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The Familiar #5
Redwood
The Season One finale of this riveting multisensory masterpiece from the visionary author of House of Leaves.
The Familiar Volume 1 Wherein the cat is found
The Familiar Volume 2 Wherein the cat is hungry
The Familiar Volume 3 Wherein the cat is blind
The Familiar Volume 4 Wherein the cat is toothless
The Familiar Volume 5 Wherein the cat is named
The astonishing series about a young girl who befriends a cat hunting humanity continues with Volume 5, the Season One finale, in which the consequences of how we encounter one another come into poignant and terrifying relief—especially on one September night, when an unexpected phone call demanding the return of the little white cat challenges everything the Ibrahims hold dear. They are not alone. Jingjing must contend with a rival he could never have anticipated, while Xanther must relinquish all she thought she knew as a far greater responsibility is set before her. Light wavers and pomegranates reveal their price as the effects of a great transition start to reverberate around everyone. Shnorhk’s efforts to resume playing music cannot escape history’s ghosts. Cas, in upstate New York, comes face-to-face with her lifelong nemesis in a candlelit rendezvous that presages the international crisis soon to come. As more lines tangle, Özgür and Luther brawl with a future that may have chosen them long ago, and Isandòrno crosses a line that will force him over the border into a country he has until now steadfastly refused. All the while, a terrible power roaming the world continues to grow . . .
The Familiar Volume 1 Wherein the cat is found
The Familiar Volume 2 Wherein the cat is hungry
The Familiar Volume 3 Wherein the cat is blind
The Familiar Volume 4 Wherein the cat is toothless
The Familiar Volume 5 Wherein the cat is named
The astonishing series about a young girl who befriends a cat hunting humanity continues with Volume 5, the Season One finale, in which the consequences of how we encounter one another come into poignant and terrifying relief—especially on one September night, when an unexpected phone call demanding the return of the little white cat challenges everything the Ibrahims hold dear. They are not alone. Jingjing must contend with a rival he could never have anticipated, while Xanther must relinquish all she thought she knew as a far greater responsibility is set before her. Light wavers and pomegranates reveal their price as the effects of a great transition start to reverberate around everyone. Shnorhk’s efforts to resume playing music cannot escape history’s ghosts. Cas, in upstate New York, comes face-to-face with her lifelong nemesis in a candlelit rendezvous that presages the international crisis soon to come. As more lines tangle, Özgür and Luther brawl with a future that may have chosen them long ago, and Isandòrno crosses a line that will force him over the border into a country he has until now steadfastly refused. All the while, a terrible power roaming the world continues to grow . . .
880 pages, Paperback
First published October 31, 2017
19 people are currently reading
2371 people want to read
About the author
Mark Z. Danielewski
19 books8,304 followersMark Z. Danielewski is an American author best known for his books House of Leaves, Only Revolutions, The Fifty Year Sword, The Little Blue Kite, and The Familiar series.
Danielewski studied English Literature at Yale. He then decided to move to Berkeley, California, where he took a summer program in Latin at the University of California, Berkeley. He also spent time in Paris, preoccupied mostly with writing.
In the early 1990s, he pursued graduate studies at the USC School of Cinema-Television. He later served as an assistant editor and worked on sound for Derrida, a documentary based on the life of the Algerian-born French literary critic and philosopher Jacques Derrida.
His second novel, Only Revolutions, was released in 2006. The novel was a finalist for the 2006 National Book Award.
His novel The Fifty Year Sword was released in the Netherlands in 2005. A new version with stitched illustrations was released in the United States 2012 (including a limited-edition release featuring a latched box that held the book). On Halloween 2010-2012, Danielewski "conducted" staged readings of the book at the REDCAT Theater inside the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. Each year was different and included features such as large-scale shadows, music, and performances from actors such as Betsy Brandt (Breaking Bad).
On May 12, 2015, he released the first volume, The Familiar (Volume 1): One Rainy Day in May in his announced 27-volume series The Familiar. The story "concerns a 12-year-old girl who finds a kitten..." The second volume, The Familiar (Volume 2): Into the Forest was released on Oct. 27, 2015, The Familiar (Volume 3): Honeysuckle & Pain came out June 14, 2016, and The Familiar (Volume 4): Hades arrived in bookstores on Feb. 7, 2017, and The Familiar (Volume 5): Redwood was released on Halloween 2017.
His latest release, The Little Blue Kite, is out now.
Quick Facts
He is the son of Polish avant-garde film director Tad Danielewski and the brother of singer and songwriter Annie Decatur Danielewski, a.k.a. Poe.
House of Leaves, Danielewski's first novel, has gained a considerable cult following. In 2000, Danielewski toured with his sister across America at Borders Books and Music locations, promoting Poe’s album Haunted, which reflects elements of House of Leaves.
Danielewski's work is characterized by experimental choices in form, such as intricate and multi-layered narratives and typographical variation.
In 2015, his piece Thrown, a reflection on Matthew Barney's Cremaster 2, appeared on display at the Guggenheim Museum in New York.
Official "Yarn + Ink" apparel inspired by his books House of Leaves and The Familiar is now available through his official website, Amazon and Etsy.
His latest short story, "There's a Place for You" was released on www.markzdanielewski.com in August 2020.
Read more on his Wikipedia page:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Z....
Danielewski studied English Literature at Yale. He then decided to move to Berkeley, California, where he took a summer program in Latin at the University of California, Berkeley. He also spent time in Paris, preoccupied mostly with writing.
In the early 1990s, he pursued graduate studies at the USC School of Cinema-Television. He later served as an assistant editor and worked on sound for Derrida, a documentary based on the life of the Algerian-born French literary critic and philosopher Jacques Derrida.
His second novel, Only Revolutions, was released in 2006. The novel was a finalist for the 2006 National Book Award.
His novel The Fifty Year Sword was released in the Netherlands in 2005. A new version with stitched illustrations was released in the United States 2012 (including a limited-edition release featuring a latched box that held the book). On Halloween 2010-2012, Danielewski "conducted" staged readings of the book at the REDCAT Theater inside the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. Each year was different and included features such as large-scale shadows, music, and performances from actors such as Betsy Brandt (Breaking Bad).
On May 12, 2015, he released the first volume, The Familiar (Volume 1): One Rainy Day in May in his announced 27-volume series The Familiar. The story "concerns a 12-year-old girl who finds a kitten..." The second volume, The Familiar (Volume 2): Into the Forest was released on Oct. 27, 2015, The Familiar (Volume 3): Honeysuckle & Pain came out June 14, 2016, and The Familiar (Volume 4): Hades arrived in bookstores on Feb. 7, 2017, and The Familiar (Volume 5): Redwood was released on Halloween 2017.
His latest release, The Little Blue Kite, is out now.
Quick Facts
He is the son of Polish avant-garde film director Tad Danielewski and the brother of singer and songwriter Annie Decatur Danielewski, a.k.a. Poe.
House of Leaves, Danielewski's first novel, has gained a considerable cult following. In 2000, Danielewski toured with his sister across America at Borders Books and Music locations, promoting Poe’s album Haunted, which reflects elements of House of Leaves.
Danielewski's work is characterized by experimental choices in form, such as intricate and multi-layered narratives and typographical variation.
In 2015, his piece Thrown, a reflection on Matthew Barney's Cremaster 2, appeared on display at the Guggenheim Museum in New York.
Official "Yarn + Ink" apparel inspired by his books House of Leaves and The Familiar is now available through his official website, Amazon and Etsy.
His latest short story, "There's a Place for You" was released on www.markzdanielewski.com in August 2020.
Read more on his Wikipedia page:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Z....
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November 5, 2017Binged on this in like two days like when you did on BSG.
This thing is going to be big ; the finished project will weigh out to the precise weight of a bag of Portland Cement. 94#. [look it up ; I've crunched that number already]
It's not the only literary project this ambitious. Seven Dreams is up there in that realm. There's those massive Naturalist projects from the 19th cent ; one from Balzac one from Zola. If the Wake were spelled out in Basic English (throughout) it'd probably come to about what the Z=man's 26 volumes weigh out to be. Sack of cement.
