understand that well. Memorizing dialogue or vocabulary doesn't give you much insight to how people actually speak.
Still, it happens so much that it's distracting.
For one example, Gina used a word that I've never heard anyone say or write before, "simulacrum". I was curious, "Are people tossing this word about and I just missed it somehow?", so I looked it up. Google brought up half a million hits. Every single link on the first page was to dictionaries or articles explaining what the word means. Not a single one was people naturally using it in their writing. Other word choices get similar results. "Apotropaic", "desideratum", "potvaliancy"... some with far less results than the first example. Every word you've never heard of has been dug up from obscurity to make a brief cameo.
The writing style left me confused sometimes. Just as an example of how some parts might be written: Gina might be sitting next to D, go into a metaphorical paragraph about insects or something, and then the next paragraph she'd be running away while 'pulling her clothes back on'. And I'd be left wondering, "Wait, when did the clothes come off?"
There were also times when the book lingered on something when I was ready to move on. If Gina was anxious about a test I could understand that, but I didn't necessarily want to read several pages about it.
Overall, it was a good read with a lot of depth to it. It's a good book to pick up if you're looking for something different.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 10, 2014
If you like experimental literature, this book is for you.
This is an inventive coming-of-age story which could easily be classified as chick-lit if only its tumultuous writing would not be inundated, literally, by countless adverbs, adjectives and really awkward (let’s call them “fancy”) words. Sometimes, alliterations and dissonances coming off these fancy words make the text a bit cringe worthy. Example: “Antecedent to the next indecent incident with me as a re-offending incendiary was a booze conclave which Agatha was heedless of.”
Let’s just say that the author has the call of the lexicon, as she confesses on her blog. However, as you go through the book, you understand that this flood of fancy, exotic, unworldly words (of which there are many on each page) becomes critical to understanding the personality of the main character.
The story line is a straightforward one - it follows the torments and travails of a brilliant Polish student as she masters English while learning to finally survive her tormented attraction for one of her professors, D.
Written in the form of journal interspersed with short play pieces, poetry, this work is a composite of many trajectories, all obsessively focused on the main character, Gina.
I recommend this book to people who have an attraction for extravagant text and beautiful (and many times a bit ostentatious) words.
This is an inventive coming-of-age story which could easily be classified as chick-lit if only its tumultuous writing would not be inundated, literally, by countless adverbs, adjectives and really awkward (let’s call them “fancy”) words. Sometimes, alliterations and dissonances coming off these fancy words make the text a bit cringe worthy. Example: “Antecedent to the next indecent incident with me as a re-offending incendiary was a booze conclave which Agatha was heedless of.”
Let’s just say that the author has the call of the lexicon, as she confesses on her blog. However, as you go through the book, you understand that this flood of fancy, exotic, unworldly words (of which there are many on each page) becomes critical to understanding the personality of the main character.
The story line is a straightforward one - it follows the torments and travails of a brilliant Polish student as she masters English while learning to finally survive her tormented attraction for one of her professors, D.
Written in the form of journal interspersed with short play pieces, poetry, this work is a composite of many trajectories, all obsessively focused on the main character, Gina.
I recommend this book to people who have an attraction for extravagant text and beautiful (and many times a bit ostentatious) words.
July 2, 2014
I received a free copy of this book for an honest review. Lucky me. This is a brilliant book. Gina is an engaging person, and the diary format perfectly reflects her character - a pleasant, jocular veneer concealing a much darker nature.
This is a book about obsession and its roots. Feanix displays a shrewd understanding of human nature. In a couple of scenes, the depth of her insight was awe-inspiring.
There are a couple of things that a prospective reader should be aware. Do not be fooled by the levity at the start of the book. This book deals with dark issues. Also victims of hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia (fear of long words) may find some of the word choices challenging. (By the way, that word doesn't appear in the book.) This is explained as a product of Gina's study of English as a foreign language, but Gina also seems to use it sometimes to distance herself emotionally from what is happening. In any case, don't let the language put you off. This book is really worth the effort.
