[Reviews] Book - Palimpsest by Catherynne M. Valente
All right, finished Palimpsest by Catherynne M. Valente (a.k.a yuki_onna). What follows are my thoughts, and they're pretty spoilery because I, unlike psreviews, am incapable of writing a non-spoilery review.
Palimpsest is different from any book I've ever read before. I keep hearing about this thing called "the New Weird" and I'm not sure if it's a new, legitimate literary thing, or if it's just a term someone out there on the internet made up and it spread, as these things tend to do. Either way, I think Palimpsest is an example of this concept, and everything about this book is bizarre from start to finish. This is not a bad thing.
The premise of the book involves a city, named Palimpsest (look the term up, it's quite interesting), only accessible by people who have a section of its map somewhere on their skin, and the only way to get a map portion, and then to access other sections, is to sleep with someone who has it already. All newcomers visiting for the first time are divided into Quartos, groups of four, and anything any one of them experiences is felt by the other three. Most people never figure out it was anything other than a dream, and of those that do the majority spend the rest of their lives desperately searching for a way back or better, a way back permanently.
The book follows one particular Quarto: a young Japanese woman named Sei, an Italian man named Ludovico, a New York locksmith named Oleg and November, a female beekeeper in California. Each character has their own losses, something they're searching for that leads them to their need to return to Palimpsest, but really they could have been any four people. That's sort of the point, that everyone who finds Palimpsest and becomes obsessed with it, does so because they seek something they've lost. Valente could have written about any four people and told four different stories just as interesting and personal. In fact, she does include another Quarto who act as a foil to the major Quarto of the book.
Palimpsest is a bizarre place filled with vermin created in a factory, people with animal parts, operas enjoyed blindfolded, museums with photographs that can't exist, and things that are and aren't what you're looking for. Valente's prose is poetic, strange and absolutely perfect for this setting and the premise.
I was worried about so much of the plot revolving around sex, as I'm not much for sex as plot or even as a large portion of the plot unless it's done really well. I didn't have anything to worry about because all sex in this book is written very well and tastefully.
The only issue I have with this book is that it is basically a showcase for the bizarre setting and the lyrical prose, which is perhaps fine for other people. Personally, though, I need more plot. Not to say there isn't any plot to the book, because there is. But it often seems to take a backseat to everything else, at least until the last quarter of the book, when the plot is resolved far too quickly for my liking. There's little exploration of the developing relationships between the main Quarto as they come together, and at the end they are pulled apart again. There's the knowledge they can find each other again, of course, but the book ends before they can and it's unsatisfying for me as a reader.
Bottom line: You should read it if you enjoy the bizarre, lyrical prose and studies of character, but not if you favor plot-heavy stories focused on action and cause-and-effect. Though I fall into the latter category myself, I still enjoyed it, and recommend it for reading at least once.
And hey, I wasn't quite as spoilery as I thought I would be!
Update: July, 2009
All right, I've reread the book, and reevaluated my original impression.
Rereading always gives new insight, new perspectives, and rereading Palimpsest was no exception.
Originally, I thought the book lacked enough plot for my tastes, that it seemed mostly a reason for a bizarre setting. Now, having read it once, on the second read-through I was able to better see the pieces and how they fit together, and how they made a complete story. And I was wrong, there absolutely is a larger plot. It just isn't as full of action as I'm accustomed to reading.
Palimpsest is about the things we've lost, and the places like home we find with people like us, who have also lost, and how a city can be made from these things, and more.
I officially love this book, and will read anything Valente publishes in the future.
Palimpsest is different from any book I've ever read before. I keep hearing about this thing called "the New Weird" and I'm not sure if it's a new, legitimate literary thing, or if it's just a term someone out there on the internet made up and it spread, as these things tend to do. Either way, I think Palimpsest is an example of this concept, and everything about this book is bizarre from start to finish. This is not a bad thing.
The premise of the book involves a city, named Palimpsest (look the term up, it's quite interesting), only accessible by people who have a section of its map somewhere on their skin, and the only way to get a map portion, and then to access other sections, is to sleep with someone who has it already. All newcomers visiting for the first time are divided into Quartos, groups of four, and anything any one of them experiences is felt by the other three. Most people never figure out it was anything other than a dream, and of those that do the majority spend the rest of their lives desperately searching for a way back or better, a way back permanently.
The book follows one particular Quarto: a young Japanese woman named Sei, an Italian man named Ludovico, a New York locksmith named Oleg and November, a female beekeeper in California. Each character has their own losses, something they're searching for that leads them to their need to return to Palimpsest, but really they could have been any four people. That's sort of the point, that everyone who finds Palimpsest and becomes obsessed with it, does so because they seek something they've lost. Valente could have written about any four people and told four different stories just as interesting and personal. In fact, she does include another Quarto who act as a foil to the major Quarto of the book.
Palimpsest is a bizarre place filled with vermin created in a factory, people with animal parts, operas enjoyed blindfolded, museums with photographs that can't exist, and things that are and aren't what you're looking for. Valente's prose is poetic, strange and absolutely perfect for this setting and the premise.
I was worried about so much of the plot revolving around sex, as I'm not much for sex as plot or even as a large portion of the plot unless it's done really well. I didn't have anything to worry about because all sex in this book is written very well and tastefully.
The only issue I have with this book is that it is basically a showcase for the bizarre setting and the lyrical prose, which is perhaps fine for other people. Personally, though, I need more plot. Not to say there isn't any plot to the book, because there is. But it often seems to take a backseat to everything else, at least until the last quarter of the book, when the plot is resolved far too quickly for my liking. There's little exploration of the developing relationships between the main Quarto as they come together, and at the end they are pulled apart again. There's the knowledge they can find each other again, of course, but the book ends before they can and it's unsatisfying for me as a reader.
Bottom line: You should read it if you enjoy the bizarre, lyrical prose and studies of character, but not if you favor plot-heavy stories focused on action and cause-and-effect. Though I fall into the latter category myself, I still enjoyed it, and recommend it for reading at least once.
And hey, I wasn't quite as spoilery as I thought I would be!
Update: July, 2009
All right, I've reread the book, and reevaluated my original impression.
Rereading always gives new insight, new perspectives, and rereading Palimpsest was no exception.
Originally, I thought the book lacked enough plot for my tastes, that it seemed mostly a reason for a bizarre setting. Now, having read it once, on the second read-through I was able to better see the pieces and how they fit together, and how they made a complete story. And I was wrong, there absolutely is a larger plot. It just isn't as full of action as I'm accustomed to reading.
Palimpsest is about the things we've lost, and the places like home we find with people like us, who have also lost, and how a city can be made from these things, and more.
I officially love this book, and will read anything Valente publishes in the future.