Comments on: Review: City of Saints and Madmen

By: james m. toburen

james m. toburen — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 00:01:53 +0000

@Moo Oh, I would agree with you that House of Leaves is WAY more self-indulgent than City of Saints and Madmen. Some of the techniques Danielewski employed, while fun to read, were really over the top. The chapter on labyrinths, using footnotes on footnotes on footnotes was painful, though a cool way to communicate the sensation of a maze utilizing the written word. Also, during the exploration of the endless hallways and the massive pit, the tricks he plays where you are rotating the book to read, very gimmicky; that section felt more like an art exhibit than a novel.

I’m looking back on House of Leaves after close to a decade, but I remember it being either very vivid or very dry, with little in-between; a lot of that depended on which of the narrators was speaking at a given moment. Johnny Truant was a fantastic character to experience life with, and I remember the letters from his institutionalized mother terrified me with their obsessive intensity.

By: Moo

Moo — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 21:25:14 +0000

I first encountered Jeff VanderMeer when I came across his blog and I enjoyed it so much that I tried City of Saints and Madmen. I especially enjoyed City of Saints and Madmen because I loved its postmodern literary techniques in addition to the wonderful city of Ambergris. I immediately acquired Shriek and Finch and am looking forward to reading them this year. I read House of Leaves when it first came out in 2000 and re-read it a few months ago and again enjoyed its postmodern approach as well as the scariest house I ever encountered. I would argue that House of Leaves suffered more than City from an “unwillingness to remove material that serves little purpose other than to amuse the author” and add that this imposition of the author’s authority, or whims depending on your perspective, seems to me to be part of the whole postmodern oeuvre. In any case I look forward to your reviews of Shriek and Finch as well as Wind Up Girl which just recently arrived on my tbr pile. Thanks for the thoughtful review.

By: james m. toburen

james m. toburen — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 20:06:50 +0000

@H. S. Moore Hola, haven’t heard from you in a dog’s age, though I keep seeing pictures of your lovely child on my Facebook feed! I haven’t read Grossman yet, but whenever I go to The Tattered Cover, his novel manages to jump in front of me. I don’t think I’ll be able to resist the temptation for much longer.

By: james m. toburen

james m. toburen — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 19:36:04 +0000

@N.R. Alexander Thanks for the head’s up. I’ve just picked up copies of both Shriek and Finch, and I’ve got them in the pipeline for February. I’m pretty excited. And just make sure to only listen to the right voices, whichever those are…

@Martin Lake I’m happy to hear that City of Saints is doing well! Perhaps I don’t give the general reading populace enough credit. I don’t know if you’ve ever read Danielewski’s House of Leaves, but it was stunning, and I could never convince a single friend of mine to give it a shot, as it was so atypically structured. Maybe I need different friends, either more open to experimentation or more easily persuaded to follow my advice.

By: H. S. Moore

H. S. Moore — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 02:50:03 +0000

Somehow only just tonight discovered that you’re doing book reviews. Looking forward to reading this one after your post. Have you read “The Magicians” by Lev Grossman. Highly rec’d. Take care!

By: Martin Lake

Martin Lake — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 02:12:09 +0000

That thar City of Saints still sells like hotcakes in the US, so apparently it’s not too weird.

Key to the Squid biblio is only read the annotated entries.

A Glossary is meant to be read like a Glossary…not like a story.

NR–Finch is out from Grove Atlantic in the UK in August.

Thanks for the review!

By: N. R. Alexander

N. R. Alexander — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 00:58:44 +0000

Rest assured the Ambergris sequence gets a hell of a lot better from here on out, James. I’ve landed a copy of Finch for a review on TSS myself and I can hardly wait. If it’s better than Shriek, and that’s the buzz, then it’s got to be incredible.

In my head a voice is singing that Finch could be “China Mieville’s The City and The City done right”, but I know better than to listen to the voices again.