The Ancestry of Objects

by Tatiana Ryckman

A young woman meets a man at a restaurant. They exchange words only briefly, but by the end of the week he has entered her world with an intensity rivaled only by her desire to end her life.

Told with the lyrical persistence of a Greek chorus, The Ancestry of Objects unravels the story of the unnamed narrator’s affair with married, graying, and in whose malcontent she sees her need for change. Religion, the mystery of her absent mother, and the ghosts of her grandparents haunt her meetings with him. Memories start, stop, and loop back in on themselves to form the web of her identity and her voice―something she’s looked for her whole life. Nothing can fill the voids of time and loss; not God, not memory, not family, and certainly not love.

At once intensely sensory and urgently erotic, The Ancestry of Objects parses the multiplicity of selves who become a part of us as we push to survive. This is Ryckman – a master of the obsessive, desirous, complex exhaustion of human relationships – in peak form.

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Literary Fiction, Mental Health

200 pages, Paperback

First published September 8, 2020

About the author

Tatiana Ryckman is the author of two chapbooks of prose, Twenty-Something and VHS and Why it's Hard to Live. She is Assistant Editor at sunnyoutside press and leads Creative Writing workshops through The University of Texas at Austin.

Reviews

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first-person plural narrator of Tatiana Ryckman’s novel seduces the reader into a fever pitch of sensual prose that slices into our most delicate thoughts—about family, memory, sex, and the urge to end things. Told in short, poetically aching scenes, the “We” of Ryckman’s journey slyly makes you feel like you’re there on the page with her, while daring to tear apart your expectations in visually precise (often sexually charged) details. The Ancestry of Objects is a book about the urgency of both living and dying.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mostly great - will expand later (I'm behind on many of my reviews, hope to catch up soon).

[Donald Quist · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ryckman’s The Ancestry of Objects accomplishes a difficult and compelling tension with lyrical prose that ropes readers into a nuanced depiction of the pleasure and pain of human relationships. She renders the figures of her fragmented novel with a stark tenderness, reflecting the beauty and unattractiveness of desire. There are no villains, no heroes, just complications between people whose flaws will draw readers to recognize themselves and our shared yearning to be known.

[Lillie Day · Rating 4 out of 5]

Obsession! Self-loathing! Patriarchal voyeurism! This has everything except a plot, but that’s the point. Intense, uncomfortable, beautiful prose. Read it.

[Anna Domestico · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a difficult read for so many reasons, but the prose was beautiful and the emotion palpable.

[Ineke · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was beautifully written. It was difficult to get through, also because of the subject, but boy what a beautiful book was this?!

I do think it's not a book for everyone (it's also quite explicit), but... wow. I just can't. It hit right where it hurt.

[Luca · Rating 3 out of 5]

?????

[Monique · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sleeping with a married man as self harm.

[mads · Rating 3 out of 5]

this was the second book i've read from tatiana ryckman and i'm disappointed to say that i liked it much less than the first ('i don't think of you (until i do)'). it was bleak. incredibly beautiful writing but GOD so bleak. and i had a hard time relating to the narrator even with the 'we' perspective. there was this sense of depth to what i was reading when actually all of the characters felt really flat and one-dimensional. maybe that was the point somehow.

also, honestly, some of it felt like it was trying too hard to be poetic. like so hard that it almost became convoluted at times. but some of it really was poetic too. idk. i guess i'm still actively forming my opinion. i'd maybe give it 3.5 stars.

lots of good lines that i re-read multiple times. one of my fav paragraphs:

'we laugh when he says, I can be generous, as if: I can make you/this easy. we do not correct him that it is us who is giving so freely what he is looking for. that he will never be generous with what we need. we don't want to be saved, just seen, to be real, okay, enough, but the water boils over, the white foam spill distracts him so that when he lifts the lid and steam fogs the clock and small window that look out to the front door, we breathe deeply to forget as if it is the same as forgiveness...'

[Brogan Gerhart · Rating 3 out of 5]

All those beautiful words for THAT ending?

[Maurice Africh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a sad book. In many moments beautiful, but lots of sad. Full of sad, sad characters who live in a morose kind of sub-reality without any real responsibility or maybe just a pause in life, so all they do is chew on their own neuroses and trauma and issues and pain. While much of the novel talks about distraction (and in many ways, it's a novel about distraction), there wasn't any of those real distractions that real people feel. It was about this all-consuming affair, which I guess is probably pretty accurate.

The character wasn't wholly relatable. The other wife was a figment, which made sense. David was selfish and thoughtless and cruel in the way people can be, probably especially men. I did find that part of the story very real. Though, again, also very sad.

I felt like some parts of the book were trying to be something more than they were. Trying too hard, reaching to be artsy or thoughtful or deep. But most of the book felt right. I loved the structure and themes. I did feel for the MC (lots of pity, mostly), though I don't think I ever really believed she was real.

Great book, though. Very well written. Loved the prose. Super fast read. I definitely enjoyed it. 

[Reisse Myy Fredericks · Rating 5 out of 5]

An orphaned woman, living in her grandparents’ home, grapples with worthlessness shaped by a conservative, moralistic upbringing. While drinking alone at a restaurant, lost in thoughts of ending her life, a man interrupts—igniting an affair that overtakes her sense of self. Still afraid of sin but drawn to transgression, she replaces the authority of God with the authority of a lover’s command.

