videotape's reviews
21 reviews

A 4.5 rounds up to a 5.

Wow, what an interesting little book. While on the one hand the second half feels rushed in comparison to the first - it demonstrates the complete mental disintegration that Deckard endures. While on the one hand the characters aren't described in much depth, it shows the lack of identity the characters have in this dystopian setting. This is my first book by P. K. Dick, but it gets me excited to read some more of his work. Some of his uses of description are peculiar in the best possible way - giving the impression of a very distorted future wasteland. I knew the storyline would be different from the film(s) going into reading, but the extent of the differences did suprise me. The suprise however, was definitely a good one.

'I love you. I love you. I love you. I'll write it in waves. In skies. In my heart. You'll never see, but you will know. I'll be all the poets, I'll kill them all and take each ones place in turn, and every time loves written in all the strands it will be to you'.

This is how you lose the time war is an intriguing novella in which the universe is controlled by two factions - Red, representing a heavily industrialised dystopia, and Blue, representing a beautifully cruel naturistic environment.

Atleast thats how I imagined the two sides - as I'm not sure how much of that was included in the book due to the massive lack of world building in this novella. While I suppose this is understandable as the setting flicks through time - there seem to be a few constant places and periods in time that could be fleshed out much better to make the story more whole.
This would do a service to the actual plot, as its massively lacking due to a focus on a few characters instead of the seemingly absorbing world in which this is set.

Also, I'm not a hopeless romantic. I don't 'love, love'. So the fact this incredibly intriguing idea, of two members of opposite factions being able to interact with each other for the first time, while chasing each other through time so they could keep sending these letters, was obscured by a Romeo and Juliet esque plot of two forbidden lovers was disappointing.

The love story does allow for some amazing metaphors through the letters that the two anonymous lovers share, but it also leads to some incredibly confusing wordplay which is not made easier by the often confusing jumps in time. Much of the plaudits that this novella is given is because of its poetic story telling - but it hits the mark just as often as it doesn't.

This is how you lose the time war is 3 stars as, quite plainly, it doesn't fit any of my ideals for a fun read. While intriguing - it can be very confusing and I didn't particularly feel for the characters. The book isn't bad by any means; it just doesn't fill my criteria of what makes a book interesting, and so it is not for me.

The magic toyshop is one of Angela Carter's earliest works. Published in 1967, it's clear the ideas behind her writing were ahead of her time - approaching topics that were scarcely spoke about like the sexuality of young women, without being scared of backlash. This was a trend across all of Carter's writings, but being so early in her career, The Magic Toyshop feels like a rush of these interesting ideas that aren't really built upon.

There is no real plot throughout the entirety of the book after about page 50, just a boring list of events that don't add anything in terms of progression and only acted as character building. The sad part is, none of the characters are particularly interesting. The antagonist, Uncle Phillip, feels wholly bad - with no reason for his atrocious actions given making him a very boring villain in this Dickensian plot. The brother, Jonathan is incredibly forgettable and is completely ignored by Carter for the entirety of the narrative. The two twin brothers were so underdeveloped that I could only tell them apart after reading about 60%. Its sad, but I suppose as with most of Carter's works she was too focused on building strong female characters instead of caring for the development of the male ones.

However there is no denying that Carter's writing is amazing. She is a metaphorical mastermind and left me in awe when tackling her most complex imagery. This remains throughout her writing, along with many classic Carter tropes such as using the idea of marriage as a way of demonstrating maturity in Young Women. It was almost scary though, when reading this parralel to The Bloody Chamber (arguably her most famous work), how so many similar ideas, words and objects crop up between the two texts. Its almost as if through her career she had no need to develop her writing style; but rather she need to make sure the plot is not neglected.

The Magic Toyshop is a bit of a boring narrative, blessed by having such an amazing wordsmith at the helm. It definitely has its flaws, but without it we may not have called Carter the maestro that she's seen as today.

'I've drawn her unpicked, ribs splayed stretched like a xylophone with the dead birds playing tunes on her bones.'

An incredibly strange, short read; 3 perspectives, 3 stars.

Half of the book was stunning, dark and metaphorical poetry, inspired heavily by Ted Hughes, but the other half was incredibly simple and stupid. Such a shame to have such a promising book compromised. With heavier and more effective editing this could've absolutely been an instant classic. Still worth a read though!

'I remember a story about an Irish warrior who killed his son by mistake but when he realised he didn't mind that much because it served the son right.'

Started reading as a way to become accustom to the gothic genre - and its definitely an interesting debut novel from Iain Banks. While 'gothic horror' is not what he is famous for, this is still a very solid entry in his bibliography.

Its quite difficult to begin describing this work without spoiling much of the story; but here we go:

The focus - a teenage killer who's murdered three of his young family members.

The setting - an isolated island in Scotland, near Inverness, filled with dunes and all the other features that characterise quiet, British holiday destinations.

And the rest is for you to read, be disturbed by and enjoy!

Y'know when something just sucks the wind from your lungs and you sit there in shock as you witness the events unfold? That's how it felt reading this book; absolutely stunning.

Poor Shakespearean drivel - 2 stars due to its influence on the gothic genre. Exciting passages were few and far between melodramatic nothingness.

Displaying the problems with religion and society - Ted Hughes crafted an anthology comprised of pessimism, self-hatred and anger.

Literary uniqueness displayed once a generation.

Fundamentally brilliant concepts, but occasionally lacking K. Dick's fluid writing style.