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Review of In Absurdia, by Glenn Whalan

September 7, 2020

Book Review, Criticism

book, China, destiny, fate, fiction, literature, love, review

In Absurdia, by Glenn Whalan, is a novel; sort of. In Absurdia, by Glenn Whalan, is an experimental-fiction novel; sort of. And this is a review of In Absurdia, by Glenn Whalan; (wait for it) sort of.

Quite honestly, this must be among the most unorthodox reviews I’ve ever had to write, not because I feel particularly ambivalent about the book I decided to review, but because I feel speechless – as in, literally speechless; I have so few things to talk about.

This, as we will see, contains hints both for the book and against it. However, even that is not as clear-cut as I’d like to make it sound. Concept such as “book”, “for”, or “against” are not something that seems to be in accord with what In Absurdia is all about.

in absurdia
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Review of Confessions of a Mask, by Yukio Mishima

August 24, 2020

Book Review, Criticism

book, fiction, Japan, LGBT, literature, love, review, society

As is often the case with some of my reviews – Outline, by Rachel Cusk comes to mind – this review of Confessions of a Mask, by Yukio Mishima, is not just a review. It’s also an opportunity for me to explain something about how literature is supposed to operate.

And here’s the (meta-)lesson: There’s no “supposed to” in literature.

Yukio Mishima’s Confessions of a Mask – in a meta-textual twist, having this very element as the core of its plot – demonstrates how awfully things can fall apart once you begin following rules and supposed-tos.

Mishima’s novel is probably one of the most difficult books I’ve ever thought to review. Not only does it defy categorization, but reading it I wonder whether we could even call it “a novel”. In that regard, it’s very similar to Invisible Cities, by Italo Calvino.

Review of Confessions of a Mask
Confessions of a Mask is a fine example of our struggle to balance between being part of society and understanding it can’t offer us what we crave. If this duality sounds familiar, take a look at my post on the meaning of Jinjer’s “Pisces” – talking about a multi-layered metaphor, huh?
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Review of Life, by Lu Yao

July 24, 2020

Book Review, Criticism

book, China, destiny, fate, fiction, literature, love, review

Life, by Lu Yao, is a Chinese novel written – and situated – in the early 1980s. A lot has happened since in China (and globally), though much of the story revolves around timeless issues.

What does it mean to love someone of a different social status? How does one balance between responsibility and personal desire? Should one submit to their fate – here defined not as some ghostly force but as what society prescribed – or not?

Life, by Lu Yao, poses such questions. The problem is that not only does it actually attempt to answer them – there are no real answers to such questions – but that it does so in a narratively naive, uninspiring manner.

review of Life, by Lu Yao
Life, by Lu Yao, basically revolves around matters of “fate” or, in any case, what one construes as such
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