And too we must mention that these 26 volumes are homaging to perhaps 26 episodes of standard practice in this Golden Age of Television. Mind you though that the serial Television form is much more appropriate to the novel=form than even the 4=hour cinematic form.
I've glutted out already though on the Golden Age of Television stuff. In the past (say) three years I've discovered at most zero new Shows that have attracted my interest. Pretty much since the time Sons of Anarchy signed off in what by then had become self-parody. BSG was great but then started limping and lumbering under its own (galactic) weight. Deadwood was zero'd=out waaaay before it's time. Carnival too (although I didn't see much hope for it). Lost was tediously stupid. That one about the teacher making meth was simply unwatchable. The AD=MEN show was, well, how it made you feel so superior to regular folks just a few decades older than you really plushed up the Amerikan vanity (nostalgia will kill you). How much of this Golden Age of Television, really finally possibly exploiting the means of its medium, actually weighed in with the quality of writing found in that Original Golden Age of Television? I mean back in the day of Twilight Zone and Hitchcock's shorts? Seems like today the ratio of Gold to Dross is about the same it's always been.
At any rate. The question everyone has on the tip of their collective tongue is whether Danielewski can hold out this level of performance over the course of 26 episodes/volumes. Because Season One is a real hum=dinger. If you weren't hooked already by episode One and still slouched through Two, I just dunno. He's really got it all. I truly love the pyrotechnics ; but it's not a gimmick covering a voiding gape. The man can write. From the prose to the characters to the plot to the imagination to the unexplicated ; everything that falls under the category of "to write". Especially the imagination. Parts of this book are still yours to imagine as you please ; I mean the front=matter and the back=matter. But even the middle matter, much of which begins to tie together in this episode, provides more than adequate room for a readers' imagination to soar.
Which maybe is what The Familiar was intended to do from the very beginning when Mark described it simply enough as A little girl finds a kitten. If that wasn't enough already to get the imagination going, well... it certainly is enough to get Mark's imagination going through these first Five Episodes/Seasons.
I still have no idea how to write about this. What do you want to compare it to? It's superiorly imaginative compared to HoL (imho). It's muchmuch more average=readerly friendly than Only Revolutions (which I swear I'll give another run at). It looks even more like a 21st cent novel than does McIntosh's equally enjoyable but much shorter mystery.doc. It's muchmuch more of the world and polycultural than IJ. It's more pure fiction than Vollmann. Maybe in course of imagination only Miss MacIntosh meets it. Maybe it's just a 21st cent Balzac/Zola?
At any rate. You'll want to get on board very soon. This is shaping up to be the literary train of the (early) 20th cent. Not much is going to match up to it. atm only the outstanding two volumes of the Dreams comes even close. And even if something grander than The Familiar comes out of Left Field, you'll never know it.
This thing is going to be big ; the finished project will weigh out to the precise weight of a bag of Portland Cement. 94#. [look it up ; I've crunched that number already]
It's not the only literary project this ambitious. Seven Dreams is up there in that realm. There's those massive Naturalist projects from the 19th cent ; one from Balzac one from Zola. If the Wake were spelled out in Basic English (throughout) it'd probably come to about what the Z=man's 26 volumes weigh out to be. Sack of cement.
And too we must mention that these 26 volumes are homaging to perhaps 26 episodes of standard practice in this Golden Age of Television. Mind you though that the serial Television form is much more appropriate to the novel=form than even the 4=hour cinematic form.
I've glutted out already though on the Golden Age of Television stuff. In the past (say) three years I've discovered at most zero new Shows that have attracted my interest. Pretty much since the time Sons of Anarchy signed off in what by then had become self-parody. BSG was great but then started limping and lumbering under its own (galactic) weight. Deadwood was zero'd=out waaaay before it's time. Carnival too (although I didn't see much hope for it). Lost was tediously stupid. That one about the teacher making meth was simply unwatchable. The AD=MEN show was, well, how it made you feel so superior to regular folks just a few decades older than you really plushed up the Amerikan vanity (nostalgia will kill you). How much of this Golden Age of Television, really finally possibly exploiting the means of its medium, actually weighed in with the quality of writing found in that Original Golden Age of Television? I mean back in the day of Twilight Zone and Hitchcock's shorts? Seems like today the ratio of Gold to Dross is about the same it's always been.
At any rate. The question everyone has on the tip of their collective tongue is whether Danielewski can hold out this level of performance over the course of 26 episodes/volumes. Because Season One is a real hum=dinger. If you weren't hooked already by episode One and still slouched through Two, I just dunno. He's really got it all. I truly love the pyrotechnics ; but it's not a gimmick covering a voiding gape. The man can write. From the prose to the characters to the plot to the imagination to the unexplicated ; everything that falls under the category of "to write". Especially the imagination. Parts of this book are still yours to imagine as you please ; I mean the front=matter and the back=matter. But even the middle matter, much of which begins to tie together in this episode, provides more than adequate room for a readers' imagination to soar.
Which maybe is what The Familiar was intended to do from the very beginning when Mark described it simply enough as A little girl finds a kitten. If that wasn't enough already to get the imagination going, well... it certainly is enough to get Mark's imagination going through these first Five Episodes/Seasons.
I still have no idea how to write about this. What do you want to compare it to? It's superiorly imaginative compared to HoL (imho). It's muchmuch more average=readerly friendly than Only Revolutions (which I swear I'll give another run at). It looks even more like a 21st cent novel than does McIntosh's equally enjoyable but much shorter mystery.doc. It's muchmuch more of the world and polycultural than IJ. It's more pure fiction than Vollmann. Maybe in course of imagination only Miss MacIntosh meets it. Maybe it's just a 21st cent Balzac/Zola?
At any rate. You'll want to get on board very soon. This is shaping up to be the literary train of the (early) 20th cent. Not much is going to match up to it. atm only the outstanding two volumes of the Dreams comes even close. And even if something grander than The Familiar comes out of Left Field, you'll never know it.
October 31, 2017
When Persephone devoured the six seeds of the pomegranate, she banished herself to six months in the realm of Hades, and consequently the earth to six months of winter (& fall). The price we pay for the things we take may not come to bear until it’s too late to undo. In The Familiar series, up to this point, we’ve tracked nine stories that from the very outset promised us deep, mysterious connexion, despite how strange and disparate the characters in them seemed: a gang leader and his crew in LA, an Armenian cab driver, a mother and husband and their three children, a Singaporean struggling-to-recover addict and the mysterious old healer woman who seems to need him as much as he needs her, a Turkish homicide detective, a fugitive duo in possession of a technology powerful enough to cause paradigm shift in humanity, and an existential cartel hitman in Mexico.
As the story has unfolded across these five books, we’ve made literal and glancing connexions. Teased with them across arcs. Characters bump into each other like celestial bodies in near-miss events—the direct impact would bear steeper significance, but the gravitational pull of their interactions (large and small) pull and drag the world around them. Reverberations cut across the globe like the tidal locking of the Earth and the Moon—each one’s gravity balancing the other’s trajectory. And at the center of the novel’s gravity are Xanther and the cat she saved (or the cat that chose her to save it[?]): the true story at the heart of the series, because it seems the cat is what kicks off these connexions and significances. The cat cast as the force of gravitational matter. Along the way, Mark Z. Danielewski has buttressed these books with an outpouring of world and character, myth and meaning, motif and symbolism, plot and strife. Each volume meted out with the grace of a slowly unfurling tapestry telling an age-old tale. In book five, we’re delighted with a grand-scale conclusion to what has been hyped as the “Season One Finale.”
In The Familiar, Volume Five: Redwood, MZD delivers one of the most direct, action-thrust entries so far in the living novel. While this entry spans the course of less than 24 hours, the first half of the book adopts the Rashomon technique of story-telling, letting several overlapping characters fill in the hazy spots of the surreal and supernatural events unfurling. Meanwhile, the second half bears ripe rewards for readers searching for answers, which are buried in action. Where some of the book’s action takes the whole volume to unwind, other plotlines spiral and twirl, unveiling some of the darker secrets plaguing readers to this point. Secrets, though, each like a seed of the pomegranate, come with the burden of their yet-known price, doling out further unfurling mysteries ripe with the garnet juices dribbling down your chin. The pomegranate never sates, and where we pluck the kernels from its sweet chambers, a seemingly endless supply of pips comes unburied in the devouring.