This is a book about obsession and its roots. Feanix displays a shrewd understanding of human nature. In a couple of scenes, the depth of her insight was awe-inspiring.
There are a couple of things that a prospective reader should be aware. Do not be fooled by the levity at the start of the book. This book deals with dark issues. Also victims of hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia (fear of long words) may find some of the word choices challenging. (By the way, that word doesn't appear in the book.) This is explained as a product of Gina's study of English as a foreign language, but Gina also seems to use it sometimes to distance herself emotionally from what is happening. In any case, don't let the language put you off. This book is really worth the effort.
September 10, 2016
A deep understanding of a human mind and soul. Well thought out, ambitious and beautifully written. You will go for this book if you like reading about feelings, desires, troubles and life matters. Not too many descriptions make it even better. This story makes you think, dream, laugh, cry and it evokes various memories. After reading it you will not believe the author that the characters are fictitious…
Highly intriguing style – a mix of drama, comedy, romance, poetry and much more… If I were asked to describe the book in two words, I would say: addictive and unpredictable. I recommend it to readers who are not afraid of cutting edge stories. This book is something new and fresh, something I have never come across before.
Highly intriguing style – a mix of drama, comedy, romance, poetry and much more… If I were asked to describe the book in two words, I would say: addictive and unpredictable. I recommend it to readers who are not afraid of cutting edge stories. This book is something new and fresh, something I have never come across before.
January 22, 2014
Very intriguing and unique novel
»Tackling The Imago« is very intriguing and unique novel with just as interesting writing style that I am sure it will not leave you indifferent.
The story focuses on main character, Gina, a twenty year old girl and her life as she sees and feels it.
The story is well written, it is exiting and interesting, just as you expect from any good fiction novel and most important, it really draws you in. There is a wide mix of genres – everything from humor to drama, romance and more, which makes the reading even more interesting. It’s a great reading and I would highly recommend it if you are looking forward to something fresh and different!
»Tackling The Imago« is very intriguing and unique novel with just as interesting writing style that I am sure it will not leave you indifferent.
The story focuses on main character, Gina, a twenty year old girl and her life as she sees and feels it.
The story is well written, it is exiting and interesting, just as you expect from any good fiction novel and most important, it really draws you in. There is a wide mix of genres – everything from humor to drama, romance and more, which makes the reading even more interesting. It’s a great reading and I would highly recommend it if you are looking forward to something fresh and different!
June 20, 2014
A very different novel
Tackling the Imago by Anyer Feanix
This novel is written as a self-described "weirdo's journal" in the first person point of view by a twenty-something Polish woman who is studying English in graduate school. It reads like a journal and not a novel. I am still baffled as to whether or not it is an edited journal of someone real, or a carefully conceived literary work. The main character, Gina (short for Regina), has peppered her journal with slightly off-color poems to go along with entries that tell of her life and in which she complains that nothing ever happens.
The writing is quite interesting. Gina claims that the journal is partly practising her (British) English and it reads that way. Great spelling and good grammar but with the word usage slightly off, as is common with non-native speakers of English. It feels as if words were replaced using a thesaurus as if the listed words were exact synonyms. This makes some of the writing feel formal and or stilted. Here are five examples:
. . . so now I have to prove the possession of an eidetic memory . . .
This unforeseen hindrance has brought me anger and despair.
. . . which fills me with unprecedented delectation . . .
Exacerbated by the traditional empty place setting
. . . I finish my belletristic outpourings . . .
Days and days and pages and pages of the journal are filled with her crush on her forty-some year old English professor D and imagined communications and signals based on classroom comments and notes on her submitted work. One can easily see why a journal was kept. Gina's internal mental life is crazy with so much minutiae and imaginings that it would overburden anyone forced to listen.
Gina has an interview with her pet mouse before starting part three - the art of preventing the explosion. This section has Gina and friend, Roxy, renting a room above a bar for their 3rd year of graduate studies. This is a marked contrast from living in the Holy Trinity Care Home and Students' Hall of Residence. Some of the adventures she has, revolve around the group associated with the bar's owner.
