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77th out of 101 books
—
90 voters
Daniel Fights a Hurricane
by
Shane Jones (Goodreads Author)
Ever since he was a boy, Daniel Suppleton has been deathly afraid of hurricanes, which he fears will arrive suddenly and reduce everyone he knows and loves to trembling skeletons. Retreating to live in a tipi in the woods, Daniel battles demons real and imagined. As his ex-wife, Karen, frantically searches for him, the long-awaited hurricane finally hits, and Daniel must f...more
Paperback, 1st, 211 pages
Published
July 31st 2012
by Penguin Books
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I will be about the 3,000th person to write this, but I loved Shane Jones' Light Boxes and was hoping for a similar experience with Daniel. That was not the case.
I wanted to give this a 3 initially, but I keep thinking about the story. Jones' writing is crazy making and I wondered if I should keep going. The more you get into the story though you truly understand that you are supposed to be driven crazy. Daniel is mentally ill and only getting worse fast. When we are given Karen's pers...more
I will be about the 3,000th person to write this, but I loved Shane Jones' Light Boxes and was hoping for a similar experience with Daniel. That was not the case.
I wanted to give this a 3 initially, but I keep thinking about the story. Jones' writing is crazy making and I wondered if I should keep going. The more you get into the story though you truly understand that you are supposed to be driven crazy. Daniel is mentally ill and only getting worse fast. When we are given Karen's pers...more
8 likes · like · see review
Aug 02, 2012
Laura
added it
If you were going to characterize the main character of this slight novel as insane (which Shane Jones hopes you won't), then he is probably psychotic rather than anxious. The image of the hurricane in the first 100 pages (or half) of the book worked well for me though as a metaphor for an anxious mind. The story of Daniel reads like a parable, leaving me as a reader trying constantly to figure out what things were meant to represent, and coming up short again and again. The narrative shifts bet...more
It is really rather bad---
Think Light Boxes with a hurricane instead of February; insanity instead of beauty; failed marketability instead of ingenuity....
Moments of potential unrealised...
Was told the POV shifts are not just in the advanced reader copies, either.
May be overt disappointment with potential being rehashed in a faulty emulation of Jesse Ball instead of making something new and could be worthy of three stars... but probably not.
As I read the previous reviews, I thought it interesting that the critique on Daniel Fights a Hurricane has, somewhat, been based upon what the reviewer feels a novel should be. As I have found with many of the newer, younger writers, is that that might be the wrong approach. If you are entering this adventure thinking it should fit in with a preconception, then you will have already missed the boat. That said, maybe Shane Jones is not for everyone. Too bad, as I would love to see him become wea...more
I really loved Jones' "Light Boxes" and was excited to read another book by him. I'm not necessarily a fan of "adult fairy tales," but his the first novel was really inventive and touching. I only got 1/4 of the way through this one, however, before I gave up. There are so many literary devices going on here that I couldn't tell what direction the book was taking me. The narrative switches between third person for the protagonist to first person for a secondary character and includes poetry abou...more
I found this book to be disturbing by its informal base images. This is meant to be surreal madness in the span of 211 pages, and that's all it is. I got through it fast, and will say I enjoyed the book, and if you pick up a copy, the best thing to do is simply agree with the images being presented, and don't question that feeling you get when you continually say to yourself, "this isn't normal." If Shane Cross had decided to define his world a little more I would have gave this book a better re...more
In a nutshell: Shane Jones is definitely screwing with you here. How intentionally is unclear... like the entirety of this novel.
Having already started and stopped Light Boxes by Shane Jones, I had a pretty decent hunch that Daniel Fights a Hurricane wasn't going to be my thing. And it surely wasn't. But it was my book club's reading selection, so I slogged through it.
One of the terrible things about being in a book club is reading books you don't like. But one of the great things about being in...more
Having already started and stopped Light Boxes by Shane Jones, I had a pretty decent hunch that Daniel Fights a Hurricane wasn't going to be my thing. And it surely wasn't. But it was my book club's reading selection, so I slogged through it.
