Square Wave

by Mark de Silva

"Brilliant." ― 3:AM Magazine "Intelligent... thrilling." ―Michael Silverblatt, 'Bookworm' on KCRW Carl Stagg, a writer researching imperial power struggles in 17th century Sri Lanka, ekes out a living as a watchman in a factionalized America where confidence in democracy has eroded. Along his nightly patrol, Stagg finds a beaten prostitute, one in a series of monstrous attacks. Suspicious of his supervisor's intentions, Stagg partners with a fellow part-time watchman, Ravan, to seek the truth. Ravan hails from a family developing storm-dispersal technologies, whose research is jointly funded by the Indian and American governments. The watchmen's discoveries put a troubling complexion on Stagg's research, giving it new shape and impetus, just as the weather modification project begins to appear less about dispersing storms than weaponizing them. By gracefully weaving a study of the psychological effects of a militarized state upon its citizenry with topics as diverse as microtonal music and cloud physics, Square Wave signals the triumphant arrival of a young writer certain to be considered one of the most ambitious and intelligent of his generation. "The novel of ideas is alive and well in de Silva's high-minded debut, in which the pursuit of art, the exercise of power, and climate control are strangely entwined. Set against the backdrop of a crumbling America, this novel functions as a thriller where the confusions and obsessions of students are freighted with the dark reality they begin to uncover. De Silva isn’t shy about his intelligence, and he shouldn’t be; Square Wave is an intellectual tussle many readers will be happy to grapple with." ― Publishers Weekly

Genres: Fiction, Science Fiction, Literature, Dystopia, Novels, Contemporary

376 pages, Paperback

First published February 9, 2016

Reviews

[Kevin Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m so happy that small independent presses exist. There are so many of them that produce excellent pieces of literature (too many to name) and Two Dollar Radio who released Square Wave is amazing. What an original novel this is. And a debut at that. With parts philosophical (which I didn’t totally get), parts historiography on 17th C Ceylon (which I loved and would read 600 pages of), parts about music/theory (Basinski, Tortoise AND LA Guns (to name just a few references))…I could go on and on. With a vocabulary that is Theroux-like and prose that mellifluous this is a writer to watch.

Don’t believe me? Here’s the link to Mark de Silva talking with Michael Silverblatt

https://www.kcrw.com/culture/shows/bo...

[Regan · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you are a particular kind of reader, this novel offers an embarrassment of riches. On a sentence by sentence level, it really is flawless; there is not a cliche to be found, it's un-apologetically erudite, and comprised of hyper-attentive and detailed prose. At a macro-level it is quite ambitious, presenting a pastiche of connections/divergences ranging from a not-so-distant future where democracy teeters on a precarious edge, to an account of colonial clashes in 17th century Sri Lanka, to experimental musicians who combine every musical ratio to create a wall of (non)noise, to physicists converting weapons into cloud-seeding technology.

In other words, it is a very smart book, written by a very smart person who clearly has mastery of more fields than seems fair for a mere mortal. De Silva is a philosopher by training, but it is obvious that is not the extent of his expertise. I know some philosophy, but I don't know music theory, nor do I have a strong grasp on physics, so I imagine a lot of fun detail was lost on me. He is indeed quite impressive. The book has been touted as a balletic mapping of the confluence of geniuses.

This puts the reader in a bind. For, if it turns out you do not like or enjoy it, perhaps you lack the intellectual resources to understand it? Maybe it is not a book for you, but a book for geniuses. And perhaps you simply are not a member of that elite club.

Am I philistine if I say I found the prose--despite its admitted technical skillfulness--lifeless, over-laden, uncompelling, dragging, and (dare I say) straight-up boring? It felt like watching someone watch themselves flexing in the mirror. The fact that you're there, witnessing it, is just icing for the one flexing; they assume their own beauty is obvious and that you are indeed quite lucky to behold it.

But the characters--brilliant as we are told they are-are in fact quite poorly sketched. Every one of them rings tinny and hollow; despite the wide variation of their interests, they all sound the same, speak in the same voice. Is this supposed to be the shared inner language of genius?