The novel explores how shame, desire, and religious conditioning echo between generations. Though she may never find peace (a fixation on the color gold suggests heavenly aspirations), she rediscovers wonder with a rapacious urgency—curious, undone, and desperate to feel something true as she walks across her neighborhood creek.

As someone shaped by a similarly Christian upbringing, I found this both deeply affecting and personally resonant. A spare, piercing novel of Biblical allusion, erotic philosophy, and the ruthless specificity (and plurality) of language.

[Stephen Theis · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is not my intent to get into the weeds of aesthetic philosophy in my recommendation of Tatiana Ryckman’s “The Ancestry of Objects.” I am a visual artist, not a writer. However, I am an avid reader and appreciate this book for its content and skillful rendering of the story. If this book were a painting, I would say that I admire its composition and brushwork equally. Ms. Ryckman demonstrates her command of the writing process by her applied word usage, meter, and literary devices. As a reader, I value writing that not only fascinates by the who, what, when, where, and why that is conveyed, but also the manner (the how) that is used to express it. “The Ancestry of Objects” achieves these qualities successfully.

[Scarlett Gray · Rating 5 out of 5]

I rarely read fiction, but this book was recommended to me as a book that reads like an autobiography in which the plot isn't entirely relevant, as the writing itself is arguably the focus. I was immediately drawn in by the prologue and found myself immersed in the calm but hectic sensory feel of the language. Complex and erotic, this book highlights the way we as humans interact with objects, relics, and people around us in a similar fashion, and while there truly is very little plot (which I 100% don't mind in this book!), the writing is so strong and poetic, I couldn't put it down.

[Sonia · Rating 4 out of 5]

wow… i ended up really enjoying this. the first third of the book is an incredibly tough read, crushing, suffocating as the narrator struggles with active suicidal ideation. the writing is poetic and it fully sucks you in — i found myself lingering on lines to bask in their full effect. beautiful redemption at the end too.

i’d caution against reading this if you find very vivid descriptions of internal suicidal thoughts triggering, but that also honestly speaks to the quality of writing here! glad i picked up this little book. beautiful cover art too

[Aditi · Rating 4 out of 5]

For such a quick read, there is so much to unpack between the lines of this book. There is not really much of a plot but the writing is so masterful and brings the reader right into the mind of the narrator; it is truly a feeling of "we" past the obvious inherent multiplicity within the character. Not a book for everyone due to its explicit content, but an interesting study on loneliness, desire, womanhood and more.

[Annie Tate Cockrum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stream of consciousness narration in the plural third person - very very unique and a little confusing sometimes to be completely honest. The writing itself was very sensual, engaging all senses, describing an affair from the POV of the "other woman" . We are faced with presence and absence and the weight in which both of those states carry for our narrator. I found the book incredibly engaging and well written. It reminded me of Catherine Lacey and also Carmen Maria Machado.

[Michael Kurt · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a big fan of “I Don’t Think of You (Until I Do)”, I was very excited to order and read the new book from Rychman. “The Ancestry of Objects” is a book that succeeds in tone. It’s rich with experimentation, which took me a minute to dive into fully but in the end drove the story to emotional catharsis, which is not always easy to pull off. This book is best read in one or two sittings.

[Sammy Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ryckman proves herself as an excellent writer with this one. Her skill made this a very easy read, however, the style can't make up for the lack of substance. The whole book, I felt like I was reading a postmodern Fifty Shades of Grey.

[Brinda Gurumoorthy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The writing’s poetic and it moves quickly, but so much of this book felt the same to me. It’s a pretty typical tale of an affair, apart from what happens in the last 20 pages or so (related to the title).

[Mindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I feel like this book needs to be read more than once to find all the hidden meanings. Definitely a different writing style than I'm used to. It's intriguing and kept me wanting to read. It's a quick afternoon read. I hope to read it again to find more.

[Casey Lukacs · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved the story despite how dark it was. When I picked it up from the Deep vellum bookstore in Dallas I had no idea what I was getting myself into but I was pleasantly surprised. I’ve never read a book with this kind of writing and it’s made me more confident with experimenting with different genres.

[kenn! · Rating 5 out of 5]

i started reading this five months ago and i kept picking it up to read a few pages at a time because it was so captivating and i didn’t want to finish it. this is now one of my favorite books ever this is beautiful and describes things and emotions that i never realized could be put into words

[Mai · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing read to finish a shitty year with!

[Lisa Orlando Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gorgeous prose. A deep exploration of the narrator's emptiness. An extremely lonely and sad story. But beautiful.

[Jordan · Rating 5 out of 5]

what a perfect first page this book had. i love the author's poetic voice.

[Reba J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book hurt because it felt so familiar.

[Nona · Rating 5 out of 5]

As others have said a lyric capturing of a woman isolated, looking for an ending, looking for herself in the reflections of others. Painful, beautiful, annoying, and perhaps a bit of hope.

[Claudia Dressel · Rating 4 out of 5]

so real. so perceptive. so grim. loved every page.

[Kevin Thomas James Atteridg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hypnotic and poignant and sensual; full of immense longing and love.