A review by yak_attak
That Book Your Mad Ancestor Wrote by K.J. Bishop

3.0

A middling grade, but still a book I'd recommend, especially for people who already read and enjoyed Bishop's The Etched City - the issue here is that the inherent variability of quality of short stories is pretty severe here, and while all engage in Bishop's particular grade of madness and surrealism, we range the gamut from 'I'd read a whole book of this', 'Masterpiece of weird short fiction,' and 'not all that particularly strange, but a compelling story' to 'this is abstract poetry', 'i'm not entirely sure this was a finished piece,' and of course the 'god these are beautiful sentences but fuck me if I know what a single thing means.'

A lot of this leans heavily on surrealist stream of consciousness, and though Bishop *always* has a brilliant way of presenting something, a turn of phrase or incredible analogy, I have to be honest, a respectable amount of this went fully over my head. Somewhat I don't know if there's something to have gotten in most cases, it's that particular level of weird that just...is weird for the sake of it. It makes you think, and that's enough.

Just be warned. But do try it. Or really, try The Etched City. And if you're in love with it as much as I am, then absolutely give this a shot.