I will say very little about the treatment of women in the book, except that it contains some of the more graphic depictions of pornography and violence against women I have ever read. The lone female character who is not a sex-worker is merely a prop*--a foil for the male geniuses who arouses petty jealousies, and is ultimately left behind. *Literally the main character rests an elbow on her while she sleeps on his lap at a party.

[Paul Dembina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I gave this a 2nd chance with an eye to reading The Logos however this book feels like de Silva crammed as much into it as he could manage and for me that was too much. You have political theory, music theory, sex worker abuse, 17th century colonialism in Ceylon/Sri Lanka, sex workers abuse. Portions felt like I was being lectured with a message that was all too opaque for me.

[B. Rule · Rating 1 out of 5]

There is a long scene in the middle of this book where many of the main characters get extremely stoned and carry on an interminable, solipsistic parallel monologue conversation that is absurdly articulate, monomaniacally focused on minutiae, and furthers the plot not one whit. This scene is the microcosm, the book the macrocosm.

Clearly de Silva is an intelligent individual; clearly he has deep knowledge of a number of esoteric topics like microtonal music, 90's post-rock, colonialism in Sri Lanka, and meteorology. None of this makes his book any fun to read. There is a fog of boredom that descends over the text from the very beginning of the book, and it never lifts. The spirits of Thomas Pynchon and David Mitchell hover about, shaking their heads sadly at what could have been.

The plot, to the extent there is one, jerks along in a disjointed fashion until finally petering out with essentially no action by any of the protagonists in a final fit of weary lassitude. The characters are defined by their hobbies and offer no purchase for any emotional investment by the reader. Although this book is not long, it certainly felt that way. One of the most disappointing, annoying reading experiences I've had this year.

[Anthony Crupi · Rating 2 out of 5]

IMPOLITE HAIKU CORNER

Fuck this shit so hard
for trying to be the most
boring Pynchon book

[Johanna · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dnf. Beautifully written but I just can't take this level of nihilism right now.

[Steven Bramble · Rating 5 out of 5]

SQUARE WAVE represents, in my own opinion, probably one of the landmarks of early 21st century literature so far. Whether or not de Silva's work will cut through fiction's current myopic megamarket with publication by the incredible but still-small Ten Dollar Radio is a question time will have to bear out.

De Silva's semi-authoritarian American political setting perfectly foresees the pressing philosophical questions of the Trump-era body politic, not to mention the trend of authoritarianism rising in a more general sense due to such factors as climate change, pervasive surveillance tech and the erosion of the will to dissent.

The structure of the novel will undoubtedly seem esoteric to some readers, but the fact that by book's end it both is and isn't speaks to the immense intent the author seems to have set out with. Stylistically, de Silva's prose feels somehow simultaneously air-tight as well as out on a limb. It suggests at a style not overdone, and not overly beholden to previous methods. Especially enjoyable were the starts of chapters - each one focuses in on a small detail of a larger situation, leaving the reader slightly confused to start but more and more oriented as paragraphs pass.

Ultimately, SW seems to declare not just the essential confusion of the new century (societal, economic, individual), but also an impossibly nuanced stance toward history. Humans, in micro-tonal fashion, collaborate and compete with one another to piece together a grand narrative of who and what we are, as well as why, but this doesn't redeem their existence. Instead it enriches it, confuses it, destroys it, creates it, etc., all at the same time.

An important antidote to 20th and 21st century literature that takes perhaps a too-gentle, too-unifying stance in order to dispel ambiguity and construct an illusion of progress. A fantastic, totally-original read - one that legitimately sticks with you after it's over.

[Caseyruth · Rating 1 out of 5]

I think it is one of the most horrible books I've ever tried to read. I was forewarned by a review I saw somewhere but I had to buy it anyways. This guy mainly flaunts his vocabulary and after 3 chapters there was no story developing so I put it down.

