There is No Year
May 12, 2011
Author: Blake Butler
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Publication Date: April 5, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-06-199742-6
Well now, how do I describe this book? Descriptives I have seen have been words like hallucinatory. Innovative text. Non-traditional.
You cannot breeze through this story. You must study it, re-read portions, analyze the meanings, make your own determinations as to the story results. This is not a book for a pool side day. Nor a book to read in a loud room. It needs concentration.
I will agree with "innovative text". This book is all over the place. Poetry, text messaging, paragraphs, lines of dialogue without structure.... Blake writes however he wants.
The story line is about a family who's son has suffered an illness - possibly related to a world wide tragedy. While he, and they, recover from the trauma, very odd things begin to happen. A copy family appears in their house that they can watch, bugs infest everything, holes in the fabric of reality show up in their living room. They all deal with their own emotional trauma and issues. You're not quite sure who's sane and who's not.
If you want to experience a new and interesting way to have a story told to you, if you want to put your mental faculties to use, if you like puzzles... I think this book might be a very different, but enjoyable experience for you.
If you want a straight "novel-reading" experience, this is not the book you want.