Interactions with classmates are central to the book. There is an important subplot revolving around Gina and her relationship with her mother in the absence of her father who died when she was young. The number of pages devoted to the subplot is small but the overall impact much larger.
This book is not an easy read. Although grammatically correct and well edited, it moves quite slowly and formally. Words and phrases are turned for effect instead of serving a specific plot. That is not to say that nothing happens because it does. If you are looking for an uplifting read, this book is not for you. If word play, double entendre, and yearnings of a lonely twenty-year-old virgin amuse you, then tackle the imago.
A copy of this book was provided in exchange for an honest review.
Tackling the Imago by Anyer Feanix
This novel is written as a self-described "weirdo's journal" in the first person point of view by a twenty-something Polish woman who is studying English in graduate school. It reads like a journal and not a novel. I am still baffled as to whether or not it is an edited journal of someone real, or a carefully conceived literary work. The main character, Gina (short for Regina), has peppered her journal with slightly off-color poems to go along with entries that tell of her life and in which she complains that nothing ever happens.
The writing is quite interesting. Gina claims that the journal is partly practising her (British) English and it reads that way. Great spelling and good grammar but with the word usage slightly off, as is common with non-native speakers of English. It feels as if words were replaced using a thesaurus as if the listed words were exact synonyms. This makes some of the writing feel formal and or stilted. Here are five examples:
. . . so now I have to prove the possession of an eidetic memory . . .
This unforeseen hindrance has brought me anger and despair.
. . . which fills me with unprecedented delectation . . .
Exacerbated by the traditional empty place setting
. . . I finish my belletristic outpourings . . .
Days and days and pages and pages of the journal are filled with her crush on her forty-some year old English professor D and imagined communications and signals based on classroom comments and notes on her submitted work. One can easily see why a journal was kept. Gina's internal mental life is crazy with so much minutiae and imaginings that it would overburden anyone forced to listen.
Gina has an interview with her pet mouse before starting part three - the art of preventing the explosion. This section has Gina and friend, Roxy, renting a room above a bar for their 3rd year of graduate studies. This is a marked contrast from living in the Holy Trinity Care Home and Students' Hall of Residence. Some of the adventures she has, revolve around the group associated with the bar's owner.
Interactions with classmates are central to the book. There is an important subplot revolving around Gina and her relationship with her mother in the absence of her father who died when she was young. The number of pages devoted to the subplot is small but the overall impact much larger.
This book is not an easy read. Although grammatically correct and well edited, it moves quite slowly and formally. Words and phrases are turned for effect instead of serving a specific plot. That is not to say that nothing happens because it does. If you are looking for an uplifting read, this book is not for you. If word play, double entendre, and yearnings of a lonely twenty-year-old virgin amuse you, then tackle the imago.
A copy of this book was provided in exchange for an honest review.
September 1, 2014
Tackling the Imago, by Anyer Feanix, takes the reader through an unfolding of the mind to meet Gina (Regina), a self-proclaimed mental nymphomaniac (physical virgin) in this late-bloomer, coming of age story. Gina is a Polish linguist student, living in London who develops an intense, obsessive crush on one of her university professors, Daniel, who flirts with her just enough to keep her hooked.
For the first third of the novel the author presents the reader with an engaging stream of consciousness narrative, which becomes a loose diary of sorts. It is this rambling prose--in addition to a range of vocabulary of the English language--which requires some heavy lifting on the part of the reader: ". . . where pointillist lexicon devoured the Morphean canvas ...". Much of the writing is clever, and often finds a poetic manner through which it evokes a state of mind--whether reflective or over-wrought--with intelligence and humor. Over a good portion of the first part of the novel, Feanix's main character assaults the reader with writing that is at times forceful and beautiful, as well as off-putting and egotistical. It is precisely this roller-coaster writing that mirrors Gina's mental state, where she lives an isolated existence, safely cocooned from the world within her own mind. There are a number of crude asides, which lend veracity to the diary-style, and sexual musings. However, as the novel gains momentum, and the excellence of the writing takes hold, these asides become distracting, and--perhaps intentionally--immature. Over the development of the novel, the barrage of obscure language can occasionally feel like falling down a dictionary rabbit-hole of masturbatory musings and mouse-speak, but ultimately appears to be a literary device to showcase a budding linguist.