What does all this mean about Redwood? It is full of action. Full of answers to questions simmering these past 2.5 years since One Rainy Day in May saw the sun. But it’s now the questions of what those answers mean that we must wait to discover in book six. As answers spring forth, new questions and potential plot lines arise while much-anticipated interactions create new conflicts. And the way this book destroys certain barriers and formal elements in the previous four tomes makes clear that MZD has many more tricks up his sleeves. While Redwood may lack some of the more layered meanings and multifaceted applications of ancient mythology like Hades does, it has its wealth of jaw-dropping moments and mind-blowing revelations. Revelations in all senses of its meaning. Now I pay my time abiding the seeds I’ve eaten while I wait for Season Two to keep fucking me up.
My reviews for other books in the series below:
Volume 1: One Rainy Day in May
Volume 2: Into the Forest
Volume 3: Honeysuckle & Pain
Volume 4: Hades
As the story has unfolded across these five books, we’ve made literal and glancing connexions. Teased with them across arcs. Characters bump into each other like celestial bodies in near-miss events—the direct impact would bear steeper significance, but the gravitational pull of their interactions (large and small) pull and drag the world around them. Reverberations cut across the globe like the tidal locking of the Earth and the Moon—each one’s gravity balancing the other’s trajectory. And at the center of the novel’s gravity are Xanther and the cat she saved (or the cat that chose her to save it[?]): the true story at the heart of the series, because it seems the cat is what kicks off these connexions and significances. The cat cast as the force of gravitational matter. Along the way, Mark Z. Danielewski has buttressed these books with an outpouring of world and character, myth and meaning, motif and symbolism, plot and strife. Each volume meted out with the grace of a slowly unfurling tapestry telling an age-old tale. In book five, we’re delighted with a grand-scale conclusion to what has been hyped as the “Season One Finale.”
In The Familiar, Volume Five: Redwood, MZD delivers one of the most direct, action-thrust entries so far in the living novel. While this entry spans the course of less than 24 hours, the first half of the book adopts the Rashomon technique of story-telling, letting several overlapping characters fill in the hazy spots of the surreal and supernatural events unfurling. Meanwhile, the second half bears ripe rewards for readers searching for answers, which are buried in action. Where some of the book’s action takes the whole volume to unwind, other plotlines spiral and twirl, unveiling some of the darker secrets plaguing readers to this point. Secrets, though, each like a seed of the pomegranate, come with the burden of their yet-known price, doling out further unfurling mysteries ripe with the garnet juices dribbling down your chin. The pomegranate never sates, and where we pluck the kernels from its sweet chambers, a seemingly endless supply of pips comes unburied in the devouring.
What does all this mean about Redwood? It is full of action. Full of answers to questions simmering these past 2.5 years since One Rainy Day in May saw the sun. But it’s now the questions of what those answers mean that we must wait to discover in book six. As answers spring forth, new questions and potential plot lines arise while much-anticipated interactions create new conflicts. And the way this book destroys certain barriers and formal elements in the previous four tomes makes clear that MZD has many more tricks up his sleeves. While Redwood may lack some of the more layered meanings and multifaceted applications of ancient mythology like Hades does, it has its wealth of jaw-dropping moments and mind-blowing revelations. Revelations in all senses of its meaning. Now I pay my time abiding the seeds I’ve eaten while I wait for Season Two to keep fucking me up.
My reviews for other books in the series below:
Volume 1: One Rainy Day in May
Volume 2: Into the Forest
Volume 3: Honeysuckle & Pain
Volume 4: Hades
February 16, 2018
In the blurb on the back of this volume, it says ... "Conceived as the book version of a long-running TV show...". This feels like an accurate way to describe what I have read so far (it reminds me of the years I spent watching "Lost"). Volume 5 pulls together several of the story lines that have been gradually converging. It seems weird to say this about something that has taken 4000+ pages to get to this point, but it felt a bit rushed in the end.
Reading The Familiar is unlike reading anything else that I've come across. It is a book for our times i.e. our multi-media, social networking times. It relies, I think, on its readers taking the time to explore outside the text (in interaction on various wiki's or facebook pages etc.) and being willing to explore within the text for internal references.
I would be interested in continuing to explore this world that Danielewski has created. Whilst Volume 5 reaches a place where things culminate, it does feel like a pause rather than an end.
The trouble is, I don't know when or even if I will get the chance to continue the journey. The associated Facebook page contains an announcement from Danielewski that says "Unfortunately, I must agree with Pantheon that for now the number of readers is not sufficient to justify the cost of continuing." So, it seems like there is a pause of indeterminate length before Volume 6 arrives. Which is a shame. It needs more readers in order to bring it back to life.
Reading The Familiar is unlike reading anything else that I've come across. It is a book for our times i.e. our multi-media, social networking times. It relies, I think, on its readers taking the time to explore outside the text (in interaction on various wiki's or facebook pages etc.) and being willing to explore within the text for internal references.
I would be interested in continuing to explore this world that Danielewski has created. Whilst Volume 5 reaches a place where things culminate, it does feel like a pause rather than an end.
The trouble is, I don't know when or even if I will get the chance to continue the journey. The associated Facebook page contains an announcement from Danielewski that says "Unfortunately, I must agree with Pantheon that for now the number of readers is not sufficient to justify the cost of continuing." So, it seems like there is a pause of indeterminate length before Volume 6 arrives. Which is a shame. It needs more readers in order to bring it back to life.
Read
April 8, 2023An appreciation: https://youtu.be/iZxsWv6Hh7k
December 4, 2017
Volume 5 of Danielewski’s projected 27-volume opus ends what he calls ‘Season One.’
Patterned after the slow-developing serial shows common on HBO, Netflix and Amazon these days (like Stranger Things, True Detective, Mindhunter), The Familiar began in 2015 with the release of V1 ‘One Rainy Day in May,’ in which we were introduced to nine major characters, one of them a little girl, Xanther, who rescues a white kitten. Anyone familiar with Danielewski’s previous work (HOUSE OF LEAVES) knows that it is dense and visually arresting, utilizing the visual space of the pages, the arrangement of fonts, selection of fonts and colors and white space, as integral to the story as the words themselves. It’s a sort of ‘visual writing’ (as it’s been described) where the physical book itself is inseparable from the text. Just when the pundits have announced the death of the physical book, along comes Danielewski and reinvents it. Although his work is available on Kindle, I can’t imagine having the same sensory experience as reading the beautifully produced paper books.
In ‘Redwood’ we [finally] see the paths of our major characters, who have been spread about the globe from California to Mexico to Singapore, converging. We knew they eventually would. The unlikely thread that has connected all of them: a little girl and her kitten. And of course, the little girl is not JUST a little girl, and neither is the kitten JUST a kitten. Oh no. Danielewski ‘s FAMILIAR universe is just that, the entire universe, space and time, full of science, history, mythology, and magic.
I’ve described some of the characters in comments I made on earlier volumes, so I won’t again. ‘Redwood’ is full of major upheavals for the characters, some unalterably changed. The kitten is named, and its true horrible nature is [partially(?)] revealed. ‘Redwood’ is a fitting end to Season One, and leaves off with a hell of a cliffhanger.
While I love Danielewski’s work, his experimental visions, I can’t quite decide where I stand on this 27-volume project. It seems too ambitious, expecting too much from the readers. I was willing to go along with the first season to see where this was going, but despite enjoying it, I’m just not sure I’ll be on board for the next season.
Patterned after the slow-developing serial shows common on HBO, Netflix and Amazon these days (like Stranger Things, True Detective, Mindhunter), The Familiar began in 2015 with the release of V1 ‘One Rainy Day in May,’ in which we were introduced to nine major characters, one of them a little girl, Xanther, who rescues a white kitten. Anyone familiar with Danielewski’s previous work (HOUSE OF LEAVES) knows that it is dense and visually arresting, utilizing the visual space of the pages, the arrangement of fonts, selection of fonts and colors and white space, as integral to the story as the words themselves. It’s a sort of ‘visual writing’ (as it’s been described) where the physical book itself is inseparable from the text. Just when the pundits have announced the death of the physical book, along comes Danielewski and reinvents it. Although his work is available on Kindle, I can’t imagine having the same sensory experience as reading the beautifully produced paper books.