[Brent Hayward · Rating 4 out of 5]

In sharp, stylish prose, filled with off-kilter details, and set to a timing of weird beats, the book has a unique, distinct vibe. Chapters are by turns unpleasant, informative, and hyper-smart. Lots of topics crammed in here. The disparate characters, separated by time and by place, participate in a theme that intentionally does not come together on screen yet leaves the impression of great importance.

[William Thomas · Rating 2 out of 5]

2017 is the year of indies for me. I'm going to devote more time to small presses, and more money. Buying direct from the publisher or label. Helping as I can, throwing change in their coffee cups. Please, give me my Medal of Honor now.

I say this, mostly, because I want you all to do the same thing. No, not all small press books are going to be worth the time and effort and energy. Neither are the big house books. But what I'd like is for you to read a handful, maybe. Get the Random House books from your library and spend your money on small press stuff. Please.

Now, having done the telethon thing- this book was bad. Not in any technical sense. It was spot on, if I were grading it for grammar and structure. Instead, it lacked verve. It lacked desire. It was wooden and pedantic and flat in every regard where it should have been plutonic and brilliant and fiery. Instead of being one of those towering intellectual egghead writers like DFW where he can talk about pretty women having ugly feet and make us crave more, de Silva just has not one clue. It's akin to reading Aldous Huxley's prose. He's just altogether too smart for his own good, and it sucks all the fun and life out of the party. Where I wanted Pynchon, I got squat. Had he taken a different route, decided on being an essayist like Emerson, then I feel like I'd be giving this book a different review altogether. Sigh. And I wanted to like it. I wanted so much to like it.


Grade: C-

[Andrew Higgins · Rating 2 out of 5]

I first came to this novel after hearing de Silva interviewed on KCRW's Bookworm podcast and was immediately intrigued. I was already familiar with the publishing house, Two Dollar Radio, which is based in my home state of Ohio, but hadn't heard of this new release.
This is certainly a book of ideas; de Silva's academic background in philosophy shines brightly throughout, and his offerings of political and historical perspective, carefully interwoven with a less-than-often-seen setting in Sri Lanka, was immediately engaging and never failed to excite. Despite incorporating a great deal of philosophical context throughout, the novel does not alienate a middlebrow reader by delving into obfuscated subject matter. In fact, the plot and the development of characters is facilitated enormously by what de Silva brings to the table in his narrative observations.
The prose itself is clean and crisp. Many sentences are simply delightful. I strongly recommend this novel to any reader looking to get away from what is the growing factory of safe, predictable plots and character struggles coming out of the main publishing houses.

[Drew · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is, admittedly, a high entry cost to this novel. It requires the reader to be intellectually engaged in a way that, quite simply, they may not be able to achieve throughout the entire book. In these moments, one has to let it crash over them like the wave of a song and know that they will bob back to the surface again in the next chapter. I was gratified that de Silva didn't lean too heavily on plots that could've been considered predictable, instead keeping this dystopic America in the background of the whole story, the scenario ever-present but ill-defined. It feels like a place we might not be too far away from, all the more so for the fears bubbling through the population. But even in the midst of this frightening global circumstance, the day-to-day still remains - the pursuit of beauty, truth, history, companionship. Square Wave is a history about a time yet to come. The question that lingers long after the book is done is whether it is an alternate history or one eerily prescient indeed.

More at RB on Monday.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ambitious and I'd expect nothing less from a novel that travels through two history to show the past is never just past. I felt like de Silva synthesis the historical novel with the detective novel. That's where the comparisons to Mitchell come from, I think. I have to admit Carl Stagg didn't make a great first impression on me, but the narrative expanded so much I really began to love him. Personally, sometimes I'm scared off of books called 'a novel of ideas' but I think the humanity of Carl Stagg and his struggle between past and present tyranny brings confidence out in me to continue to read. At 374 pages, I'd take a week or two to read slowly.

[Sansriti · Rating 1 out of 5]

De Silva just tries to take on too much in Square Wave, and the result is a messy and unconvincing novel of ideas where you just have no idea what's going on. His narrative structure is as discordant as the microtonal music he writes about, and his characters are about as likable as the vagina smoothie Jen creates for her first porno. The only mildly interesting storyline in this novel is that of the criminal who captures and brutally beats prostitutes, and even then de Silva's unnecessarily gruesome descriptions in these scenes make them barely readable. Honestly just don't read this.

