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jiggityjog's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
ameliabiblio's review against another edition
5.0
Exceptionally well-written and too funny for its own good, Pym manages to take the best of Poe's only novel and make it better.
leferkins's review against another edition
It was good, I just wasn't feeling it. Will pick it up again when I have more time to work through it.
xispo's review against another edition
4.0
Good read - a funny and refreshing satire in a surreal setting.
davidbuchmann's review against another edition
4.0
Very clever satire around the conceit that the events of Poe's Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym actually happened. A critique of the novel's racial ideology and a homage which recapitulates its narrative arc in a way that inverts Poe's color scheme (read Poe first so you don't miss any jokes). I loved how Johnson played with various character types -- the Spelman soror love-interest, her Morehouse-alum entertainment lawyer, the embittered Civil Rights veteran (who gets the funniest scene), the YouTube self-promoting adventure-hound. One complaint, and I'm not going to get into it because of spoilers, but though the "Master of Light" business starts out promising it doesn't really deliver much of a satirical payload or connect satisfyingly with Poe (or else I just didn't get it). All right, one more complaint: at least two gags are repeated verbatim, apparently for the sake of readers who didn't pick them up the first time around -- c'mon, man, trust us a little more.
Smart, funny, and entertaining. Look forward to reading more by Mat Johnson!
Smart, funny, and entertaining. Look forward to reading more by Mat Johnson!
lsharb's review against another edition
3.0
This was a wild ride. Funny, insightful satire that takes so many weird twists. I get that the weirdness is supposed to echo Poe's, but the plot got so farfetched and cartoonish that it overshadowed the rest.
inkylabyrinth's review against another edition
I really tried to give this a chance, but it's awful.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs
audaciaray's review against another edition
4.0
What a totally weird and hilarious book, featuring an all-black crew adventuring to Antarctica, intertexual literary analysis of Edgar Allan Poe's lone novel, sharp race commentary, also slavery and apocalypse and Little Debbie snack cakes. Falls short of five stars on account of not passing the Bechdel test, and all women characters being useful/existing only in relationship to men.
quietdomino's review against another edition
3.0
It's a retelling/response to Poe's The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym; but more is about problems in contemporary black masculinity explored in strange settings with insane companions. Satire works but suffers from the underdeveloped lady person syndrome as with so many others of its kind (I'm looking at you super sad true love story).