In ‘Redwood’ we [finally] see the paths of our major characters, who have been spread about the globe from California to Mexico to Singapore, converging. We knew they eventually would. The unlikely thread that has connected all of them: a little girl and her kitten. And of course, the little girl is not JUST a little girl, and neither is the kitten JUST a kitten. Oh no. Danielewski ‘s FAMILIAR universe is just that, the entire universe, space and time, full of science, history, mythology, and magic.
I’ve described some of the characters in comments I made on earlier volumes, so I won’t again. ‘Redwood’ is full of major upheavals for the characters, some unalterably changed. The kitten is named, and its true horrible nature is [partially(?)] revealed. ‘Redwood’ is a fitting end to Season One, and leaves off with a hell of a cliffhanger.
While I love Danielewski’s work, his experimental visions, I can’t quite decide where I stand on this 27-volume project. It seems too ambitious, expecting too much from the readers. I was willing to go along with the first season to see where this was going, but despite enjoying it, I’m just not sure I’ll be on board for the next season.
December 31, 2017
While I had been gradually accumulating the volumes of The Familiar during the previous three years, I decided to read them all (Season1, Volumes 1-5), back-to-back, in December 2017.
I wonder if this is a good idea? The centre point of the story, Xanther’s bond with the nameless kitten, just started to get a bit repetitive. Had I been a reader picking up each six months, as the next instalment was released, I suspect I would not have felt the degree of reading fatigue that is just slightly weighing on me.
As anticipated, volume 5 ties together a number of the hitherto separate story strands. I might be a bit critical, but there’s some expediency in the amalgamation of storylines, I feel.
The advantage of writing such a contemporary novel (working in changes in technology, world affairs), is that The Familiar does feel very much of its time (2015-7). Danielewski comments:
In the future some Twitter star could end up president....if that's right then these kinds of tragedy (local homicide) are slowly being rendered invisible" (709)
After nearly 4,500 (admittedly truncated) pages of character development The Familiar is a literary concept that expects its readership to search out the obtuse meanings, to make sense of vagaries, to identify connections through social media. It’s a living, organic thing that suits group discussion, coffee room gatherings, collegiate campus analysis. There’s an active Facebook page and group, moderated by the author himself. This is writing in an inclusive way, for the modern era. As such it is fascinating, and different.
I’m undoubtedly interested in continuing to follow and participate in this literary journey. And it will seem rather bland and one dimensional to go back to reading literature in the next few months comprised of a standard typeface and blocks of text in recognisable paragraphs and chapters!!
I wonder if this is a good idea? The centre point of the story, Xanther’s bond with the nameless kitten, just started to get a bit repetitive. Had I been a reader picking up each six months, as the next instalment was released, I suspect I would not have felt the degree of reading fatigue that is just slightly weighing on me.
As anticipated, volume 5 ties together a number of the hitherto separate story strands. I might be a bit critical, but there’s some expediency in the amalgamation of storylines, I feel.
The advantage of writing such a contemporary novel (working in changes in technology, world affairs), is that The Familiar does feel very much of its time (2015-7). Danielewski comments:
In the future some Twitter star could end up president....if that's right then these kinds of tragedy (local homicide) are slowly being rendered invisible" (709)
After nearly 4,500 (admittedly truncated) pages of character development The Familiar is a literary concept that expects its readership to search out the obtuse meanings, to make sense of vagaries, to identify connections through social media. It’s a living, organic thing that suits group discussion, coffee room gatherings, collegiate campus analysis. There’s an active Facebook page and group, moderated by the author himself. This is writing in an inclusive way, for the modern era. As such it is fascinating, and different.
I’m undoubtedly interested in continuing to follow and participate in this literary journey. And it will seem rather bland and one dimensional to go back to reading literature in the next few months comprised of a standard typeface and blocks of text in recognisable paragraphs and chapters!!
March 24, 2018
Best book in the series so far, things are starting to come together with several of the plot strands intersecting. The cat is named!
However the news that the title has been dropped by the publisher is a real blow. Let's hope it finds a new home soon so we can discover what happens next.
However the news that the title has been dropped by the publisher is a real blow. Let's hope it finds a new home soon so we can discover what happens next.
November 7, 2017
In retrospect, it should have been obvious that this series needed to be considered as a multi-year TV drama, with #5 serving as "season finale" (though thank you, Javier Calvo, for verbalizing the obvious). The jump-cuts, fades, and bleed-overs from one scene to the next fits the tenor of a supernatural or sci-fi cable or Netflix series well (begging the question of when Danielewski might get his contract). And, as with many season finales, Redwood wastes little time in further character development, but launches the nail-biting tension from the first pages.
By now, readers are either fully invested in Danielewski's mutlti-decade project, or have given up showing an interest in The Familiar. What should appeal to skeptics far more than just the sheer heft of the books, however, is the dazzling works of art to be appreciated, even if the story is hard to follow. Try getting that kind of eye candy from the huge volumes of Martin or Knausgaard! Book 5 has a certain crispness in the art, not that it is more complex than in the four previous volumes, but that Xanther's views of forests, flames, and stones in the eyes come together as well as Cas's attempts at scrying an orb, or the visual result of seeing an orb click blocked. Cops and drug dealers and Armenian musicians are as aware as Xanther and Bobby and the chosen that something has been awakened in this universe which spells trouble, whether that is synsnap, Sinaloa narco armies wreaking havoc, or bowls of Meow Mix.
This book centers on the inevitable meeting of Xanther and Tian Li, and the ceremonial passing on of the cat, newly named Redwood. Tian Li and Jingjing each are clear in their own way with cryptic warnings about the responsibility of moving in the cat's universe, yet it is still not certain who or what the cat works for. Teo? Recluse? Isandorno? Or bigger forces yet to be revealed? And what are the forces the cat attempts to unleash?
It's good that Danielewski is being more generous in his references to previous volumes, better still that a Wiki exists, at least for Volume 1 (http://the-familiar.wikia.com/wiki/Th...). Danielewski also helps in pulling together several plot lines through 40 pages of resonating waves (pp. 570-610), even if the power signified by the waves remains a bit fuzzy.
The easy conclusion after the first five volumes of Danielewski's ambitious project is that nothing has been attempted in printed literature that even comes close to The Familiar. After five volumes, the reader feels like a viewer anticipating the next season of "Stranger Things," or someone cracking open Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes. The anticipation is delicious, but it is tempered by the intuitive fear that one might not want to wander any deeper into this forest - except, of course, that it's far too late to turn back, as the bread crumbs showing the way home have vanished, replaced by flames and stones.
By now, readers are either fully invested in Danielewski's mutlti-decade project, or have given up showing an interest in The Familiar. What should appeal to skeptics far more than just the sheer heft of the books, however, is the dazzling works of art to be appreciated, even if the story is hard to follow. Try getting that kind of eye candy from the huge volumes of Martin or Knausgaard! Book 5 has a certain crispness in the art, not that it is more complex than in the four previous volumes, but that Xanther's views of forests, flames, and stones in the eyes come together as well as Cas's attempts at scrying an orb, or the visual result of seeing an orb click blocked. Cops and drug dealers and Armenian musicians are as aware as Xanther and Bobby and the chosen that something has been awakened in this universe which spells trouble, whether that is synsnap, Sinaloa narco armies wreaking havoc, or bowls of Meow Mix.
This book centers on the inevitable meeting of Xanther and Tian Li, and the ceremonial passing on of the cat, newly named Redwood. Tian Li and Jingjing each are clear in their own way with cryptic warnings about the responsibility of moving in the cat's universe, yet it is still not certain who or what the cat works for. Teo? Recluse? Isandorno? Or bigger forces yet to be revealed? And what are the forces the cat attempts to unleash?