As Gina--who often asserts an intellectual superiority through the use of petty aspersions--develops as person and character, the narrative allows us to see her many vulnerabilities which the language masks. The author also does more than flesh-out a cast of colorful characters; she allows them to breathe. Even those who are initially distasteful--like Olivia and Butchie--we learn to love and trust along with Gina.
As a reader who enjoys weighty prose, there is an excellent reward of a well-done, psychological novel of a deeply troubled individual coming through a forest of loneliness, bulimia, and crushing depression. Anyer Feanix also nails the mental anguish of a one-sided, unrequited sexual obsession with amazing accuracy. These may be lost on a reader not willing to persevere. However, this worthwhile read will leave many lasting impressions of a young woman's pain--which has caused her to wall herself off from an adult world--where she realizes self-love is the most important ingredient to emergence.
I purchased this book on Amazon.
For the first third of the novel the author presents the reader with an engaging stream of consciousness narrative, which becomes a loose diary of sorts. It is this rambling prose--in addition to a range of vocabulary of the English language--which requires some heavy lifting on the part of the reader: ". . . where pointillist lexicon devoured the Morphean canvas ...". Much of the writing is clever, and often finds a poetic manner through which it evokes a state of mind--whether reflective or over-wrought--with intelligence and humor. Over a good portion of the first part of the novel, Feanix's main character assaults the reader with writing that is at times forceful and beautiful, as well as off-putting and egotistical. It is precisely this roller-coaster writing that mirrors Gina's mental state, where she lives an isolated existence, safely cocooned from the world within her own mind. There are a number of crude asides, which lend veracity to the diary-style, and sexual musings. However, as the novel gains momentum, and the excellence of the writing takes hold, these asides become distracting, and--perhaps intentionally--immature. Over the development of the novel, the barrage of obscure language can occasionally feel like falling down a dictionary rabbit-hole of masturbatory musings and mouse-speak, but ultimately appears to be a literary device to showcase a budding linguist.
As Gina--who often asserts an intellectual superiority through the use of petty aspersions--develops as person and character, the narrative allows us to see her many vulnerabilities which the language masks. The author also does more than flesh-out a cast of colorful characters; she allows them to breathe. Even those who are initially distasteful--like Olivia and Butchie--we learn to love and trust along with Gina.
As a reader who enjoys weighty prose, there is an excellent reward of a well-done, psychological novel of a deeply troubled individual coming through a forest of loneliness, bulimia, and crushing depression. Anyer Feanix also nails the mental anguish of a one-sided, unrequited sexual obsession with amazing accuracy. These may be lost on a reader not willing to persevere. However, this worthwhile read will leave many lasting impressions of a young woman's pain--which has caused her to wall herself off from an adult world--where she realizes self-love is the most important ingredient to emergence.
I purchased this book on Amazon.
May 9, 2014
Written in a style that was new to me and thoroughly enjoyable, Tackling the Imago is a story that will challenge all your preconceptions about what a good story ought to be.
Tackling the Imago might have been better named "Tackling the Vocabulo": many readers would be tempted to give up on the book early on, due to the vocabulary it employs. It is excessively erudite; some of the sentences are verbose and have to be untangled – meaning, reread – but always there is enormous power of expression too. The high level English jives well with the setting of the story. All in all I loved the book despite the fact that it was not an easy read and often found myself in dire need of the online dictionary (thank you Kindle for making it easier).