One of the terrible things about being in a book club is reading books you don't like. But one of the great things about being in...more
This may be the most interesting book I've read since Poe's, "The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pim of Nantucket." Nobody makes it easier to believe nonsense than Shane Jones (not even Lewis Carol). What's more, nobody has the power to create emotion out of nonsense like Shane Jones does.
Perhaps the chapter in the book that most captures Jones' style of writing is the one titled "Box built from green pipes." to which the overwhelming theme is this: there is no rhyme or reason - sometimes there is...more
fin: Oh my god I finished it. I hate it so much. What a bleak, awful, horrible book.
20 pages from the end: I give up. I give up. Okay, yes, I will most likely trudge through the last 20 pages at some point, but I am just so un-compelled. It's so odd, so intentionally bizarre, with these hints and hints that actually no, it's not bizarre but actually devastating and awful. I hate weird for weird's sake, and I hate bottomless despair without cease, and I hate this dumb book.
before reading: Why hav...more
20 pages from the end: I give up. I give up. Okay, yes, I will most likely trudge through the last 20 pages at some point, but I am just so un-compelled. It's so odd, so intentionally bizarre, with these hints and hints that actually no, it's not bizarre but actually devastating and awful. I hate weird for weird's sake, and I hate bottomless despair without cease, and I hate this dumb book.
before reading: Why hav...more
1 like · like · see review
This one started out great. I really cared about Daniel and who would not like Iamso and the crazy cast of characters? But, for me, about halfway through that is exactly what started to grate on my nerves. At one point I could not take any more pipes, elephants, dreams, or Hurricanes. What helped me get through it was that it was A. short and B. the character of Karen. In the end, I am still kind of unclear of what happened, but at that point, I really didn't care. Props for excellent imaginatio...more
Not quite as enjoyable as "Light Boxes" by Jones. Daniel has gone off to live in the woods in anticipation of a hurricane which he believes will hit his town. While his wife is searching for him, we get a look at what is going on inside Daniel's mind, in which he and others try to come up with ways to fight the hurricane.
Not quite as enjoyable as "Light Boxes" by Jones. Daniel has gone off to live in the woods in anticipation of a hurricane which he believes will hit his town. While his wife is searching for him, we get a look at what is going on inside Daniel's mind, in which he and others try to come up with ways to fight the hurricane.
I was pleased to win a goodreads ARC copy of this book. Unfortunately I didn't really enjoy the writing style or the story. I found it disjointed and repetitive. The characters were inventive. I liked the "two-second dreamer and Iamso, as well as their "gifts" of seeing things. I think Shane Jones has a great sense of creativity; sadly I didn't enjoy where he went with it.
I hope others enjoy this story more than I did.
I hope others enjoy this story more than I did.
I haven't been so moved or touched by a novel in months. DANIEL speaks to our core in a way that is honest, heartfelt, highly immaginative, and invigorating. It's refreshing to see such a kind and beautiful portrayal of love and relationships, while still masked under the guise of a surrealist novel. Daniel makes us feel like life is bigger than our reality, that the hurricane we're hiding from sometimes is the most obvious issue to resolve, and that, despite how much we ignore it, sometimes lov...more
Not nearly as good as Jones' previous work, Light Boxes. This book starts off strong but gets so bogged down in the middle, I found myself skipping pages. There are still flashes of genius here. Jones has a brilliance for combining charming humor and profound sadness, but as a total work this book didn't succeed.
Coming directly from "Light Boxes," which I thoroughly loved, I was aware of the likelihood that I might not enjoy "Daniel Fights a Hurricane" as much. Whereas I dreaded seeing "Light Boxes" end, there was a section toward the end of "Daniel Fights a Hurricane" in which I became aware of my desire to wrap the story up.
