palimpsest

[liminalia]

The first time I picked up yuki_onna's Palimpsest, shortly after I won a copy, I didn't finish it. I don't remember why. I suspect I found it lyrical but impenetrable

Comments

[rikibeth]

"Lyrical but impenetrable." That's a pretty good description of why I bounced off it a couple of months ago. Maybe I'll give it six months and try again.

ETA: I may still bounce. If maror is in fact "bitter herbs," as on the Seder plate, it may have resonances that I'm just not prepared to deal with. It's under the same umbrella as why I can't stand Gogol Bordello's music although I know people who praise it to the skies. Too many bad memories made early.

[liminalia]

Maror is part of *my* metaphor, not the book's, for what it's worth.

[rikibeth]

Yes, that does, actually.

[liminalia]

Also, when I was talking about the lock and key, it wasn't the key to the book's meaning, it was the key to a way of thinking about and dealing with something in my life that was not going the way I wanted or imagined it would go.

[literateshrew]

This makes total sense to me. I had a similar experience with "Palimpsest," bouncing off then coming back again with a cosmic CLICK.

I have a problem reading her short story collections, though, not because I don't love them but because they shame me. Every time I finish a story, my heart clenches and I think, "I want to have written that." This is not a way to appreciate another writer's work, so I have to be careful.

[wicked_smile_4u]

Sounds profound indeed. I'm glad the tumblers clicked for you. And now I'm thinking I should examine this book. :)

--Sheryn

[liminalia]

Catherynne Valente's books are just gorgeous. Her prose is delicious and seductive, and her fantasies are anything but formulaic. I think you'd like it.

[blue_peitho]

I'm glad to read that it's not just me who found that book... hard to absorb. It went back into my "to read" pile.

[justbeast]

One of the tags on this post made me pause and want to leave a comment - "can't bonsai love". Do you think that's true? What a beautiful and interesting concept.

(Also, I'm really glad you liked Palimpsest. It tends to be such a polarizing book, people either love it or hate it (or not get through it)).

[liminalia]

Yes, I absolutely think it's true. Relationships assume the shape they will, and trying to force them to be something else has always failed spectacularly, at least for me.

For backstory, at the time I was struggling with a poly triad that wasn't working out the way I thought it would, at all. Hmm, I think I've neglected to add you 2 to that filter. *goes to fix*

[justbeast]

Ouch. Much sympathy. I know precisely and personally how that goes (poly triad that doesn't quite work out the way you thought)

[liminalia]

Relevant filter, if you haven't already found it:
http://bifemmefatale.livejournal.com/security/group:notnpoly
relevant tag:
http://bifemmefatale.livejournal.com/tag/t%20and%20n