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mxsallybend's review against another edition
4.0
Surreal, imaginative, and even a bit quirky at times, Down and Out in Purgatory is a strange journey through love and death. The journey through the underworld has been done so many times now that it's not easy to inject any sort of originality into it, but that's precisely what Tim Powers does here.
It all starts out with a somewhat perplexing trip to the morgue, followed by an even stranger trip off-road to a mobile home out in the middle of the desert. You see, when your entire life has been consumed by hatred for the man who stole (and murdered) the only woman you've ever loved, you can't let something as simple as death stop you from seeking revenge.
The mechanics of contacting the afterlife are central to the story, merging low-tech with the old-fashioned occult. As for the afterlife itself, it's a bleak and depressing landscape, populated by those souls who either aren't ready or who simply refuse to pass on. There's some philosophical discussion about what might come next, but this is not a story about Heaven or Hell, salvation or damnation. Instead, it's all about the revelations to be found in Purgatory.
Needless to say, this is a dark, often depressing read. There are moments of bleak humor throughout, but Tom's journey is not one to inspire hopes and dreams. If you're looking for triumph over evil and the realization of true love, then look elsewhere. It's a smart story, full of imagery and imagination, and the pulp-noir style of narrative really carries is along. It does suffers from a lack of backstory, making it hard to justify such desperate measures, but that also frees it from any expectations. The ending is just about perfect, tying up loose ends, but leaving a lot of answers to the reader's own imagination.
Originally reviewed at Beauty in Ruins
It all starts out with a somewhat perplexing trip to the morgue, followed by an even stranger trip off-road to a mobile home out in the middle of the desert. You see, when your entire life has been consumed by hatred for the man who stole (and murdered) the only woman you've ever loved, you can't let something as simple as death stop you from seeking revenge.
The mechanics of contacting the afterlife are central to the story, merging low-tech with the old-fashioned occult. As for the afterlife itself, it's a bleak and depressing landscape, populated by those souls who either aren't ready or who simply refuse to pass on. There's some philosophical discussion about what might come next, but this is not a story about Heaven or Hell, salvation or damnation. Instead, it's all about the revelations to be found in Purgatory.
Needless to say, this is a dark, often depressing read. There are moments of bleak humor throughout, but Tom's journey is not one to inspire hopes and dreams. If you're looking for triumph over evil and the realization of true love, then look elsewhere. It's a smart story, full of imagery and imagination, and the pulp-noir style of narrative really carries is along. It does suffers from a lack of backstory, making it hard to justify such desperate measures, but that also frees it from any expectations. The ending is just about perfect, tying up loose ends, but leaving a lot of answers to the reader's own imagination.
Originally reviewed at Beauty in Ruins
Disclaimer: I received a complimentary ARC of this title from the publisher in exchange for review consideration. This does not in any way affect the honesty or sincerity of my review.
cortjstr's review against another edition
2.0
I just couldn't get into this one. The dream-like quality isn't for me.
branch_c's review against another edition
3.0
Well, no one can say I'm not a Powers fan; his novels have topped my list of all time favorites since I read The Anubis Gates for the first time in the 80s. Short stories, however, have never been quite as enjoyable for me, and while his often have elements of greatness, they rarely rise to the level of the full length works.
I should have expected this one to be on the bizarre side, based on the title, and strangeness in a Powers book is not necessarily a bad thing by any means, but this story turns out to be a bit too surreal even for me. So I can't say that I was thrilled by this short book the way I'd hoped to be.
However, there are some trademark Powers themes here, and some brilliant turns of phrase. Though short, the story is dense, with every line serving its purpose, and the ending, in particular, is a powerful scene that bumps the book by a star all on its own. So even if it can't compete with the likes of On Stranger Tides or The Drawing of the Dark, it's certainly worth a quick read.
I should have expected this one to be on the bizarre side, based on the title, and strangeness in a Powers book is not necessarily a bad thing by any means, but this story turns out to be a bit too surreal even for me. So I can't say that I was thrilled by this short book the way I'd hoped to be.
However, there are some trademark Powers themes here, and some brilliant turns of phrase. Though short, the story is dense, with every line serving its purpose, and the ending, in particular, is a powerful scene that bumps the book by a star all on its own. So even if it can't compete with the likes of On Stranger Tides or The Drawing of the Dark, it's certainly worth a quick read.
qalminator's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting story with an odd premise. The POV character has just discovered that his old "friend", who married and then murdered the protag's love interest, is dead. Most people would just be glad and leave it at that. This guy decides he needs to hunt down the guy's spirit and destroy it utterly. He doesn't give up even when it turns out he needs to enter the afterlife to accomplish it.
It was well-written, with a very bizarre topography given to the afterlife. If there's anything like a moral to the story, it might be rather Buddhist, along the lines of attachment to things/ideas leading to destruction (in more ways than one). I feel like a few things were missing from the story, but it was still an enjoyable read.
It was well-written, with a very bizarre topography given to the afterlife. If there's anything like a moral to the story, it might be rather Buddhist, along the lines of attachment to things/ideas leading to destruction (in more ways than one). I feel like a few things were missing from the story, but it was still an enjoyable read.
lilacashes's review against another edition
2.0
I don't remember how this book ended up on my reader. Somebody must have recommended it to me, but who?
