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trisshy59's review against another edition
1.0
If I could give it zero stars I would. Complete and utter nonsense. I can’t believe I actually finished this book. Worst book ever. How anyone could give it more than one star is beyond me!
menfrommarrs's review against another edition
2.0
Thesaurial splendor. (I know, I know, but your thesaurus is probably old!)
Although this was very clever, and surprisingly easily read once you add some B and C words, the tale was not the thing.
I’ve told everyone I know about the gag, but not about the storyline.
Although this was very clever, and surprisingly easily read once you add some B and C words, the tale was not the thing.
I’ve told everyone I know about the gag, but not about the storyline.
kingtoad's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
gef's review against another edition
5.0
Are Boyd's Congolese detectives effectively frisking grass huts in Jubba? Kikuyo lovers moan, nervously, orgasmically penetrating quiff, rotating sensuously, twisting under vibrations, willfully, xenophobic, yearning, zippered. Zealous Yolanda, Xavier's wanton, vicious uppercut tingling, squeezes royally Queen Philomena's open, noisome mouth like kneading junket, is happy getting fucked even daily, casually, by Alfred.
rjeffy's review against another edition
4.0
I dreamt of this book last night, though I didn't dream of the plot. I dreamt of the structure. I found myself composing sentences in my sleep, and each word in the sentences began with an A, B, or a C.
In "Alphabetical Africa", each word in Chapter 1 begins with the letter A. In Chapter 2, every word begins with an A or a B. The vocabulary is expanded, letter by letter and chapter by chapter, through Z. Then, the process reverses, and the book works its way back through the alphabet, letter by letter and chapter by chapter, from Z back to A. During the whole novel, we see the vocabulary and sentence structure moving from very restrained and artificial to more natural, and then back to the restricted formula of the first chapters.
What struck me was how quickly, as the book opened up to using a wider vocabulary, the language felt natural. Really, by chapter E, the story didn't feel especially constrained. However, on the way backwards through the alphabet, I very quickly noticed the restricted vocabulary. Maybe it's like quick changes in the weather. Fifty degrees in the winter feels remarkably warm (at least where I spend my winters), but the same temperature in the summer would be uncomfortably cold.
In "Alphabetical Africa", each word in Chapter 1 begins with the letter A. In Chapter 2, every word begins with an A or a B. The vocabulary is expanded, letter by letter and chapter by chapter, through Z. Then, the process reverses, and the book works its way back through the alphabet, letter by letter and chapter by chapter, from Z back to A. During the whole novel, we see the vocabulary and sentence structure moving from very restrained and artificial to more natural, and then back to the restricted formula of the first chapters.
What struck me was how quickly, as the book opened up to using a wider vocabulary, the language felt natural. Really, by chapter E, the story didn't feel especially constrained. However, on the way backwards through the alphabet, I very quickly noticed the restricted vocabulary. Maybe it's like quick changes in the weather. Fifty degrees in the winter feels remarkably warm (at least where I spend my winters), but the same temperature in the summer would be uncomfortably cold.
namelesshuman's review against another edition
2.0
Story-wise, I’d probably give it just one star—it was weird and not to my taste—, but I guess I’d give the writing a 3, even if it’s more because of the idea than because of the execution. As difficult as it probably was to write, the book stops sounding unusual surprisingly early. Afterwards, only a missing word starting with a T or, towards the end of the book, an “I” make you notice the gimmick (and kind of take you out of the story, though I guess that doesn’t matter that much in this kind of book). On top of that, I don’t like the author’s “unrestricted” writing style.
bodagirl's review against another edition
2.0
I heard about this book a few years ago and was intrigued by the constraints Abish put on himself while writing: using only words that start with A in the first chapter, then A and B in the second, then A, B, and C in the third, until he get to Z and then to remove letters one chapter at a time, leaving the last chapter with only words that begin with A. It's a rather amazing feat to attempt and when I found the first word that didn't fit the pattern, I was crushed. Never have I been disappointed to see the word "in." It's so innocuous a preposition that you don't even think about using it, but that innocuousness makes the challenge all the greater: he wasn't able to us "the" for 2/3 of the book! Once I found one mistake I tracked another 23 (mostly prepositions, why his editor didn't catch them or tell him is beyond me) over the course of the 152 pages, which is still astounding.
I'm not entirely sure what the story was about, except that it was some rather undefined travels through an unrealistic Africa. Characters kept appearing and then disappearing and I wasn't ever sure if the "ants" were a metaphor for soldiers or not. As letters were added to the alphabet the story became clearer, but never to an extent that I was intrigued by it. What kept me going was to see how well Abish dealt with the challenge, which I think he did admirably well.
PopSugar Reading Challenge 2017 | Advanced Task 46: Book from a genre/subgenre that you've never heard of (in this case "oulipo" https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2013/jul/12/oulipo-freeing-literature-tightening-rules
I'm not entirely sure what the story was about, except that it was some rather undefined travels through an unrealistic Africa. Characters kept appearing and then disappearing and I wasn't ever sure if the "ants" were a metaphor for soldiers or not. As letters were added to the alphabet the story became clearer, but never to an extent that I was intrigued by it. What kept me going was to see how well Abish dealt with the challenge, which I think he did admirably well.
PopSugar Reading Challenge 2017 | Advanced Task 46: Book from a genre/subgenre that you've never heard of (in this case "oulipo" https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2013/jul/12/oulipo-freeing-literature-tightening-rules
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