Clunk whirr.

[threemonkeys]

I'll just get this off my chest. I didn't enjoy Magic for Beginners, Kelly Link's collection of stories. I feel like I'm making a confession saying that. The reason is that so many people are giving Link astonishingly high praise - in print and in personal recommendation. I feel like I'm thumbing my nose at all those people. So what is it about these stories?

They are inventive. There is all sorts of clever structural devices - nested stories, backward stories, stories which just fade out and the like - very admirable. The images in them are unsettled and chaotic in a clever and admirable fashion. The behaviour of the characters is odd and non linear too. The settings are admirably strange too. There are lots of quips in the text - not funny but clever. The same goes for the pop culture references. The prose style is quite distinct - short stabbing sentences like an angry fairy tale that keeps prodding at you. You have got to admire all the clever stuff.

Well, maybe I'm overdoing the "admirable" and "clever" but that is what I feel about this work. There is lots of unique artistic merit here but it goes too far for my taste. As a result, the adjectives missing from the description are "engaging" and "enjoyable". I'm reminded of a Paul Klee painting - important, influential and well regarded, but I wouldn't want one on my wall.

Comments

[gillpolack.livejournal.com]

Now I *have* to read it :). (I like Paul Klee)

[threemonkeys.livejournal.com]

I admire Klee. To carry that analogy a bit further, there are a few Klee works that I like and there were elements in Link's stories that I liked. I just didn't enjoy the overall effect.

[gillpolack.livejournal.com]

That's why I need to read her. More of your bokly opinions co-incide with mine than those of other folks who've talked about her. One day... next on my reading list is Justine's last book in the trilogy. And currently I'm reading a Stargate novel.

[threemonkeys.livejournal.com]

I also think you should read at least one Kelly Link story if only so that you can contribute to those "who is the best writer currently" discussions where her name keeps coming up. That was my main motivation.

[gillpolack.livejournal.com]

The more I read, the less I feel able to contribute a single person who is best. I think I enjoy people's differences too much.

[threemonkeys.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean. John Peel could have a favourite song from all the hundreds of thousands he must have heard, but I can't even keep a consistent favourite author from one day to the next. There are too many variables.

[capnoblivious.livejournal.com]

I've only read the title story. When I said I felt let down, people told me I smelled funny.

It's a great story, except that it doesn't go anywhere. :)

[threemonkeys.livejournal.com]

I thought the title story was the best of them, certainly the most coherent, and I certainly agree about the ending.

[fishlifter.livejournal.com]

I've also read Magic for Beginners very recently, having read and enjoyed Link's first collection, Stranger Things Happen, a few weeks ago. I found the first collection a lot more engaging: yes, the stories are clever and inventive and so on, but (although some of them are disturbing in a way that makes this a slightly odd statement) I enjoyed reading them as well. The collection seemed to have a bit more pace and life than those in Magic for Beginners which I found a bit more... mannered, really.

[threemonkeys.livejournal.com]

There is nothing odd about disturbing and enjoyable going together - you could argue the whole horror genre was based on that.

I have never seen Stranger Things Happen for sale anywhere locally. There was a whole other discussion I had ready in my mind which discussed why such a highly rated author wasn't readily available locally - even Magic for Beginners is a rarity. But those thoughts went away when I read this book.

[bluetyson.livejournal.com]

I think this obscure type stuff, is less likely to be on our shelves than in the original place because it has to compete with the big-name or best from the USA and the UK and locally, whereas in its origin country, mostly only competing with the local stuff there, because of the publisher oligopoly thing that doesn't apply here - NZ too probably?

[threemonkeys.livejournal.com]

The NZ market is probably one of the most open of all markets in terms of where retailers can source books. The downside of this is, as you say, all the big name players are there to dominate the attention of the buyers so it is difficult for more niche players to get a look in. A couple of the independents try to bring in interesting niche titles but not enough to get any sort of reliable supply.

[bluetyson.livejournal.com]

Right, I figured you likely had deregulated parallel importing type stuff too from vague memories of airports and such.

[russellk.livejournal.com]

Beware any review or blurb where words like 'original', 'clever' and 'fractured genius' dominate over 'enjoyable' and 'satisfying'.

[threemonkeys.livejournal.com]

How about - "wild ideas, word devilry", "boisterously original", "fever dream, a voluptuous explosion of melody and rhythm", "a bricolage of prose, philosophy and poetry"

All that was from the back of one small press title I have - and it isn't even the most OTT part.