Anyway. I can't say the book is entirely unoriginal. A character going to purgatory to irreversibly kill an enemy. Only then he discovers that what drives him is not revenge but... Love? Okay, I take it back, the book *is* entirely unoriginal. What is kind of new, and potentially interesting, is how purgatory and its mechanics are described. Unfortunately, the description did not do it for me at all.
On the plus side, the book is very short. Only 52 pages. I'm not being sarcastic about that being a good thing, I wish more authors would limit themselves to shorter stories. If it had been longer, I probably wouldn't have finished it, and felt like I'd wasted my time. As it was, I did have a reasonably good time reading it.
Anyway. I can't say the book is entirely unoriginal. A character going to purgatory to irreversibly kill an enemy. Only then he discovers that what drives him is not revenge but... Love? Okay, I take it back, the book *is* entirely unoriginal. What is kind of new, and potentially interesting, is how purgatory and its mechanics are described. Unfortunately, the description did not do it for me at all.
On the plus side, the book is very short. Only 52 pages. I'm not being sarcastic about that being a good thing, I wish more authors would limit themselves to shorter stories. If it had been longer, I probably wouldn't have finished it, and felt like I'd wasted my time. As it was, I did have a reasonably good time reading it.
bese199's review against another edition
5.0
I always make the same comment about Tim Powers, but it is all I can think to say - I love love love his stories.
old_tim's review against another edition
5.0
A weird, weird story, but great world building.
http://fedpeaches.blogspot.com/2016/08/only-mostly-dead.html
http://fedpeaches.blogspot.com/2016/08/only-mostly-dead.html
nghia's review against another edition
2.0
I actually abandoned this half way through because there was nothing that had grabbed me yet. The central conceit - about voluntarily going to the afterlife to pursue revenge - is a cute twist on an otherwise overdone trope about pursuing revenge. But a twist isn't enough to support a story on its own. Then we've got the standard, formulaic wandering through a ghostly afterlife where things are weird and different. Just like pretty much every other afterlife you've ever read or seen in a movie.
The forced "must use rhymes when communicating with the living world" was a gimmick that wore out its welcome almost instantly.
Ultimately, I decided the plot, the character, and the setting hadn't done anything to keep me reading so I moved on to something that would hopefully be more enjoyable.
The forced "must use rhymes when communicating with the living world" was a gimmick that wore out its welcome almost instantly.
Ultimately, I decided the plot, the character, and the setting hadn't done anything to keep me reading so I moved on to something that would hopefully be more enjoyable.
verkisto's review against another edition
3.0
Yay, Tim Powers! I ought to bump his other books up on my list and knock them out this year. I've liked most everything he's written (though The Stress of Her Regard didn't impress me much), so why am I waiting to read them through my random reading project? Maybe I should rethink my approach to reading my backlog.
Anyway, Down and Out in Purgatory is a standalone novella, about a man named Tom Holbrook, who just found out that the man he vowed to kill is already dead. Tom, you see, has always loved Shasta, a woman who was a part of his group of friends in college. Instead, she married John Atwater, an arrogant member of that same group. He wound up killing her six years before the start of this story, and Tom has vowed revenge since then. The only problem is, how do you enact revenge on someone who's already dead?
Powers typically does a great job building his worlds and populating them with interesting, though milquetoast, main characters, and Down and Out in Purgatory is no exception. The problem is that the story is so short that he doesn't have time to examine the character. Tom, however, is a bit of a reversal for Powers, since he starts off motivated this time around. The reasoning for his mtoivation, though, is different from how Powers has created his past characters, and how he concludes it is surprising, as well.
With Powers, his best works are where he has the room to grow a story. His kind of characterization takes time, and his plots are usually so complex that they need extra space to develop. His novellas, due to their size, skip over these things, and they never feel as realized as his full novels. Still, the story has a strong premise and a satisfying conclusion, meaning that if it were any other writer, it would be a strong story. Knowing what Powers can usually do, though, makes this story less than it could be.
Anyway, Down and Out in Purgatory is a standalone novella, about a man named Tom Holbrook, who just found out that the man he vowed to kill is already dead. Tom, you see, has always loved Shasta, a woman who was a part of his group of friends in college. Instead, she married John Atwater, an arrogant member of that same group. He wound up killing her six years before the start of this story, and Tom has vowed revenge since then. The only problem is, how do you enact revenge on someone who's already dead?
Powers typically does a great job building his worlds and populating them with interesting, though milquetoast, main characters, and Down and Out in Purgatory is no exception. The problem is that the story is so short that he doesn't have time to examine the character. Tom, however, is a bit of a reversal for Powers, since he starts off motivated this time around. The reasoning for his mtoivation, though, is different from how Powers has created his past characters, and how he concludes it is surprising, as well.
With Powers, his best works are where he has the room to grow a story. His kind of characterization takes time, and his plots are usually so complex that they need extra space to develop. His novellas, due to their size, skip over these things, and they never feel as realized as his full novels. Still, the story has a strong premise and a satisfying conclusion, meaning that if it were any other writer, it would be a strong story. Knowing what Powers can usually do, though, makes this story less than it could be.
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