I liked the shifting POV. I liked the odd characters and their many iterations. I liked the surreal run-on sense of dream logic. I liked the bits of interspersed poetry. All in all...more
I liked the shifting POV. I liked the odd characters and their many iterations. I liked the surreal run-on sense of dream logic. I liked the bits of interspersed poetry. All in all...more
Read the entirety of this hurricane of surreal language in two 2-3 hr hallucinogenic sessions of reading.
What are you reading? I ask because you should be reading this book.
What are you reading? I ask because you should be reading this book.
1 like · like · see review
I liked his other books better but I still enjoyed this one.
There are strong moments here.
There are strong moments here.
Before this book, I thought I liked weird for the sake of weirdness, but I guess I only like that if it's done right. It was also extraordinarily bleak. A real bummer.
Quite like the surrealism of this one. I realize it might not be to everyone's tastes. If you're looking for a narrative with a lot of gaps to fill in yourself, this is your book, though. A lot of fun!
Sad, awful, glorious. This is what the inside of a disturbed mind looks like, and how they deal with tragedy.
I quite enjoyed Light Boxes, but this one just did not do it for me. It's a conceit -- a man's wife disappears and he then disappears into some variation of mental illness -- that's been done before (Threats, Atmospheric Disturbances, to name a few recent variations) and Jones doesn't really bring anything new to the table here. I guess it's meant to make you feel off kilter, to blur the lines between reality and fantasy, but there was nothing here that made me care what was going on.
**RECEIVED AS FIRSTREADS GIVEAWAY**
I liked it. I admit it seemed to drag at times, which is painful in such a short novel. But the concept of what is real/what is imagined was neat as well as the use of the hurricane as a symbol for Daniel's mental illness. And some of the characters and scenes were great fun. I would recommend to those who enjoy a bit of a fantastic tale.
I liked it. I admit it seemed to drag at times, which is painful in such a short novel. But the concept of what is real/what is imagined was neat as well as the use of the hurricane as a symbol for Daniel's mental illness. And some of the characters and scenes were great fun. I would recommend to those who enjoy a bit of a fantastic tale.
This one is so tough for me, I see so much potential in "Daniel Fights a Hurricane" but it is so poorly executed that the book just falls flat. I kept pulling for it all to come together and work....then the ending happened.
Oct 25, 2012
Kristen
added it
I liked this book. I thought both this book and Lightboxes were really imaginative. When I am reading a book by Shane Jones, I feel more inspired to go out and create stuff and experiment with new things.
Some of the images he creates are totally beautiful or totally bonkers. Like when Daniel goes out in the hurricane and one of the lines is "An owl slammed into Daniel's hip". Just picturing images like that makes me laugh.
Some of the images he creates are totally beautiful or totally bonkers. Like when Daniel goes out in the hurricane and one of the lines is "An owl slammed into Daniel's hip". Just picturing images like that makes me laugh.
The reality of the outside world and the reality of Daniel's schizophrenic mind is where this story takes place. It was most interesting when the two realities came together and gave insight to Daniel's thoughts and actions. However for me that wasn't enough, Daniel was too troubled and his world and even the cover of the book were too bleak for me to appreciate.
Couldn't get into it
I still really like Jones' work, but this just wasn't as engaging for me as Light Boxes. Parts were beautiful but others were overwrought. The POV changes were often schizophrenic, but not in a way that served the mentally disturbed Daniel.
On an unrelated note, I think the publisher did this book an injustice with the overly literal book cover.
On an unrelated note, I think the publisher did this book an injustice with the overly literal book cover.
I enjoyed this but am still processing. At times the imagery reached for beautiful things and times it felt without meaning. Perhaps that's the goal but if so... Loved that we had the balance of Karen against Daniel's sections. For me, her sections wound up being the most affecting.
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2/3rds of the way through and having a damned hard time finishing. though, the justifiability of nonsense will cer...more
Aug 04, 2012 08:48pm