It's good that Danielewski is being more generous in his references to previous volumes, better still that a Wiki exists, at least for Volume 1 (http://the-familiar.wikia.com/wiki/Th...). Danielewski also helps in pulling together several plot lines through 40 pages of resonating waves (pp. 570-610), even if the power signified by the waves remains a bit fuzzy.
The easy conclusion after the first five volumes of Danielewski's ambitious project is that nothing has been attempted in printed literature that even comes close to The Familiar. After five volumes, the reader feels like a viewer anticipating the next season of "Stranger Things," or someone cracking open Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes. The anticipation is delicious, but it is tempered by the intuitive fear that one might not want to wander any deeper into this forest - except, of course, that it's far too late to turn back, as the bread crumbs showing the way home have vanished, replaced by flames and stones.
November 13, 2017
There's only one thing I particularly dislike about this series: the wait for the next volume. I just wish I could stay in this fascinating parallel universe that Danielewski has created with the Familiar.
Volume 5 answers a few questions I had had while reading the series, but there's already a new "Question Song" (to quote Xanther) in my head.
I just love the way Danielewski writes. There's so many levels of pleasure in deciphering the story behind the text. Also, what a genius move to make Vol. 5 smell like Redwood. That's just a whole other level of awesomeness.
I could ramble on about how great this series or book is, but best were if you just buy or borrow Volume 1 and start for yourself.
Volume 5 answers a few questions I had had while reading the series, but there's already a new "Question Song" (to quote Xanther) in my head.
I just love the way Danielewski writes. There's so many levels of pleasure in deciphering the story behind the text. Also, what a genius move to make Vol. 5 smell like Redwood. That's just a whole other level of awesomeness.
I could ramble on about how great this series or book is, but best were if you just buy or borrow Volume 1 and start for yourself.
May 27, 2024
Review time!!!
Wow, just wow. Honestly this book had me on the verge of TEARS.
It really saddens me to see other reviews of this book and read everyone's hopeful attitude towards the 6th one 😕 hopefully one day The Familiar will have it's chance to continue. But until then, we'll be left thinking of everything that went wrong, and everything that is waiting to happen. This book was a PERFECT season finale. So many plotlines opened up to branch out into future plots, something I'm just aching to read 😭
The orb?? The clips? Especially as far as book 1 with the clip of the pyramid like thing. So much was built up for a highly intricate story. So much could happen beyond just a little cat being found and I have to applaud Danielewski for it. Whatever he had planned for this series, I only know it was going to be perfect.
Despite the lengths of these books, I got through them very easily. They were addicting, and the characters just felt so real. I found myself feeling heartbroken over certain events that happened (ESPECIALLY flashbacks of Dov. It was torture).
Really wish I had owned these books before reading 😕 the constant mention to prior books felt very needed to go back and review what was being referenced. Hopeful I'll own them before my re-read in the future.
Props to Anwar and Astair for being my fav straight couple 🫶
Wow, just wow. Honestly this book had me on the verge of TEARS.
It really saddens me to see other reviews of this book and read everyone's hopeful attitude towards the 6th one 😕 hopefully one day The Familiar will have it's chance to continue. But until then, we'll be left thinking of everything that went wrong, and everything that is waiting to happen. This book was a PERFECT season finale. So many plotlines opened up to branch out into future plots, something I'm just aching to read 😭
The orb?? The clips? Especially as far as book 1 with the clip of the pyramid like thing. So much was built up for a highly intricate story. So much could happen beyond just a little cat being found and I have to applaud Danielewski for it. Whatever he had planned for this series, I only know it was going to be perfect.
Despite the lengths of these books, I got through them very easily. They were addicting, and the characters just felt so real. I found myself feeling heartbroken over certain events that happened (ESPECIALLY flashbacks of Dov. It was torture).
Really wish I had owned these books before reading 😕 the constant mention to prior books felt very needed to go back and review what was being referenced. Hopeful I'll own them before my re-read in the future.
Props to Anwar and Astair for being my fav straight couple 🫶
March 6, 2018
This book is like a universe of it's own. If you love feeling like there is more than what the eye can see, and love getting lost in an amazing labyrinth of intriguing mindfucks, this is just the book for you...
it changed my life in so many small ways. It made me feel like a teenager obsessing over a favorite band again. It made me do more art, it made me wear pink sneakers (because I love Xanther so much) and it made me dye some Shirts, and braid my hair, because I keep hoping to bump into a fellow super fan on the street one day.
it changed my life in so many small ways. It made me feel like a teenager obsessing over a favorite band again. It made me do more art, it made me wear pink sneakers (because I love Xanther so much) and it made me dye some Shirts, and braid my hair, because I keep hoping to bump into a fellow super fan on the street one day.
Read
November 23, 2021Can't say this was the most satisfying ending after five 800 page books, nor that I would want to read another 20+ volumes...
February 19, 2019
I don't care how many volumes Mark puts out in this series, I'm gonna read them all. Yeah, they are that good.
April 23, 2018
The Familiar isn't for everyone. But it'll change the life of everyone it's for
April 1, 2021
I don't think you could accurately describe how reading this book makes you feel, but I'm going to try regardless.
The characters you've spent 4, 800-page books with, are finally, with some exeptions, all together. Similarly to the first book, which took place during a singe day, "Redwood" takes place during the course of just one night. This creates huge stakes and and i felt the tension of each stroryline thoughout.
As always, even though this is technically prose, it's so beautifully written that it sometimes feels more like poetry - in that the focus of the words is at times not on whats being said, but rather HOW it is said.
That is not to say that the plot is anything other that spectacular. There are many great revelations and shocking moments, which effected me even more due to how they were emphasized visually. There are some pages in here, that are a perfect blend of beautiful text and "Danielewski" visuals - in a way in which you totally understand what is being portrayed. My favorite one of these also serves as an amazing callback to "One Rainy Day in May" and i absolutely loved it.
It left me hungry for more, and also destrought over the fact that it's unlikely there will ever be a continuation. I have just grown so fond of these characters, because the way in which their chapters are written makes you feel like you get to know them very intimately.
Oh well, i guess i'll just have to force my friends to read these books, like i did with "House of Leaves" ;)
The characters you've spent 4, 800-page books with, are finally, with some exeptions, all together. Similarly to the first book, which took place during a singe day, "Redwood" takes place during the course of just one night. This creates huge stakes and and i felt the tension of each stroryline thoughout.
As always, even though this is technically prose, it's so beautifully written that it sometimes feels more like poetry - in that the focus of the words is at times not on whats being said, but rather HOW it is said.
That is not to say that the plot is anything other that spectacular. There are many great revelations and shocking moments, which effected me even more due to how they were emphasized visually. There are some pages in here, that are a perfect blend of beautiful text and "Danielewski" visuals - in a way in which you totally understand what is being portrayed. My favorite one of these also serves as an amazing callback to "One Rainy Day in May" and i absolutely loved it.
It left me hungry for more, and also destrought over the fact that it's unlikely there will ever be a continuation. I have just grown so fond of these characters, because the way in which their chapters are written makes you feel like you get to know them very intimately.
Oh well, i guess i'll just have to force my friends to read these books, like i did with "House of Leaves" ;)
May 18, 2025
Well, I finished the prematurely canceled The Familiar series that was less than 20% complete (Danielewski planned twenty-seven volumes — only five were published). It’s a bit frustrating because I can see the hallmarks of how the series would have continually gotten better and paid off plot points over time, as each protagonist slowly begins to interact and intersect with each other. I would have loved to have seen what the culmination of this plot was intended to be, and I hope Danieleweski is able to complete this story one way or another in the near future (fingers crossed his new novel has some nods to it 🤞🏻🤞🏻).
For now, I am satisfied with where the series prematurely ended — although I would love more.
Stray thought one — love that the name of the cat was finally revealed!
Stray thought two — love that Astair is reading another Danielewski book to the twins (further proving all of his works are connected)!!
For now, I am satisfied with where the series prematurely ended — although I would love more.
Stray thought one — love that the name of the cat was finally revealed!
Stray thought two — love that Astair is reading another Danielewski book to the twins (further proving all of his works are connected)!!