The main character, Regina, is a young Polish student, quite the scholar actually, also a horny but repressed young woman given to obsessive behavior – like falling in love with a teacher mainly because he's got a perfectly pitched and mellifluous British English accent. I've forgotten what his real name is as Gina (Genni or Genie to her friends) refers to him as simply D, which appellation I believe she adopted mainly so that she could toy with the name and variously D-isrobe him, D-vour him, and D-ball him in the end I suppose. This from a self-confessed 20-year-old who has never in her life kissed a guy or even danced with one! Naturally then, the stories starts out in a kind of nunnery! — Holy Trinity Care Home and Students’ Hall of Residence, somewhere in Poland. It details — and this is where the author truly excels at getting you into the skin, nay, into the pores of the skin of her main characters — the life of Gina and her university level schoolmates, chiefly her girlfriends.
Highly recommended reading.
Anyer’s writing and her characters are refreshing, gritty, revealing, comic, manic, playful, dramatic, sobering, silly, primitive… and at the same time exquisitely carved cameos of real-life; as such I have a hard time believing that the main character is entirely an invention cut out of whole fictitious cloth. This much incisive in–thinking surely is a reflection of some very real character with real character traits. I give the novel five stars for being ultimately a totally engrossing read, written in a many-faceted style I've not seen before and which alternately made me want to hurry to the breathless end and/or reread and review or simply linger on every page, savoring the words.
Tackling the Imago might have been better named "Tackling the Vocabulo": many readers would be tempted to give up on the book early on, due to the vocabulary it employs. It is excessively erudite; some of the sentences are verbose and have to be untangled – meaning, reread – but always there is enormous power of expression too. The high level English jives well with the setting of the story. All in all I loved the book despite the fact that it was not an easy read and often found myself in dire need of the online dictionary (thank you Kindle for making it easier).
The main character, Regina, is a young Polish student, quite the scholar actually, also a horny but repressed young woman given to obsessive behavior – like falling in love with a teacher mainly because he's got a perfectly pitched and mellifluous British English accent. I've forgotten what his real name is as Gina (Genni or Genie to her friends) refers to him as simply D, which appellation I believe she adopted mainly so that she could toy with the name and variously D-isrobe him, D-vour him, and D-ball him in the end I suppose. This from a self-confessed 20-year-old who has never in her life kissed a guy or even danced with one! Naturally then, the stories starts out in a kind of nunnery! — Holy Trinity Care Home and Students’ Hall of Residence, somewhere in Poland. It details — and this is where the author truly excels at getting you into the skin, nay, into the pores of the skin of her main characters — the life of Gina and her university level schoolmates, chiefly her girlfriends.
Highly recommended reading.
Anyer’s writing and her characters are refreshing, gritty, revealing, comic, manic, playful, dramatic, sobering, silly, primitive… and at the same time exquisitely carved cameos of real-life; as such I have a hard time believing that the main character is entirely an invention cut out of whole fictitious cloth. This much incisive in–thinking surely is a reflection of some very real character with real character traits. I give the novel five stars for being ultimately a totally engrossing read, written in a many-faceted style I've not seen before and which alternately made me want to hurry to the breathless end and/or reread and review or simply linger on every page, savoring the words.
March 15, 2014
Painting with words.
When you read what Anyer writes, you realize that you have let your mind numbed by the simple words you read all day in social media or the news. You discover how rich is the English language and the wonders that you can do with words.
The story is simple: a student falls in love with her teacher. After you get used with the magic of Anyer’s writing, you discover the life of the students in post communist Poland with the entire plethora of old and new characters created by the paradigm change in an eastern European world which will never adapt to any kind of normality.
After the first 50 pages you have to choose if you want to read it for the simple beauty of the wording and the story or if you want to become a voyeur. The way in which the main character puts her life on paper is addictive. You can look through her room’s window in the night and feel the need to look again the next night. You read the story of what happens during the day on fast forward just to get to the evening and the moment in which her mind undresses for you.
This is great literature by any meaning of the word.
When you read what Anyer writes, you realize that you have let your mind numbed by the simple words you read all day in social media or the news. You discover how rich is the English language and the wonders that you can do with words.
