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tativv's review
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
huncamuncamouse's review
3.0
I was hoping to like this one more than I did--and I think if I'd read it in high school, I probably would have found it more pleasing. These stories are relentlessly grim and hit the same notes over and over. I found that repetition a bit tiresome, especially in a collection this spare. The worst stories here are overwritten and completely humorless.
However, I did find a few that I really did enjoy. They were:
-World of Heroes (I have no clue if Lana del Rey has ever read Kavan, but "Ride" almost feels like a companion piece to this, and I can certainly see overlap between her music/persona and Kavan's writing style)
-The Mercedes
-Now and Then
-High in the Mountains
-The Zebra-Struck
-Julia and the Bazooka
"Now and Then" and "High on the Mountains" deal with the same characters and were easily the best part of the collection. For once, I understood the character's misery and bitterness.
This doesn't impact my rating, but Virginia Ironside's introduction was terrible and frankly odd. It was apparently written in 2009 but feels extremely dated. These are short stories. Obviously there are undeniable parallels between Kavan's own life and her writing, but most of the stories here contain surreal elements (which I actually liked), so reading them as straight memoir isn't even supported by what's on the page. They aren't crafted like personal essays, and they simply don't read that way either. Ironside contextualizes these lazily; she's more interested in connecting plot points to Kavan's messy personal life than offering any meaningful analysis about what the stories actually mean in a larger sense, and why that makes them important and meaningful in the 2000s.
So yeah, this introduction does the collection a grave disservice because it's so shallow. I actually think if a more substantial piece had been in its place, I might have enjoyed these stories more, or at least had a better sense of their subtleties and significance. This seems like a harsh review, but she clearly was a talented writer, and I'd give her work another chance.
However, I did find a few that I really did enjoy. They were:
-World of Heroes (I have no clue if Lana del Rey has ever read Kavan, but "Ride" almost feels like a companion piece to this, and I can certainly see overlap between her music/persona and Kavan's writing style)
-The Mercedes
-Now and Then
-High in the Mountains
-The Zebra-Struck
-Julia and the Bazooka
"Now and Then" and "High on the Mountains" deal with the same characters and were easily the best part of the collection. For once, I understood the character's misery and bitterness.
This doesn't impact my rating, but Virginia Ironside's introduction was terrible and frankly odd. It was apparently written in 2009 but feels extremely dated. These are short stories. Obviously there are undeniable parallels between Kavan's own life and her writing, but most of the stories here contain surreal elements (which I actually liked), so reading them as straight memoir isn't even supported by what's on the page. They aren't crafted like personal essays, and they simply don't read that way either. Ironside contextualizes these lazily; she's more interested in connecting plot points to Kavan's messy personal life than offering any meaningful analysis about what the stories actually mean in a larger sense, and why that makes them important and meaningful in the 2000s.
So yeah, this introduction does the collection a grave disservice because it's so shallow. I actually think if a more substantial piece had been in its place, I might have enjoyed these stories more, or at least had a better sense of their subtleties and significance. This seems like a harsh review, but she clearly was a talented writer, and I'd give her work another chance.
louiseadelusi's review
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction
gracekc's review
5.0
Absolutely perfect and enchanting like everything else Kavan writes. It felt so personal and dedicated to my own mind that I can not mentally separate my own conscious from this book. Ethereal!
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