February 18, 2018
HOLY CRAP. This book is THE best book I have ever read. It is a non-stop beautiful story that is brought to a Mini conclusion. We learn so many things, and so many story lines cross and explode into view. I read this whole book in one night because I could not wait to see how it ended. The Familiar Volume 5 has surpassed my previous favorite, Danielewski's House Of Leaves, as my new favorite. Please read this series. I implore you. It will change the way you look at the world, and how you look at books.
#BeAHymnForGood
#BeAHymnForGood
November 19, 2023
I enjoyed the book, but I don't know if I can give a general recommendation to read it. Season 1 of The Familiar is not a complete story, and it's likely the story would not be complete until all 20+ volumes have been written. Writing those books is not an easy task, and it's not a free task. From what I've gathered, "The Familiar" does not yet have the readership to justify concluding the story.
There's a good chance you'll enjoy reading these books, and for the sake of the series I hope people do read them, but at this point in time you will not be reading a complete story
There's a good chance you'll enjoy reading these books, and for the sake of the series I hope people do read them, but at this point in time you will not be reading a complete story
December 11, 2017
I would say this is where the magic happens, so to speak. With all the characters beginning to interact with one another, in unexpected ways (to my mind). The power is mystic & mysterious, those involved who are influenced aren't entirely sure what they are dealing with. A wonderful continuation leaving me looking forward to the next step.
November 19, 2017
A fabulous conclusion to season 1 of The Familiar. Some answers, but plenty of questions lingering for season 2. Can’t wait! Keep them coming, Mark!
December 24, 2017
I finished this a month and a half ago and still don't have the time or courage to sum up my thoughts. The climax of this volume is a moment that made me physically gasp and yell "No, fuck!" Just ask my cat, who wouldn't come near me for a while after.
That Pantheon is considering not continuing to publish this series is a travesty. It's the only book series for which I look up release dates and put them in my calendar. There is even a pop-up reminder set UNLIKE for my mom's birthday.
The cat finally gets a name in this volume, and my only gripe is that it is not nearly gay enough.
That Pantheon is considering not continuing to publish this series is a travesty. It's the only book series for which I look up release dates and put them in my calendar. There is even a pop-up reminder set UNLIKE for my mom's birthday.
The cat finally gets a name in this volume, and my only gripe is that it is not nearly gay enough.
January 22, 2021
May not continue if series ever picks up again. I love what it's trying to do but, Mark is clearly too in love with his own writing to condense and create something worth spending more time enjoying. HoL will always be his "Huge Hit" for me.
October 2, 2023
"The Familiar Volume 5: Redwood" concludes Mark Z. Danielewski's initially planned 27-volume series in an absorbing and touching manner. It binds the diverse threads together, providing satisfying character growth, intriguing clues, and drawing readers deeper into the interlocked narratives of its multifaceted characters.
Set over the span of a single day, this volume continues to explore the narrative voices and struggles of the increasingly complex characters who each deal with their unique circumstances. The bond between epileptic Xanther and the enigmatic cat she calls ‘Redwood’ strengthens as Danielewski beautifully portrays their growing connection. Xanther’s struggles with school, seizures, and social pressures are meticulously detailed, invoking deep empathy.
Parallel plot lines involving JingJing’s trysts with the supernatural in Singapore, Luther's battle against street-gang culture in Los Angeles, Anwar's hurdles in the realm of virtual gaming, Astair's grappling with motherhood and scholarly endeavors, and Özgür's blossoming relationship with Detective Talbot, all find embedded reminders of the cryptic VEM notes and its potential global implications.
"Redwood" stands out as an ode to the characters who have become real people to the readers over the series. Their fears, hopes, aspirations, and struggles mirror the complexities of life, and Danielewski’s masterful weaving of their narratives is worthy of praise.
Visually, the book is unique as it carries on the aesthetics of the earlier volumes with its distinctive layout, multi-colored fonts, and copious margin notes. Rewarding readers with a profoundly immersive visual and textual experience, it calls for active engagement and exploration, a testament to Danielewski's profound creativity and ambition.
With "Redwood," Danielewski also comments on contemporary issues like climate change, social inequality, and the nature of consciousness, transporting the reader across a kaleidoscope of locations, cultures, and experiences, all echoing a similar undertone of trepidation and change.
However, a note of melancholy is struck in acknowledging that this volume marks the end of "The Familiar" series. The remaining 22 volumes remain locked away in Danielewski's mind that readers may never have the chance to read. Given the intricacy and thoughtfulness found in the first five volumes, the saga’s incomplete status is universally felt by loyal fans.
Yet, "The Familiar Volume 5: Redwood" has managed to provide a sense of closure, despite many questions left unanswered. The final chapter leaves room for interpretation and projection, allowing readers to construct their epilogue—a testament to the strength of the series’ construction and Danielewski’s intricate storytelling.
"The Familiar Volume 5: Redwood" does justice to the ambitious project Danielewski had initially conceived. It is an astonishing literary accomplishment that pushes the borders of conventional fiction. Despite its premature end, the series remains a staggering vision of storytelling blended with richly-detailed narratives and groundbreaking typographical play. It leaves a lasting impression about the potential of what fiction can achieve, and reconfirms Mark Z. Danielewski's place as a vanguard of innovative literature.
Set over the span of a single day, this volume continues to explore the narrative voices and struggles of the increasingly complex characters who each deal with their unique circumstances. The bond between epileptic Xanther and the enigmatic cat she calls ‘Redwood’ strengthens as Danielewski beautifully portrays their growing connection. Xanther’s struggles with school, seizures, and social pressures are meticulously detailed, invoking deep empathy.
Parallel plot lines involving JingJing’s trysts with the supernatural in Singapore, Luther's battle against street-gang culture in Los Angeles, Anwar's hurdles in the realm of virtual gaming, Astair's grappling with motherhood and scholarly endeavors, and Özgür's blossoming relationship with Detective Talbot, all find embedded reminders of the cryptic VEM notes and its potential global implications.
"Redwood" stands out as an ode to the characters who have become real people to the readers over the series. Their fears, hopes, aspirations, and struggles mirror the complexities of life, and Danielewski’s masterful weaving of their narratives is worthy of praise.
Visually, the book is unique as it carries on the aesthetics of the earlier volumes with its distinctive layout, multi-colored fonts, and copious margin notes. Rewarding readers with a profoundly immersive visual and textual experience, it calls for active engagement and exploration, a testament to Danielewski's profound creativity and ambition.
With "Redwood," Danielewski also comments on contemporary issues like climate change, social inequality, and the nature of consciousness, transporting the reader across a kaleidoscope of locations, cultures, and experiences, all echoing a similar undertone of trepidation and change.
However, a note of melancholy is struck in acknowledging that this volume marks the end of "The Familiar" series. The remaining 22 volumes remain locked away in Danielewski's mind that readers may never have the chance to read. Given the intricacy and thoughtfulness found in the first five volumes, the saga’s incomplete status is universally felt by loyal fans.
Yet, "The Familiar Volume 5: Redwood" has managed to provide a sense of closure, despite many questions left unanswered. The final chapter leaves room for interpretation and projection, allowing readers to construct their epilogue—a testament to the strength of the series’ construction and Danielewski’s intricate storytelling.
"The Familiar Volume 5: Redwood" does justice to the ambitious project Danielewski had initially conceived. It is an astonishing literary accomplishment that pushes the borders of conventional fiction. Despite its premature end, the series remains a staggering vision of storytelling blended with richly-detailed narratives and groundbreaking typographical play. It leaves a lasting impression about the potential of what fiction can achieve, and reconfirms Mark Z. Danielewski's place as a vanguard of innovative literature.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 24, 2017
My reviews for the first four volumes: One Rainy day in May, Into the Forest, Honeysuckle and Pain, Hades.
Thus we reach the latest novelty of the Familiar experiment: the season finale. The first four volumes slowly drew the disparate characters of the The Familiar, who have spent thousands of beautifully type-faced pages engaging in mischief, violence and introspection, directly into eachother’s paths. At last, we see them meet.
The great majority of Redwood is concerned with a single scene occurring in the Ibrahim’s living room. A gathering of main characters clashing over the fate of the eponymous kitten. It is a perfectly good scene. An interesting scene. Character and plot. It does what a good scene should.