The story is simple: a student falls in love with her teacher. After you get used with the magic of Anyer’s writing, you discover the life of the students in post communist Poland with the entire plethora of old and new characters created by the paradigm change in an eastern European world which will never adapt to any kind of normality.
After the first 50 pages you have to choose if you want to read it for the simple beauty of the wording and the story or if you want to become a voyeur. The way in which the main character puts her life on paper is addictive. You can look through her room’s window in the night and feel the need to look again the next night. You read the story of what happens during the day on fast forward just to get to the evening and the moment in which her mind undresses for you.
This is great literature by any meaning of the word.
July 29, 2016
This is a wonderfully crafted story and I absolutely enjoyed reading it from start to finish. It's an absorbing and attention-grabbing book that had me totally engaged from page one. The story flows from scene to scene effortlessly, and the author shows exceptional ability when it comes to storytelling, particularly with words.
The story had every element a good story should have. An exciting plot, attention to detail, but best of all fleshed out, well-written and well-rounded characters. This interesting and compelling work, as I said, had my attention from the beginning. It is a very unique novel, not quite like anything I've read before, as well, the writing style is unique and refreshing which makes for an enjoyable read.
It's one of those stories that come along once in a while that makes you want to read it non-stop until you get to the end. The author has the ability to entice the reader to want to know more as the story progresses.
I highly recommend!
The story had every element a good story should have. An exciting plot, attention to detail, but best of all fleshed out, well-written and well-rounded characters. This interesting and compelling work, as I said, had my attention from the beginning. It is a very unique novel, not quite like anything I've read before, as well, the writing style is unique and refreshing which makes for an enjoyable read.
It's one of those stories that come along once in a while that makes you want to read it non-stop until you get to the end. The author has the ability to entice the reader to want to know more as the story progresses.
I highly recommend!
August 10, 2016
Anyer Feanix's Tackling The Imago is a startling work that was unlike any other I have read in the past year. Gina is a complex character who is difficult to love both in the story and as a character, but as I got used to the current of language than swept the story along I really felt for Gina and her everyday challenges. Not only did the story give me a real wake up call about how we learn and use language (and how foreigners might do so in seemingly pedantic ways), I was also glad for the one touch dictionary functionality on my Kindle - not afraid to say I learned more than one new word. The verbose language might get in the way for some readers, but it was completely right for the setting and the characters. The description for this book described it as silly and primitive - it is anything but. Intelligent and touching would be more accurate.
I received a copy of this book in return for an honest review.
I received a copy of this book in return for an honest review.
April 7, 2014
Tackling the Imago is a story of a girl who is learning English and about herself at the same time.
Gina is Polish and is studying to speak English at the university. Her trials friendships, and flirtations make up the four years that the book spans. I enjoyed Gina's wit and her infatuation with her professor, although how that ended was disappointing. Feanix writes in a unique way, while the writing is good, he too often uses words that are not common, making the reader to gloss over or spend too much time in the dictionary, this certainly disrupts the flow. An author should consider his reader when he writes. I think that the writing style was a poor choice for the average reader
Gina is Polish and is studying to speak English at the university. Her trials friendships, and flirtations make up the four years that the book spans. I enjoyed Gina's wit and her infatuation with her professor, although how that ended was disappointing. Feanix writes in a unique way, while the writing is good, he too often uses words that are not common, making the reader to gloss over or spend too much time in the dictionary, this certainly disrupts the flow. An author should consider his reader when he writes. I think that the writing style was a poor choice for the average reader
January 27, 2014
A charming story of a self-depreciating girl with a large helping of irrepressible naughtiness thrown in. Written in the first person with a ‘diary’ theme, it follows a polish girl studying English at University and explores her female friendships, and her crush on a particular male member of staff. The humour in this coming of age tale was enjoyable, but for me, the unwieldy use of language let it down. It seemed that in many places, the author was trying to score points by using as many obscure and unusual words as possible.
March 2, 2015
i trully enjoyed this book and i loved the charectors
September 1, 2015
Beyond horrible
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