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A review by moholub
Dead Astronauts by Jeff VanderMeer
5.0
“Dead astronauts were no different than living astronauts. Neither could shed their skin. Neither could ever become part of what they journeyed through."
"Dead Astronauts" is Jeff Vandermeer's surrealist "New Weird" genre at its newest and weirdest. Experimental, hypnotic, all-consumingly weird. The trippy, poetry-prose style is on the surface an eco-horror apocalyptic epic trailing characters through a hopeless wasteland, and underneath an abstract exploration of how we form bonds with the people (or things, or creatures, or blue foxes and ducks with broken wings) around us, especially in processing grief. The disjointed, non-linear storytelling feeds into the confusing tone of the world...none of them really know who they are fighting or why or for how long they have been trapped in this cycle, which itself is commentary on war, conflict, and the blind following of orders.
To me, this book is less about what it means and more about the experience of reading it, of engaging with the emotion and horror of the world these characters have found themselves in. The abstract ideation and open interpretation of any given part of this book--full of religious allegory and apocalyptic warnings--make reading it an immersive exploration of our own humanity.
Even if you are apathetic towards the book as a whole, parts of this story will stay with you long after the final page. I have thought about this quote at least once a week for the last five years: "In the end, joy cannot fend off evil. Joy can only remind you why you fight."
*Full disclaimer, this is my second time reading "Dead Astronauts," and I've spent the last five years contemplating how to explain it to people. Sorry Jenny.
"Dead Astronauts" is Jeff Vandermeer's surrealist "New Weird" genre at its newest and weirdest. Experimental, hypnotic, all-consumingly weird. The trippy, poetry-prose style is on the surface an eco-horror apocalyptic epic trailing characters through a hopeless wasteland, and underneath an abstract exploration of how we form bonds with the people (or things, or creatures, or blue foxes and ducks with broken wings) around us, especially in processing grief. The disjointed, non-linear storytelling feeds into the confusing tone of the world...none of them really know who they are fighting or why or for how long they have been trapped in this cycle, which itself is commentary on war, conflict, and the blind following of orders.
To me, this book is less about what it means and more about the experience of reading it, of engaging with the emotion and horror of the world these characters have found themselves in. The abstract ideation and open interpretation of any given part of this book--full of religious allegory and apocalyptic warnings--make reading it an immersive exploration of our own humanity.
Even if you are apathetic towards the book as a whole, parts of this story will stay with you long after the final page. I have thought about this quote at least once a week for the last five years: "In the end, joy cannot fend off evil. Joy can only remind you why you fight."
*Full disclaimer, this is my second time reading "Dead Astronauts," and I've spent the last five years contemplating how to explain it to people. Sorry Jenny.