But it’s the same scene repeated by the five different point of view characters present. There’s sundry details revealed in each chapter. Naturally one person will notice things that another does not. This includes some neat bits like seeing the Ibrahim’s comfortable middle-class house and lifestyle observed by other, less-privileged characters when we’ve already spent multiple books listening to Astair and Anwar struggle with money. Hardly enough to justify the repetition though.
There is nothing inherently wrong with a tight focus. Volume 1 comprised a single day, one rainy day in May, which felt lovingly crafted and well-paced, delving into the recursive depths and quotidian trauma a single day can hold. By contrast, volume 5 feels scant, even sloppy. It’s not merely the scene repetition — the writing itself feels imprecise, less sure-footed, the fantastic bits too muddy. I was not captivated nor satisfied in the way I expected to be.
Not everyone is in the Ibrahim’s living room. There’s movement elsewhere. Luther finally catches up with Domingo, though his arc continues to flirt-with but not commit-to the larger drama. The framing stories that open each volume receive conclusions or further clarity. The gruesome youtube clips of men shooting baby animals concludes and is tied into the main plot and wrapped up by Isandorno. The sections following cave people and far-future humans is far more cohesive and sensical, if still opaque.
I’m still on board the Danielewski train. One clumsy episode does not ruin a great TV show either. But it was certainly a let-down having the series first season finale be the weakest book thus far.
This was originally published at The Scrying Orb.
Thus we reach the latest novelty of the Familiar experiment: the season finale. The first four volumes slowly drew the disparate characters of the The Familiar, who have spent thousands of beautifully type-faced pages engaging in mischief, violence and introspection, directly into eachother’s paths. At last, we see them meet.
The great majority of Redwood is concerned with a single scene occurring in the Ibrahim’s living room. A gathering of main characters clashing over the fate of the eponymous kitten. It is a perfectly good scene. An interesting scene. Character and plot. It does what a good scene should.
But it’s the same scene repeated by the five different point of view characters present. There’s sundry details revealed in each chapter. Naturally one person will notice things that another does not. This includes some neat bits like seeing the Ibrahim’s comfortable middle-class house and lifestyle observed by other, less-privileged characters when we’ve already spent multiple books listening to Astair and Anwar struggle with money. Hardly enough to justify the repetition though.
There is nothing inherently wrong with a tight focus. Volume 1 comprised a single day, one rainy day in May, which felt lovingly crafted and well-paced, delving into the recursive depths and quotidian trauma a single day can hold. By contrast, volume 5 feels scant, even sloppy. It’s not merely the scene repetition — the writing itself feels imprecise, less sure-footed, the fantastic bits too muddy. I was not captivated nor satisfied in the way I expected to be.
Not everyone is in the Ibrahim’s living room. There’s movement elsewhere. Luther finally catches up with Domingo, though his arc continues to flirt-with but not commit-to the larger drama. The framing stories that open each volume receive conclusions or further clarity. The gruesome youtube clips of men shooting baby animals concludes and is tied into the main plot and wrapped up by Isandorno. The sections following cave people and far-future humans is far more cohesive and sensical, if still opaque.
I’m still on board the Danielewski train. One clumsy episode does not ruin a great TV show either. But it was certainly a let-down having the series first season finale be the weakest book thus far.
This was originally published at The Scrying Orb.
March 18, 2023
Book Five in The Familiar series marks the end of the first arc in the story, as well as the end of the series as a whole since Mark Z. Danielewski and his publishers decided that the books just weren't selling well enough to justify the expense of publishing all 27 planned books. It's a real shame because by the end of book 5 we've spent a lot of time getting to know all the various characters and seeing how their lives and individual stories unfold, saddled with the knowledge that they will all interconnect in some way. While there's been some crossover before, it's only in this last book that we've seen the characters come together in ways that are particularly meaningful to the plot. These books have laid the foundation for the many mysteries that would be explored in further volumes. I'm glad we at least made it to the end of season one, so that the series can feel as though it got to complete a whole thought rather than being cut of mid-sentence, even if we don't get to hear all of what it had to say.
I also think about House of Leaves, and how the first 200 pages or so almost made me DNF the book before it finally dug it's claws in me and became one of my all-time favs and actually made me retrospectively appreciate it's slow beginning due to how it contrasted with some of the insanity of the later chapters. Similarly, The Familiar series starts off quite slow. Honestly, plot -wise, not much really happens over the course of five books, and what does happen is not always given full context. But it does a great job of setting up an intriguing mystery, and knowing what Danielewski was able to do with HoL, it makes me sad that we'll never get to see what he can do what's been set up so far.
The series isn't perfect. The stream-of-consciousness way the story unfolds inside each of its character's heads sometimes makes it unclear exactly what is happening or when we've moved to a new scene (the Jingjing chapters I found particularly undecipherable, and often had to look up summaries afterwards). Mostly I was still able to follow everything fine, but those moments I struggled felt more frustrating than anything. Also, while I like a lot of Danielewski's stylistic flourishes, I didn't find them nearly as effective as they were in HoL, save for a few instances.
Overall though I'm really glad I read this even knowing it wouldn't be finished. Danielewski is an author that continuously challenges my perceptions of what a book can be, and how a story can be told on paper. His style doesn't always work for me (Only Revolutions), but when it does, I find it utterly captivating. The Familiar was probably way too ambitious for his own good (27 books dude, really?), but it's that brazen ambition that makes Danielewski such a fascinating author to read.
I also think about House of Leaves, and how the first 200 pages or so almost made me DNF the book before it finally dug it's claws in me and became one of my all-time favs and actually made me retrospectively appreciate it's slow beginning due to how it contrasted with some of the insanity of the later chapters. Similarly, The Familiar series starts off quite slow. Honestly, plot -wise, not much really happens over the course of five books, and what does happen is not always given full context. But it does a great job of setting up an intriguing mystery, and knowing what Danielewski was able to do with HoL, it makes me sad that we'll never get to see what he can do what's been set up so far.
The series isn't perfect. The stream-of-consciousness way the story unfolds inside each of its character's heads sometimes makes it unclear exactly what is happening or when we've moved to a new scene (the Jingjing chapters I found particularly undecipherable, and often had to look up summaries afterwards). Mostly I was still able to follow everything fine, but those moments I struggled felt more frustrating than anything. Also, while I like a lot of Danielewski's stylistic flourishes, I didn't find them nearly as effective as they were in HoL, save for a few instances.
Overall though I'm really glad I read this even knowing it wouldn't be finished. Danielewski is an author that continuously challenges my perceptions of what a book can be, and how a story can be told on paper. His style doesn't always work for me (Only Revolutions), but when it does, I find it utterly captivating. The Familiar was probably way too ambitious for his own good (27 books dude, really?), but it's that brazen ambition that makes Danielewski such a fascinating author to read.
March 24, 2019
I am filled with disappointment at the idea that this series will not be continued. It feels like we're left only with imagination and a sense of foreboding.
In many ways I did not enjoy this book as much as I did the others but it was mostly because I was dreading the unended ending of a series that was going to be so much more! So many ties are left undone and I feel Xanther's 'Question Song' flood my mind a little. I hope that the remaining books in this series are released because it seems a little cruel to with-hold the fruition of an artwork for the sake of money/costs.
On a less emotional bent, this book is brilliantly devised as the season finale to what was supposed to be a 27 book series. Many story-lines are drawn together as the lives of our nine primary characters and several sub-characters begin to cross over and integrate, this creates further intrigue as we imagine the ways in which the newly formed relationships will continue to expand and contract to further develop an amazing universe.
Xanther gains penultimate power as we begin to blur the lines between nature, technology and the supernatural, something which MZD as a visionary experimental fiction author does impeccably. This book holds far more aesthetic content with a deeper integration of visual imagery that add to the suspense and drama being experienced by the reader/viewer.
With such a fascinating plot-line and so many unanswered questions I found myself reading through this book at break-neck speed as the rate of action and reaction increases. It took me less than 24 hours to read this book as I find it highly intoxicating and once you become immersed in the flow of the interweaving tales, it becomes almost impossible to put down.