[Terence · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a tough one, I enjoyed the prose so much but literally every other chapter was a diversion for the rest of the chapters. It was just this woven stop-gap, while I love the idea of a soft slow apocalyptic story it just kind of lost steam, even though there would be a chapter with amazing writing and interesting stories it just honestly fell apart. It had a lot going for it, and like other reviewers I was steeped in the music knowledge, however somewhere about a third of the way in de Silva lost the glue to this thing.

[Shawn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Headache inducing prose that reads like a neurotic Ayn Rand crossed with the soap-ish psychology of Jacqueline Susann. Misogynist DeSilva only comes alive in salivating descriptions of women being beaten, tortured, and anally raped. I actually wonder if this is some sort of ISIS propaganda ending as it does

SPOILERS





with a brilliant Islamist scientist tricking the US government into launching a nuclear attack on its own soil.

[Lindsay Burkhart · Rating 1 out of 5]

Maybe I'm not smart enough to understand this book, but I could only get through the first 20 pages, and with that I struggled. The story itself sounds interesting, however, there seemed to be so much minutiae and soloquial abstract thought, it wasn't enjoyable. A special kind of reader would probably have a field day with this book.

[Patrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've been meaning to read this book for about 6 years now, ever since it was given to me as a gift by someone who had not read it and probably didn't know anything about it (they picked it out because they said it looked 'esoteric', not sure why they thought that or why they thought I was in to 'esoteric' books). I've put it off for so long because of the terrible reviews on here, but I'm not one to get rid of a book, especially a gift, without reading it first. It's clear that de Silva is a pretty smart guy, and he can write some decent prose (although much of the smart prose I read seems effortless - this borders a bit on trying to hard).

The problem with this book is that there's no real plot. There's multiple story lines that don't really go anywhere. The main story about Stagg is just the author writing about himself (or who he wants to be). The story about 17th century Sri Lanka - probably the most interesting parts of the book - isn't really tied into the story in a meaningful way. The asides on music and weather geoengineering seem to be included just to show off the author's knowledge on those subjects (notwithstanding the 'twist' at the end). The Lewis/Jen/Lisa story line was pretty disgusting at times and contributing nothing to the plot.

Overall, this book needs a lot of work. I wouldn't read it again or recommend it to anyone, but I'm not particularly upset that I read the whole thing. There were a few flashings of something that could have been decent, but probably not enough to make me read any of the author's other works.

[Joel Schanke · Rating 2 out of 5]

“It was a bad novel, narratively clumsy … Still, like the best undistinguished novels, it remained useful to the historian mapping the shape of history.”

I think de Silva is aware this book is a mess—narratively, structurally, and in tone. Well, for the first 320 pages. Then, just after Stagg has his talk for the Wintry, where he simplifies what he has been working on, the whole structure of the book changes: it’s focused, more impactful. He knows how to write, that much is true. But tell a story? I am uncertain.

There are a lot of good ideas here—a lot of well-researched and well-articulated ideas. de Silva experiments with structure in a way I haven’t quite seen before, as well. But, the characters didn’t work for me. And that is because, in my opinion, too much time was spent experimenting with structure and ideas rather than developing the characters. Lots of telling when showing would have been better; showing when a bit of telling could have made the difference.

I appreciate the book for what it is, but I think a different editorial take could have made it shine.

[Downward · Rating 2 out of 5]

de silva is a smart guy weaving together disparate topics through excessive jargon and pages upon pages of description of stuff, articulating with as many words as he can experiences that we implicitly understand and don't readily need poetics on. he does this while intentionally opaquing the intentions of plot here by juxtaposing things that inherently dissassociate, WHICH I RESPECT AS A MEANS OF CREATING A SLEIGHT OF HAND TENSION FOR THE AUDIENCE, but the results here are thin gruel, little enough in plot or memorable characters to diminish the genre premise or all the historical detail and experimental music.

