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jesus

Few things usher more joy into my life than the respective acerbic wit and floundering patheticness of Herron's characters. Calling this a "delight" is putting it lightly.

Fucking hell man the Kristallnacht chapter is going to haunt me forever

Eighty-five pages is an excerpt too brief to judge the novel as a whole (let alone the quality of author) but god damn, that segment is on par with the best works of literature I've ever come across. Simply incredible command of the language (conveyed with innovative manipulation of the medium). My socks have been knocked clean off.

The formatting and structure is nothing short of impressive, enough to counteract the thus-far flimsy cast of characters. A rare and brilliant usage of the visual possibilities of the literary medium. I'm glad enough that this exists, and downright lucky to have acquired a copy.

A delight per usual. Perhaps even funnier than its predecessors - I love the abundance of triple-entendres and surprisingly apt cultural references. While I typically find such overt mentions obnoxious, Herron has me chuckling along with every Pokemon Go jest. I don't know how he does it.

Some swathes of this novel have washed over me with relatively lacklustre prose yet others chapters have been nothing short of excellent. I admire the breadth of knowledge communicated through such esoteric references. The translation utilizes some excellent vocabulary - "carbuncle", "insufflate", et cetera. Consider me gripped for now.

There is simultaneous comfort and terror in a lengthy novel being so incredible. Comfort, as you know the safe haven it provides will not cease anytime soon. Yet that is also accompanied by the knowledge that its compelling nature will swallow your entire week. Jokes aside, I am very much impressed by the scope and enjoyability of this novel.

Damn good novel

I've read entire volumes with less substance than Gaddis disseminates across the first thirty-odd pages of this one. And this was his first novel? No small feat.

Finally, an emotional beat that hits. Y'know, with how much of a character piece this is, it's a good thing that the characters themselves are pretty good

Maybe it's too soon to judge with how much set-up is occurring, though I am bothered by how clean and polished both the narrative and prose are. That being said, Glokta is a fascinating character, one whose presence alone prevents me from calling the novel generic. The other characters are fine too. I am just hoping there will be some decent payoff before the novel ends.

Admirable prose though I am not always engaged by the intricacies of the narrator's memories.

I greatly enjoy the anecdotes pertaining to church-building. I do not enjoy any details of the Jack-Aliena relationship, where Follett seems to write with the sensibilities of a libidinous teenager. It’s most irritating how much time is spent on the female characters when Follett evidently cannot write them in a mature or reasonable way.

Long story short, I always felt a slight twinge of despair dropping a novel over 600 pages in, so I've decided to give it another go given that it has been rotting on my shelf. I have been reminded of what I found so compelling in the initial 300-odd pages, particularly the intense readability of the style, as every page breezes by. However, I cannot praise this novel when Aliena is so prominently featured. Jesus.

Wonderful antidote for a poor mood. Plus, I'm pleasantly surprised by the Finnegan's Wake reference.

A relatively difficult read, not due to style nor verbiage but simply due to how profoundly human and tragic the entire story is. Feels as if each page gains a significant weight as one progresses. It's devastating.

To amend my earlier statement, this is even exceeding the hype. I really don't know where to start with this beyond noting the reputation. It's just that good.

Livin' up to the hype so far

And so I find myself in the mood for Faulkner once more. This isn't on the level of Absalom or Sound & Fury, but to be fair, few things are, and I'm enjoying this one all the same.

Figured I may as well attempt to log this as I've been reading for a solid half hour. One of the best stories I've had the pleasure of reading on the internet - creepy enough before the brilliant metatextual slant kicks in. Awesome that there are 40 parts of this