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corvusastrum's review against another edition
This book is going right over my head. Might be the translation, but I seriously have no idea what's going on / what the author is trying to tell me. I understand it's about death, and still it feels like there's no real point to it, no plot I can follow, so I'm sadly completely lost.
sunrays118's review
4.0
This was quite the book.
I have a lot of thoughts on this book because there was a lot to this book.
To begin, the writing itself was beautiful. There are few books that are as poetically written as this one. The language creates a sense of place and a feeling that completely surrounds you. You fall in love with the words. Time slows down, the pace is deliberately slow and keeps you in this other world.
The story was original and gorgeous. Told through a fictional narrator translating/retelling a story from a crow. The story travels forever, through incredible worlds. It is hard to not feel a part of the worlds being described. It is so clear and so vivid.
I hate to even write the few troubles I felt were contained in the book because it was such a gorgeous read but there were a few. The characters themselves are quite weak. There are only two characters that hold any weight. The story line, which began so strong, weakens with every single chapter. Part One is by far the success of the book. With each subsequent section, the book loses itself and the reader a bit more. Something about the magic trickles out as the book goes on which does mirror some of the story line but not as much as to keep the reader. At parts, particularly in section three, the book began to feel like a writing prompt that simply never ended. I wanted more, I wanted to feel that magic again, to have the language rush over me, but I felt a bit pushed away by certain sections.
In the end, I would highly recommend the book and think it is quite special.
I have a lot of thoughts on this book because there was a lot to this book.
To begin, the writing itself was beautiful. There are few books that are as poetically written as this one. The language creates a sense of place and a feeling that completely surrounds you. You fall in love with the words. Time slows down, the pace is deliberately slow and keeps you in this other world.
The story was original and gorgeous. Told through a fictional narrator translating/retelling a story from a crow. The story travels forever, through incredible worlds. It is hard to not feel a part of the worlds being described. It is so clear and so vivid.
I hate to even write the few troubles I felt were contained in the book because it was such a gorgeous read but there were a few. The characters themselves are quite weak. There are only two characters that hold any weight. The story line, which began so strong, weakens with every single chapter. Part One is by far the success of the book. With each subsequent section, the book loses itself and the reader a bit more. Something about the magic trickles out as the book goes on which does mirror some of the story line but not as much as to keep the reader. At parts, particularly in section three, the book began to feel like a writing prompt that simply never ended. I wanted more, I wanted to feel that magic again, to have the language rush over me, but I felt a bit pushed away by certain sections.
In the end, I would highly recommend the book and think it is quite special.
grayjay's review
2.0
A very dreamy, mythic story of a crow and his journeying alongside various humans and animals, exploring and embodying death.
I found it difficult to care much about Dar Oakley throughout the novel because the narrative thread is so loose and thin. The rules of the narrative are made and broken so many times I lost my trust in the narrator. Dar Oakley will do some interesting things and learn a lesson in one lifetime, but then forget it all in the next...but then remember it later? The book could have been about a third shorter.
I found it difficult to care much about Dar Oakley throughout the novel because the narrative thread is so loose and thin. The rules of the narrative are made and broken so many times I lost my trust in the narrator. Dar Oakley will do some interesting things and learn a lesson in one lifetime, but then forget it all in the next...but then remember it later? The book could have been about a third shorter.
aranafyre's review
4.0
This book is excellent. Not what I was expecting though. I loved the exploration of death and stories and life throughout all of Dar Oakleys tales. The frame was also very interesting. A sick man whose wife has died finds a sick crow in his yard. The crow tells him of his many lives. I think the first section was just a bit too long otherwise I would have given this a five star rating.
geekwayne's review
4.0
John Crowley is a great writer. Unfortunately, his writing style is not the potboiler mega-thriller type pace. His writing is paced and deliberate.
When my online book club picked 'Ka: Dar Oakley in the Ruin of Ymr' by John Crowley, I knew it might be a problem, but I had hope that there might be renewed interest in the writer. Perhaps there will be.
A man in a world winding down finds an unusual crow. The crow and the man begin to understand each other, and the crow tells his story. The crow has a long history with humans, living and dying alongside them. The book spans different relationships from early man to medieval monks to the civil war to the industrial age and beyond.
The beauty of this novel is how well the author seems to get the sounds and actions of crows. Early chapters as the Dar Oakley learns to communicate are difficult because the crow is not able to express itself so we can understand. This was a bit offputting to me and may throw readers off, but stick with the book for a beautiful and melancholy read.
When my online book club picked 'Ka: Dar Oakley in the Ruin of Ymr' by John Crowley, I knew it might be a problem, but I had hope that there might be renewed interest in the writer. Perhaps there will be.
A man in a world winding down finds an unusual crow. The crow and the man begin to understand each other, and the crow tells his story. The crow has a long history with humans, living and dying alongside them. The book spans different relationships from early man to medieval monks to the civil war to the industrial age and beyond.
