Madeleine E.

by Gabriel Blackwell

A commonplace book, arranging works of criticism looking at Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo with fragments of memoir/fiction. Presented first as random notes on watching Hitchcock, the fragments soon take up multiple narratives and threads and, like a classic Hitchcock movie, present competing realities. Fragments from a dizzying list of authors, from Truffaut to Philip K. Dick and Geoff Dyer to Bruno Schultz, are meticulously arranged in a fascinating, multilayered reading experience.

"MADELEINE E. is a riveting examination of the self (or selves), spun from the yarn skein in Gabriel Blackwell's labyrinthine mind. Using Hitchcock's masterpiece Vertigo as a springboard for cultural and critical investigation and personal narrative, Blackwell has managed to write an impossibly entertaining book -- indeed, a philosophical page turner." - Amber Sparks, author of "The Unfinished World and Other Stories"

Genres: Fiction

244 pages, Paperback

Published May 26, 2024

Reviews

[Bill Hsu · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was a little wary of the concept at first. But this turned out to be hard to describe, thought provoking and oddly engaging.

[Robert Wechsler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Because I have a special place in my heart for literary collages, I was excited to discover this title. Although there is a lot of food for thought in this collage of quotations, ideas, stories, questions, and speculations, I was somewhat disappointed. Most important, I found the book too long; edited down to its essentials (at least a third of the book struck out) it would have been twice as good.

Second and more personal, I found the memoiristic sections (whether there is any truth in them or not, I didn’t care) wearing and of limited interest, even in terms of the rest of the book.

Third, after watching Hitchock’s Vertigo again, after many years, I didn't find it worthy of a collage like this. The film disappointed me as much as the book.

[Paul Dembina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got this under the misapprehension that it was another novel by Mr Blackwell (after the excellent Doomtown). However, although it has some elements of what I assume are fictional representations of the author it is mostly concerned with a deep analysis of the Hitchcock film Vertigo

I've only watched the film once and although it is considered a classic wasn't particularly impressed. As the references to the various identity switches in the film come thick and fast I was left a little confused, hence my (relatively) low rating

[Peter Landau · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is just the book I needed to read, a book that’s made up of other books and even a movie. The story progresses seemingly by chance, quoting the writer’s library with either the deliberation of literary critique or the randomness of a reader’s nightstand, all launched by an interest in Alfred Hitchcock’s VERTIGO. I’ve never seen the movie, and I think I’d like to now after reading MADELEINE E. and following Gabriel Blackwell down the rabbit hole of his imagination, but it’s not required. The best books, I find, are those that use an idea or an object or something as a springboard from which to fly off the handle. Boy, does Blackwell. What begins as an exploration of the riddle of a Hitchcock suspense, dives into doubles, doppelgängers and identify, before sinking into a fractured (fictional?) narrative about love and betrayal and the ruinations of the mind when it’s left alone to think about black holes like VERTIGO. What a great hodgepodge!

[Greg Gerke · Rating 5 out of 5]

"When someone met me in person, they came to know me; when someone heard a story about me, I became a fiction." (51) The quintessential line of a commonplace, yet unorthodox novel. You don't need to see Vertigo to know this is a passionately questioning novel-a buttery gambit towards a greater ununderstanding of our place in the world.

[Fernando Maldonado · Rating 2 out of 5]

One through line in Blackwell's fragmented but lengthy book of quotations, analysis, and memoir/autofiction surrounding Hitchcock's VERTIGO is the author's difficulty writing the very book we are reading. Missing in that struggle for me is a clear need to do so, something compelling both him and us to press on. I kept wondering: Why this movie, and why this writer? Why should we care, or, maybe more importantly, why does he care?

MADELINE E. unfortunately reads like an enigma without an engine, lacking an organizing argument or perspective to give shape to the collected pieces assembled within.

[Sweetie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perhaps not “for everyone” but I loved it. Every. Single. Navelgazing. Blackwell’s style, if it’s that, is weirdly seductive, part close reading, quotes, and 1st person white guy on the verge of a nervous breakdown. “Vertigo” has always been a frustrating film; its resistance and elusiveness. What I think Blackwell does so well is read if the film on its own terms - you’re never going to get it, but looking at / writing abt its composite elements open it up.

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some truly brilliant insights into the film and an impressive range of echoes and lines of flight prompted by Hitchocock's film into literature, philosophy, and sparks. At times this felt to me like it oozed into a self-indulgence I found off-putting and would take a break or skip a section.

[nathaniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hardest to describe book I've ever read. A literary collage like nothing I've read before. And despite really enjoying it, I don't know anyone I'd recommend it to.