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davidjme's review
5.0
Got this one as a wedding gift (from the wife herself, bless her). I'm a sucker for anti-novel/experimental works like this, though I was surprised how much I enjoyed it given its mixed critical reception.
"Composition No. 1" takes the form of 150-odd loose leaf pages that the reader can shuffle and read in any order. Think, if you've read it, of BS Johnson's "The Unfortunates", though without stabilisers: In the latter, you're only shuffling sections of the novel; in the former, literally any page can open or close the work.
POTENTIAL LIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD(?)
Anyway, I thought it was brilliant. The book's multiple narrative elements - an affair, a car crash, a rape, etc. - are connected by the lightest possible thread, which allows the reader to swoop in to interpret to some extent the book's narrative chronology. More importantly, the reader is left to decide which event is the trigger for the others.
Saporta indicates (I would suggest) that in doing so we are possibly being as destructive as the 'interpretive' protagonist himself, even 'raping' the loose pages for connectivity where none is necessarily found.
I thought of hacking off a star for a few typos I found scattered throughout, but glued it back on thanks to Visual Edition's gorgeous redesign and Richard Howard's lyrical translation from the original French.
"Composition No. 1" takes the form of 150-odd loose leaf pages that the reader can shuffle and read in any order. Think, if you've read it, of BS Johnson's "The Unfortunates", though without stabilisers: In the latter, you're only shuffling sections of the novel; in the former, literally any page can open or close the work.
POTENTIAL LIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD(?)
Anyway, I thought it was brilliant. The book's multiple narrative elements - an affair, a car crash, a rape, etc. - are connected by the lightest possible thread, which allows the reader to swoop in to interpret to some extent the book's narrative chronology. More importantly, the reader is left to decide which event is the trigger for the others.
Saporta indicates (I would suggest) that in doing so we are possibly being as destructive as the 'interpretive' protagonist himself, even 'raping' the loose pages for connectivity where none is necessarily found.
I thought of hacking off a star for a few typos I found scattered throughout, but glued it back on thanks to Visual Edition's gorgeous redesign and Richard Howard's lyrical translation from the original French.
caitatoes's review
2.0
you know, the concept is cool but the story is nonsense. you could technically read the pages in any order, but the actual story is so convoluted, half-formed, ill-explained. it's an experiment, but only a half successful one.
jasminenoack's review
4.0
so this book came out on Sept. 13, I recommended it to Greg on Sept. 6 and MJ recommended it to me on Nov. 13. and now I've finally gotten around to reading it. so that's all well and good except when it's not.
I think that every person who asks for a recommendation based on the fact that the girl with the dragon tattoo is about violence toward women should be handed this book. mostly because i'm a jerk, but also to prove a point not all books about violence against women are about violence against women. most in fact aren't I mean if the point of a book is women getting beat up and violated for not other purpose than to do it you have the story of O, just kidding that one had a point, in reality you have this book... I feel quite bad making such a statement in all honesty... because the books idea is so neat and after I shuffled it only I can be blamed for what I read, right? not so much when the author clearly states young girls need to be trained like birds, and how do you train a bird? by all appearances you tourture it until you get learned helplessness and it's willing to make you supper barefoot and pregnant. wait that came out wrong that isn't the right idea, the right idea is for you to rape it but while you rape it you convince it of how much it enjoys what you are doing to it. hello rape trauma syndrome.... um... right i'm trying to figure out how to save this review because I did like the book but I've got nothing, perhaps MJ can do better.
I think that every person who asks for a recommendation based on the fact that the girl with the dragon tattoo is about violence toward women should be handed this book. mostly because i'm a jerk, but also to prove a point not all books about violence against women are about violence against women. most in fact aren't I mean if the point of a book is women getting beat up and violated for not other purpose than to do it you have the story of O, just kidding that one had a point, in reality you have this book... I feel quite bad making such a statement in all honesty... because the books idea is so neat and after I shuffled it only I can be blamed for what I read, right? not so much when the author clearly states young girls need to be trained like birds, and how do you train a bird? by all appearances you tourture it until you get learned helplessness and it's willing to make you supper barefoot and pregnant. wait that came out wrong that isn't the right idea, the right idea is for you to rape it but while you rape it you convince it of how much it enjoys what you are doing to it. hello rape trauma syndrome.... um... right i'm trying to figure out how to save this review because I did like the book but I've got nothing, perhaps MJ can do better.
drewsof's review
4.0
Hard to say exactly what this book is about - or why it's something to be read, other than that it is an object of immense beauty and danger.
I read the whole thing in one go after having waited for quite some time, under the influence of Tylenol and a low-grade fever. I do believe this only helped add to the ethereal nature of the book and, hey, I'll take it.
This won't be for everyone, certainly - but even if you don't like the book, you have to admire Visual Editions' beautiful work on the creation of the piece itself.
More ramblings about the strange creation over at Raging Biblioholism: http://wp.me/pGVzJ-ha
I read the whole thing in one go after having waited for quite some time, under the influence of Tylenol and a low-grade fever. I do believe this only helped add to the ethereal nature of the book and, hey, I'll take it.
This won't be for everyone, certainly - but even if you don't like the book, you have to admire Visual Editions' beautiful work on the creation of the piece itself.
More ramblings about the strange creation over at Raging Biblioholism: http://wp.me/pGVzJ-ha
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