The familiar - BookWyrm.World

839 pages

English language

Published Nov. 5, 2015

ISBN:: 978-0-375-71494-8
OCLC Number:: 944919409

(1 review)

From the universally acclaimed, genre-busting author of House of Leaves comes a new book as dazzling as it is riveting . . . A page-turner from start to finish, ranging from Southeast Asia to Mexico to Venice, Italy, and Venice, California, with characters as diverse as a therapist-in-training whose daughters prove far more complex than her patients, an ambitious East-L.A. gang member hired for violence, two scientists on the run in Marfa, Texas, a recovering addict in Singapore summoned by a powerful but desperate billionaire, a programmer near Silicon Beach whose game engine just might augur far more than he suspects, and at the very heart a 12-year-old girl who one rainy day in May sets out from Echo Park to get a dog only to find something else . . . something that will not only alter her life but threaten the world we all think we know and …

From the universally acclaimed, genre-busting author of House of Leaves comes a new book as dazzling as it is riveting . . . A page-turner from start to finish, ranging from Southeast Asia to Mexico to Venice, Italy, and Venice, California, with characters as diverse as a therapist-in-training whose daughters prove far more complex than her patients, an ambitious East-L.A. gang member hired for violence, two scientists on the run in Marfa, Texas, a recovering addict in Singapore summoned by a powerful but desperate billionaire, a programmer near Silicon Beach whose game engine just might augur far more than he suspects, and at the very heart a 12-year-old girl who one rainy day in May sets out from Echo Park to get a dog only to find something else . . . something that will not only alter her life but threaten the world we all think we know and the future we take for granted.

1 edition

kerry reviewed The familiar by Mark Z. Danielewski

Review of 'The familiar' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

3 1/2 pounds. This book weighs three and a half pounds.

[b:The Familiar, Volume 1: One Rainy Day in May|23012473|The Familiar, Volume 1 One Rainy Day in May|Mark Z. Danielewski|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1421172286s/23012473.jpg|42578928] is as much “written” as it is “designed.” It includes numerous illustrations (that relate to the story…how?…not sure), custom page layouts, heavy glossy paper, a ribbon bookmark, and color and typography to identify characters. There are even colored squiggles in the gutter. You’re all readers, right? You know what a “page gutter” is? (Huh. Gutter. A key event takes place in a street gutter.)

Most of the primary characters appear in separate chapters without interacting with one another. The main plotline follows a family: Xanther, Anwar (her stepfather), and Astair (her mother). The other characters – I don’t even know what to say about the other characters. After reading a few of their sections, I gave up and skipped …

3 1/2 pounds. This book weighs three and a half pounds.

[b:The Familiar, Volume 1: One Rainy Day in May|23012473|The Familiar, Volume 1 One Rainy Day in May|Mark Z. Danielewski|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1421172286s/23012473.jpg|42578928] is as much “written” as it is “designed.” It includes numerous illustrations (that relate to the story…how?…not sure), custom page layouts, heavy glossy paper, a ribbon bookmark, and color and typography to identify characters. There are even colored squiggles in the gutter. You’re all readers, right? You know what a “page gutter” is? (Huh. Gutter. A key event takes place in a street gutter.)

Most of the primary characters appear in separate chapters without interacting with one another. The main plotline follows a family: Xanther, Anwar (her stepfather), and Astair (her mother). The other characters – I don’t even know what to say about the other characters. After reading a few of their sections, I gave up and skipped to the Xanther/Anwar/Astair chapters. The chapters with those other characters were pretty bad. I lost any motivation to wade through slang, broken English (which I felt was denigrating and racist), gang jargon, and oodles and oodles of odd character names. Like Shnork.

There’s a prologue that has no tie-in to the rest of the book. About 2/3 of the way through is an interlude that hints at what’s going on (and is a likely adjunct to Anwar’s job as a software game developer).

Overall, this was strange. I may or may not read the next book in the series, but if I do it will only be to find out what happens to Xanther.

Bonus points to the author for mentioning the Post & Beam restaurant in the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza.

Subjects

Fathers and daughters
Fiction