[Jae Choi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Square Wave brings together a wealth of ideas ranging from political philosophy, music theory, and atmospheric physics in an intelligent and thought-provoking manner. Since I’m not an expert in any of these fields, a lot of things went over my head, but the author gives enough comprehensible details to make the point clear. The novel also provides a visceral glimpse into dark and embarrassing aspects of human cravings in the context of the information age. Good book, but definitely not light reading.

[Erik · Rating 4 out of 5]

***3.5 stars***

[Sam · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF
One of ~5 books in the last 3 years that I haven't finished. This book reads like a jargon-riddled instruction manual, lacking in tone or feeling. I had to stop reading at page 25.

[Brandon Elkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

An extremely well written bad book

[Wheeler · Rating 1 out of 5]

A true disappointment. Where was the editor? Pointless and pedantic.

[Mr. Derek Dietz · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's a DNF for me, unfortunately. I hate leaving novels unfinished, but I found the prose to be absolutely leaden.

[John Boles · Rating 2 out of 5]

Masturbatory in nature. DNF

[Anders R · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some books make you feel smarter after reading them. And on the rare occasion, there are books that leave you feeling less informed, more inundated by life's complexities. "Square Wave" is the latter.

I'd try to tell you what it's about...but I don't think that the plot is really the most useful description of this book. "Square Wave" is an interconnected set of storylines meant to evoke feeling. Yes, there is a mystery (in the near future city of Halsley, hookers are turning up beaten on the streets, and night watchmen Carl Stagg is tasked with figuring out who's doing this, while trying to maintain a semblance of normalcy as elections near and most of the United States has given up on democracy and the rest are engaging in neo-terrorism by burning buildings, defacing property and scaring the living daylights out of any potential voters), but Mark de Silva provides answers to the mystery relatively quickly and substitutes pacing questions for dense chapters on subjects ranging from weather modification to 17th century Sri Lankan politics. The book is trying hard to tell the reader, "Just stop reading me, you can't possibly keep up with my erudition."

And yet...I kind of liked it. I know that's not a glowing review, but "Square Wave" is a book that is written by an author that clearly DGAFs. De Silva uses his intelligence to present us with a heady vision of a future that may not be so far off. As my first read of 2017, this book couldn't be more on the nose. By the looks of our real-life present, we should all be preparing to get hit by wave after wave of controversy, surprise, and challenge. It may do us well, dear readers, to use books like "Square Wave" to prepare accordingly.

[Djflippy · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The powder was dark and fine, really a dust. It carried into the light in tobacco wisps as he loaded the chamber, packing it flat with the weight of his body, twisting the tamp before easing the pressure. A featureless surface remained. He locked the handle in place and started the pump. Two honeyed streams oozed from the filter head down to the shallow white cup." - chapter 1, paragraph 1

"With both hands on the stock, and the barrel nearly vertical, Haas lifted the arquebus (baakbus) above his head. The grain of the heavily wooded arm, descendant of the handgonne, flashed copper in the light infiltrating the canopy. The sterling serpentine, engraved with boar and crossbow, held the slow match, and from its ends, narrow streams of smoke rose without curling, revealing the light's architecture, the criss-crossing, odd-angled channels by which it arrived at the canopy." -chapter 2, paragraph 1

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

De Silva and De La Pava are near analagous in a lit-debut sense. Both De La Pava's "Naked Singularity" and De Silva's "Square Wave" burst from the ether and dazzle with dense but precise prose - intelligent but not unaccessable. Where "Naked Singularity" could have used an editor in parts and suffered a little from I-want-to-be-like-Ruggles-ism, De Silva with"Square Wave" finds a voice that's informed and unique while drawing on the masters of maximalist fiction.
As mentioned by other reveiwers, there is some concern as to how De Silva writes women. Be warned - this is a sauage-fest of a book. But in a novel largely about the cruelties/introspection/(false) ambition of men is there really room for a well drawn female character? Probably yes. Next time, De Silva. Speaking of which, I flipping can't wait for what comes next.