Status Updates From Pictures of You

Peace of mind versus presence of mind.

It's remarkably boring and predictable given how little sense it makes.

Well that was a long, drawn out disappointment. I love Malerman but this isn't Derry, Maine. The whole premise of someone having this kind of amnesia because of a single instance of fairly mild abuse is silly, but the fact that the plot depends on it is pretty unforgiveable. The only way this makes sense is if the person who did the slapping was an interdimensional shapeshifting clown with sharp teeth.

There's a very, very slow reveal that's still developing here. That part is fine (though the story seems pretty complete without the twist), but the plot is frustratingly circular. Reading the experience of waking up after being drugged again is tedious.

It's strange to be so far into a book and have the protagonists still essentially where they began, but it's been damn entertaining along the way. Reminds me of a good Michaelbrent Collings. Some of them are one-dimensional, but they're so damn good in that dimension that they're still pretty great stories. Much less repetitive than Ferencik's Blooming.

Doing a lot with very little material. Malerman's use of metaphor is really impressive.

Some of the searching is repetitive, at least in structure: "He walked there, then he drove here, then he decided to do that." The reveal has been purposeful and enjoyable for exposition, but in terms of plot, we're still kind of where we started a hundred pages ago.

As irresistible as Malerman's best. Totally original, as usual. A little underwhelming compared to the urgency and scope of stories like Inspection and Bird Box. And a little less intimate and convincing than books like On This, The Day of the Pig and Incidents Around the House. More like Black Mad Wheel. I'm hoping the couple survives, but that's about it.