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dessa's review against another edition
3.0
The back calls this the most unsettling book since White Noise, and you know? That's not wrong.
ashley073's review against another edition
5.0
full disclosure: the author is my brother...so maybe I'm a bit biased, but I'd like to believe I can set that aside and be objective (which, okay, I totally can't- but luckily in this case it truly doesn't matter, because the book is genuinely amazing)
The entire time I was reading it I kind of felt like I was being held under water. I felt claustrophobic. It was this slow churning misery that never really reached total misery, because you're almost too apathetic (but in an intense way) and settled and terrified to even acknowledge that misery.
Beautiful. Haunting. So incredibly full in all of its emptiness that it leaves you with a gnawing feeling in the pit of your stomach.
For the most part I think putting too much emphasis on an ending is a little silly when 'reviewing' a book, but I can't help but mention that the ending is really phenomenal here...it's the only ending that makes sense. Or, rather, I suppose others would have made perfect sense, but this is the only one I can think of that feels right...it feels quite real and natural.
It was probably 5-6 years ago or so that I found myself driving around the West side of Indianapolis with my brother staring at old motels, hearing little snippets of his ideas for this book. Over the years I've thought about what it would turn in to and I would often ask if he was still working on it, because the concept was so intriguing that I found myself rooting for it and hoping that this wouldn't turn in to an abandoned idea or a finished piece that never sees the light of day. The concept and these characters never left my mind from the first time I heard about them, and it was well worth the wait to read the finished product!
The entire time I was reading it I kind of felt like I was being held under water. I felt claustrophobic. It was this slow churning misery that never really reached total misery, because you're almost too apathetic (but in an intense way) and settled and terrified to even acknowledge that misery.
Beautiful. Haunting. So incredibly full in all of its emptiness that it leaves you with a gnawing feeling in the pit of your stomach.
For the most part I think putting too much emphasis on an ending is a little silly when 'reviewing' a book, but I can't help but mention that the ending is really phenomenal here...it's the only ending that makes sense. Or, rather, I suppose others would have made perfect sense, but this is the only one I can think of that feels right...it feels quite real and natural.
It was probably 5-6 years ago or so that I found myself driving around the West side of Indianapolis with my brother staring at old motels, hearing little snippets of his ideas for this book. Over the years I've thought about what it would turn in to and I would often ask if he was still working on it, because the concept was so intriguing that I found myself rooting for it and hoping that this wouldn't turn in to an abandoned idea or a finished piece that never sees the light of day. The concept and these characters never left my mind from the first time I heard about them, and it was well worth the wait to read the finished product!
drewsof's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 out of 5. It’s a short read and Adcox has some of the sly Vonnegutian wit that allows a writer to comment from above on ridiculous human situations – but it never quite comes together. Perhaps this is due to the VERY short chapters, giving a ViewMaster-esque reading experience, or to the author’s desire to focus not on the bigger issues in the world of the novel but instead on the smaller, infinitely unknowable distance that can occur between a man and a women (even when they are in love). I’m intrigued to see where Adcox goes next – because he definitely has a keen eye for a world just sideways from ours.
More at RB: https://ragingbiblioholism.com/2015/12/30/does-not-love/
More at RB: https://ragingbiblioholism.com/2015/12/30/does-not-love/
cdealba's review against another edition
4.0
Viola and Robert have experienced three miscarriages which have created a problem in their marriage. Robert is too boring and Viola is too sad. On top of that an FBI agent is investigating them for possibly breaking the secret law, and members of an underground society of pharmaceutical test subjects are planning take over the city. The characters question the meaning of love and happiness and if these states are even possible. The writing is to the point, giving readers the opportunity to interpret motives, meanings, and events.
nicka's review
4.0
"I think one of the problems with growing up as a kid who spent basically all of her time reading is that it's hard to accept the idea that this single life is all you get...You get so used to the idea of a narrative arc to things, of life as a sort of meaningful unit, of being able to switch from one life to another and from one head to another. And on some level you begin to think that that's how thing actually are, that you can try something out, and if you don't like it, you can just switch. That at some point you get to be everything. Then suddenly you're twenty five years old, thirty, and you realize you only actually get one life and one head to be inside of."
DOES NOT LOVE is a curious yet affecting fast-paced novel in the style of Don Delillo by way of MFA workshop. Stylistically, there's a matter of factness that shares a kinship with Delillo, allowing the reader to provide emotional texture. Tonally the novel has much more in common with Offill's excellent DEPT OF SPECULATION in that the sense of dread and alienation Delillo works with is much more abstracted than here where it is laid bare at your feet, impossible to ignore, something that must be confronted. And yet the plot recalls a drawn out Saunders story.
This isn't to say Adcox hasn't found his voice (or that he isn't developing it still), but that the shards of influence are lodged thoughtfully within this novel. Though I cant say I was utterly devastated upon completion, this is still tragic, heart rending stuff. Adcox is one to keep an eye on, I predict he'll only get better as he publishes more work.
DOES NOT LOVE is a curious yet affecting fast-paced novel in the style of Don Delillo by way of MFA workshop. Stylistically, there's a matter of factness that shares a kinship with Delillo, allowing the reader to provide emotional texture. Tonally the novel has much more in common with Offill's excellent DEPT OF SPECULATION in that the sense of dread and alienation Delillo works with is much more abstracted than here where it is laid bare at your feet, impossible to ignore, something that must be confronted. And yet the plot recalls a drawn out Saunders story.
This isn't to say Adcox hasn't found his voice (or that he isn't developing it still), but that the shards of influence are lodged thoughtfully within this novel. Though I cant say I was utterly devastated upon completion, this is still tragic, heart rending stuff. Adcox is one to keep an eye on, I predict he'll only get better as he publishes more work.
shannonrose's review
4.0
"We strive to put the world in some kind of order, to turn chaos of sensation into the beauty of theory, of explanation." - (pages 159-160)
Interesting and fresh.
Interesting and fresh.
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