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A review by stranger_sights
Distortion by Gautam Malkani
2.0
I didn’t dig on this book, like, at all. It took me a long time to read, and at no point did I find myself really getting into it. To me, it just felt like reading a super-British-dialected (forgive my ignorance of which dialect, specifically, but I am just not cultured enough to be able to place it other than to say generally British, but not, like, posh old school Bond-type British) version of a Chuck Palahniuk novel – but not like Choke, Invisible Monsters, or Fight Club – maybe Pygmy or one of the other newer ones that I read but couldn’t find myself getting into.
However, lest it sound like I completely hated this book, since that is far too dramatic, I will say this for it: it played to it’s name. Dillon’s fracturing of identity/reality is a constant theme in the story. There was definitely some clever storytelling techniques, and the plot was definitely original, if not particularly engrossing or followable.
The thing that I really struggled with, I think, is the whole digital intrusion bit. It felt like a side story rather than an important aspect of the overall story. Plus, the intrusion seemed to be embraced by Dillon/Dylan/Dilhan, so I’m not sure where the story is there.
However, lest it sound like I completely hated this book, since that is far too dramatic, I will say this for it: it played to it’s name. Dillon’s fracturing of identity/reality is a constant theme in the story. There was definitely some clever storytelling techniques, and the plot was definitely original, if not particularly engrossing or followable.
The thing that I really struggled with, I think, is the whole digital intrusion bit. It felt like a side story rather than an important aspect of the overall story. Plus, the intrusion seemed to be embraced by Dillon/Dylan/Dilhan, so I’m not sure where the story is there.