If I was able to plead with MZD personally I would request that somehow the other books in this series become available as ebooks so as not to torture those of us who will now live in a state of frustrated curiosity knowing that there are so many questions that will not be answered.
In many ways I did not enjoy this book as much as I did the others but it was mostly because I was dreading the unended ending of a series that was going to be so much more! So many ties are left undone and I feel Xanther's 'Question Song' flood my mind a little. I hope that the remaining books in this series are released because it seems a little cruel to with-hold the fruition of an artwork for the sake of money/costs.
On a less emotional bent, this book is brilliantly devised as the season finale to what was supposed to be a 27 book series. Many story-lines are drawn together as the lives of our nine primary characters and several sub-characters begin to cross over and integrate, this creates further intrigue as we imagine the ways in which the newly formed relationships will continue to expand and contract to further develop an amazing universe.
Xanther gains penultimate power as we begin to blur the lines between nature, technology and the supernatural, something which MZD as a visionary experimental fiction author does impeccably. This book holds far more aesthetic content with a deeper integration of visual imagery that add to the suspense and drama being experienced by the reader/viewer.
With such a fascinating plot-line and so many unanswered questions I found myself reading through this book at break-neck speed as the rate of action and reaction increases. It took me less than 24 hours to read this book as I find it highly intoxicating and once you become immersed in the flow of the interweaving tales, it becomes almost impossible to put down.
If I was able to plead with MZD personally I would request that somehow the other books in this series become available as ebooks so as not to torture those of us who will now live in a state of frustrated curiosity knowing that there are so many questions that will not be answered.
May 12, 2022
Warning - Spoilers
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Jingjing demands that Anwar return the cat to him, but the cat is very ill so Astair takes it to the vet with Zanther. The vet recommends that they euthanize it, but Zanther decides to take it home instead.
Jingjing and Tian Li arrive to take the cat, but Tian Li tells Zanther to keep it, which enrages Jingjing and he slaps Zanther, who throws him across the room with her mind. Later Astair discovers that the window behind the couch has been blown out from the inside. Anwar and Astair are confused about what they witnessed Zanther do.
After Tian Li makes Jingjing leave, she talks to Zanther about the cat. Zanther finally chooses a name for him, Redwood. Astair approves of the name Zanther chose for the cat, calling it "Mythic even in its reality."
Luther gets Domingo to tell him that he heard about the pink balloons from Cricket, then Piña kills him by stabbing him in the back of the neck.
Cas finally meets with Recluse, who tells her all the orb clips are going dark. They're afraid of what this means.
At The Ranch, Isandorno sees a young girl, Estella, dressed like Zanther, with a cat stuffed animal fastened to her shoulder. Isandorno questions everyone at The Ranch, then under orders from The Mayor, kills them all, including the children. Estella is the last to die.
Teyo's girl, Cynthia, is Özgur's C.I. Her little sister is Cricket. Oz meets with them both, then responds to an arson call. Someone threw a Molotov cocktail into Mnatsagan's house. Mnatsagan dies going back into the burning house to try to retrieve the testimonies of the Armenian genocide survivors. Shnorhk was there to play his Duduk with the band, These Afflictions, for the first time since his daughter, Arshalous, died five years ago.
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Jingjing demands that Anwar return the cat to him, but the cat is very ill so Astair takes it to the vet with Zanther. The vet recommends that they euthanize it, but Zanther decides to take it home instead.
Jingjing and Tian Li arrive to take the cat, but Tian Li tells Zanther to keep it, which enrages Jingjing and he slaps Zanther, who throws him across the room with her mind. Later Astair discovers that the window behind the couch has been blown out from the inside. Anwar and Astair are confused about what they witnessed Zanther do.
After Tian Li makes Jingjing leave, she talks to Zanther about the cat. Zanther finally chooses a name for him, Redwood. Astair approves of the name Zanther chose for the cat, calling it "Mythic even in its reality."
Luther gets Domingo to tell him that he heard about the pink balloons from Cricket, then Piña kills him by stabbing him in the back of the neck.
Cas finally meets with Recluse, who tells her all the orb clips are going dark. They're afraid of what this means.
At The Ranch, Isandorno sees a young girl, Estella, dressed like Zanther, with a cat stuffed animal fastened to her shoulder. Isandorno questions everyone at The Ranch, then under orders from The Mayor, kills them all, including the children. Estella is the last to die.
Teyo's girl, Cynthia, is Özgur's C.I. Her little sister is Cricket. Oz meets with them both, then responds to an arson call. Someone threw a Molotov cocktail into Mnatsagan's house. Mnatsagan dies going back into the burning house to try to retrieve the testimonies of the Armenian genocide survivors. Shnorhk was there to play his Duduk with the band, These Afflictions, for the first time since his daughter, Arshalous, died five years ago.
August 7, 2025
Voilà.
La finale (qui n'en était pas une) de cette série avortée avant sa réelle conclusion. Au moins, les lecteurs ont la satisfaction de savoir qu'elle s'est conclue à ce qui était la fin d'une première saison anticipée par l'auteur. Il y a donc un sentiment de finalité à certaines intrigues, même si tout laisse planer beaucoup plus de mystère et de questionnements qui auraient été répondus dans les 22 (!) autres volumes prévus.
Le Tome 5, tout en conservant le même style que les précédents, reprend une notion qui s'était écartée depuis le premier volume ; l'histoire se déroule en moins de 24 heures, ce qui rend l'action plus précise, engageante. De plus, les personnages se rencontrent enfin, ont des interactions, certains souffrent, d'autres meurent... Après autant de lecture, c'est payant d'enfin avoir ce type d'action sous la dent.
En contrepartie, la rencontre des personnages donne lieu, narrativement, à beaucoup de répétitions des mêmes actions, selon les différents points de vue. Il est bien intéressant d'avoir la pensée de tout le monde sur un sujet donné, mais au final, l'action ne diffère jamais réellement, alors on passe un tiers du livre à revivre le même climax, qui finit par s'épuiser.
Il s'agit quand même de la fin d'une incroyable aventure, et j'espère profondément que Danielewski aura un jour le feu vert pour l'amener plus loin. C'est un auteur et un artiste incroyable, avec beaucoup trop d'ambition, et il mérite qu'on lui donne le moyen de les réaliser.
Pour ma part, je ne me séparerai pas de ma collection, en attendant un éventuel retour (quoique les 1000+ pages de son prochain ouvrage m'attendent de pied ferme dès sa sortie en octobre).
La finale (qui n'en était pas une) de cette série avortée avant sa réelle conclusion. Au moins, les lecteurs ont la satisfaction de savoir qu'elle s'est conclue à ce qui était la fin d'une première saison anticipée par l'auteur. Il y a donc un sentiment de finalité à certaines intrigues, même si tout laisse planer beaucoup plus de mystère et de questionnements qui auraient été répondus dans les 22 (!) autres volumes prévus.
Le Tome 5, tout en conservant le même style que les précédents, reprend une notion qui s'était écartée depuis le premier volume ; l'histoire se déroule en moins de 24 heures, ce qui rend l'action plus précise, engageante. De plus, les personnages se rencontrent enfin, ont des interactions, certains souffrent, d'autres meurent... Après autant de lecture, c'est payant d'enfin avoir ce type d'action sous la dent.
En contrepartie, la rencontre des personnages donne lieu, narrativement, à beaucoup de répétitions des mêmes actions, selon les différents points de vue. Il est bien intéressant d'avoir la pensée de tout le monde sur un sujet donné, mais au final, l'action ne diffère jamais réellement, alors on passe un tiers du livre à revivre le même climax, qui finit par s'épuiser.
Il s'agit quand même de la fin d'une incroyable aventure, et j'espère profondément que Danielewski aura un jour le feu vert pour l'amener plus loin. C'est un auteur et un artiste incroyable, avec beaucoup trop d'ambition, et il mérite qu'on lui donne le moyen de les réaliser.
Pour ma part, je ne me séparerai pas de ma collection, en attendant un éventuel retour (quoique les 1000+ pages de son prochain ouvrage m'attendent de pied ferme dès sa sortie en octobre).
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