The beauty of this novel is how well the author seems to get the sounds and actions of crows. Early chapters as the Dar Oakley learns to communicate are difficult because the crow is not able to express itself so we can understand. This was a bit offputting to me and may throw readers off, but stick with the book for a beautiful and melancholy read.
trilbynorton's review
5.0
"We're made of stories now, brother. It's why we never die even if we do."
Crows are among my favourite animals (a fact known by the friend who gifted me a copy of this book), and John Crowley’s novel combines them with another of my favourite things: stories about stories. The eponymous Dar Oakley is a crow living on Bronze Age Europe who finds himself caught up in the burgeoning human civilisation and its propensity to narrativise everything. He gains immortality by (what else?) stealing a shiny during a classic yarn of a trip to the underworld. Then the book follows him as his story weaves through that of humanity, from the rise of Christianity, to the New World, and finally the near future.
As the origin of Dar Oakley’s immortality suggests, this is a book largely concerned with death. Crows are “death-birds”, variously carrion eaters, bad omens, and psychopomps, and the stories Dar Oakley finds himself in reflect our changing attitudes to death and the dead. In the Bronze Age, the dead are honoured and live on in the tales told about them. In the near future, a grim representation of the predicament we currently find ourselves in, the dead are nowhere to be found – in a way, we are the dead.
All of which makes Ka sound like the most depressing book you’ve ever read, which it is not. Crowley’s attention to corvid behaviour, and Dar Oakley’s bemused detachment from human behaviour, lend the book a dry humour which helps to put our unhealthy obsession with death into perspective. Crows live to live, after all. To them, dead is dead.
Crows are among my favourite animals (a fact known by the friend who gifted me a copy of this book), and John Crowley’s novel combines them with another of my favourite things: stories about stories. The eponymous Dar Oakley is a crow living on Bronze Age Europe who finds himself caught up in the burgeoning human civilisation and its propensity to narrativise everything. He gains immortality by (what else?) stealing a shiny during a classic yarn of a trip to the underworld. Then the book follows him as his story weaves through that of humanity, from the rise of Christianity, to the New World, and finally the near future.
As the origin of Dar Oakley’s immortality suggests, this is a book largely concerned with death. Crows are “death-birds”, variously carrion eaters, bad omens, and psychopomps, and the stories Dar Oakley finds himself in reflect our changing attitudes to death and the dead. In the Bronze Age, the dead are honoured and live on in the tales told about them. In the near future, a grim representation of the predicament we currently find ourselves in, the dead are nowhere to be found – in a way, we are the dead.
All of which makes Ka sound like the most depressing book you’ve ever read, which it is not. Crowley’s attention to corvid behaviour, and Dar Oakley’s bemused detachment from human behaviour, lend the book a dry humour which helps to put our unhealthy obsession with death into perspective. Crows live to live, after all. To them, dead is dead.
ethanpoole's review
2.0
I really struggled to finish this book. It took me awhile to figure out what the book was about, other than a crow who interacts with some humans. The book ultimately amounts to a treatise on death, which I could in principle appreciate, but as a treatise on death, it is cliche. The trope of death and rebirth is somewhat unoriginal, in particular if it isn't wrapped in some kind of worthwhile story (think One Hundred Years of Solitude). I did not appreciate the notion that not having a "name" for something means that an individual cannot conceptualize it. That idea is terribly naive and, in the context of modern linguistics and philosophy, at worse false (that is, it is a dangerous idea that has historically been used to disparage marginalized groups). The concept behind the book is good, but it could have been 200 pages shorter, more of a novella. Yes, the prose is very lyrical and pretty, but I'm not sure that that saves it.
Spoiler
It wasn't until Dar Oakley (the crow) came to the New World that I realized that he was going to traverse human history.aleffert's review
5.0
Dar Oakley was the first crow with a name. Crows are birds of death and Dar Oakley more than most. He cannot die and he dies many times. He crosses the ocean, sees an angel, and finds the Most Precious Thing. This is not a page turner, though it is exciting in moments. It is for those who love to breathe in a book like the steam from a hot cup of tea on a crisp autumn day. It is scented like a whiff of herbs and melancholy like the end of summer.
colorfulleo92's review
3.0
Dar Oakley is a crow, first crow with a name of his own. Born 2000 years ago and has found immortality. He knows secrets that would change human existence and now he want to chare is knowledge. The book is written very beautiful and its a Dar Oakley is a very compelling character on his own. But I didn't fall i love with the story completely. My feelings only went luke warm with this but I did enjoy parts of it anywho.
scheu's review
5.0
It took me quite a while to get through this, and a couple of starts and stops. I think that I will feel differently about it the more time I have to ponder it. Right now, I mostly think that this was a 400+ page parable, and that's A LOT of parable to sit through. For anyone. It sagged at times. Yet, I feel very satisfied with it having gotten to the end. Crowley's stories just seem to ring some deeply-buried bell inside of me (and I admit that some of his books find the bell more quickly than others).