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A review by charbck
Demonology by Rick Moody
challenging
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
there is no denying moody’s talent, as the back of the book suggests. title track was definitely the best story. but i have personal gripes
first, his style. moody loves to italicize things that have no reason to be italicized. often times its the joke of the whole story which is innumerably repeated. or a funny detail and all of it would be much funnier if it was unitalicized. calling moody verbose is an understatement. his sentences were so long and winding that you’d think to yourself, surely this next comma will be a period, but it isn’t, and you get bored of his thesaurus words that you begin to count each comma before the period, but get lost in the integers the same way you lose the integers in the sleepy sheep leaping across your soon to be dreamscape, and then you’re reminded of the lamb you ate at last week’s family dinner, and of your cousin’s college courses she shared over spaghetti, that you dont even realize when he does finally stop. and the sentence bleeds into the next. this happened to me often.
second, men. i am biased against all cis male authors. often times i dont care what they have to say overall. but i am especially critical of their woman characters. moody’s women unfortunately do not have depth outside of their relationships to the men around them, or outside of their motherhood. i was especially excited to read M.J.’s point of view in “A Carnival Tradition,” a bulimic ballerina studying at NYU organizing a gallery. but of course we get little of that in what is probably 40 pages of M.J., outside of her relationship with her flop boyfriend gerry. and then we get 50 pages of teenage gerry’s innermost thoughts and nuances, though he is just a teenage boy on a quest to kiss girls. i hate it here.
that being said this book is probably an objective 5⭐️, but im not objective! i do appreciate moody’s exploration of narrative form, and though i was considering swapping this book out for another in a little library, i’ve decided to keep it for inspiration. the last few pgs won me over. whatever
first, his style. moody loves to italicize things that have no reason to be italicized. often times its the joke of the whole story which is innumerably repeated. or a funny detail and all of it would be much funnier if it was unitalicized. calling moody verbose is an understatement. his sentences were so long and winding that you’d think to yourself, surely this next comma will be a period, but it isn’t, and you get bored of his thesaurus words that you begin to count each comma before the period, but get lost in the integers the same way you lose the integers in the sleepy sheep leaping across your soon to be dreamscape, and then you’re reminded of the lamb you ate at last week’s family dinner, and of your cousin’s college courses she shared over spaghetti, that you dont even realize when he does finally stop. and the sentence bleeds into the next. this happened to me often.
second, men. i am biased against all cis male authors. often times i dont care what they have to say overall. but i am especially critical of their woman characters. moody’s women unfortunately do not have depth outside of their relationships to the men around them, or outside of their motherhood. i was especially excited to read M.J.’s point of view in “A Carnival Tradition,” a bulimic ballerina studying at NYU organizing a gallery. but of course we get little of that in what is probably 40 pages of M.J., outside of her relationship with her flop boyfriend gerry. and then we get 50 pages of teenage gerry’s innermost thoughts and nuances, though he is just a teenage boy on a quest to kiss girls. i hate it here.
that being said this book is probably an objective 5⭐️, but im not objective! i do appreciate moody’s exploration of narrative form, and though i was considering swapping this book out for another in a little library, i’ve decided to keep it for inspiration. the last few pgs won me over. whatever