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19th out of 20 books
—
95 voters
Ivyland
by
Miles Klee (Goodreads Author)
Populated by a bumbling, murderous citizenry of corrupt cops, innocents, ravenous addicts, lovesick geniuses, and cynical adventurers, Ivyland operates in the shadow of a giant pharmaceutical corporation that thrives on people's weaknesses...and may have an even more sinister agenda. It's our world, only a bit more extreme, and lovingly, precisely depicted with the adept s...more
Paperback, 262 pages
Published
2011
by ORbooks
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Fitting we open with an Aldous Huxley quote. Klee's prose isn't simply vibrant, it vibrates and flickers and throbs like things do on a hit or three of good acid. He turns unexpected words in uncommon sequence, and its all a little hard to follow at first, but you slip into the rhythm eventually and suddenly you can't read fast enough.
I wouldn't call the book 'hilarious,' like the back cover exclaims. It's too heartbreaking, in it's perverse way, for a word like that. The flip violence, the icon...more
I wouldn't call the book 'hilarious,' like the back cover exclaims. It's too heartbreaking, in it's perverse way, for a word like that. The flip violence, the icon...more
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EDIT 3/22/13: When reading this book try to not read it in the lens of "futuristic" and "dystopia." I don't feel like this book is too far away. I mean that in the sense that circumstances are different but the characters are people we know. In this age. In some ways, Miles takes the inner soul of today and sprawls it onto a geographic exterior. I think we tend to think that life is dark and abysmal and that's not necessarily a Millenial Generation type thing. It extends deeper in the bast then...more
Remember when that young novelist wrote that convoluted dystopian novel about the near future, where the infrastucture is falling apart, people get high on whatever they can get their hands on, every aspect of life has a name brand corporate sponsor, there's some sort of French-speaking terrorism going on, some of the central figures are the descendants of the family that kicked off this dystopia with a signature invention, and the book itself leapfrogs among points of views and characters, draw...more
7 likes · like · see review
A series of vignettes that take place in a dismal near-future, Ivyland frames the story of two brothers coming of age in a post-apocalyptic New Jersey roamed by drug addicts, misanthropic public service workers, and victims of a mysterious plague, H12. The older brother, Cal, embarks on a doomed space mission, chronicled in a series of journal entries, while back on Earth, his younger brother, Aidan, contends with a cult that has gathered in his best friend’s front yard after lightning strikes a...more
Meh.
A near-future dystopia in which bars serve drinks and pills manufactured by the company Endless. Endless also provides the anesthetic gas needed for the Van Vetchen procedure, a quick neck surgery that protects you from H12 (a flu?). Only a small percentage of people are allergic to the gas, and forever damaged. The poor cannot afford the procedure. And apparently some people get H12 anyway. And others say no one dies of H12, it's all just a scam.
And there are caterpillars everywhere. And th...more
A near-future dystopia in which bars serve drinks and pills manufactured by the company Endless. Endless also provides the anesthetic gas needed for the Van Vetchen procedure, a quick neck surgery that protects you from H12 (a flu?). Only a small percentage of people are allergic to the gas, and forever damaged. The poor cannot afford the procedure. And apparently some people get H12 anyway. And others say no one dies of H12, it's all just a scam.
And there are caterpillars everywhere. And th...more
I'd call this a really good first novel, but I can't muster the enthusiasm that other reviewers do. As a kind of mad-cap parody of modern world that's over medicated, globally warmed, and straight dysfunctional, the book has charm. But much of the prose felt juvenile: more of a (largely successful) attempt by the author to show off his obvious talent than a serious reflection on modern life. It's fevered pitch feels like it grabs at the zeitgiest of authors like Franzen or DF Wallace but is them...more
Ivyland, Miles Klee, OR Books, 2011, 528 pp
It seems that every year the Tournament of Books features one off-beat, somewhat experimental novel by an under known author. Ivyland takes that spot this year.
A sort of post apocalyptic, disjointed, phantasmagorical romp by way of multiple voices, it left me confused and reeling.
At least it is set in New Jersey, where I grew up, so I am familiar in a hazy way with Trenton and the Pine Barrens and the Jersey shore. The characters are mainly teens from b...more
It seems that every year the Tournament of Books features one off-beat, somewhat experimental novel by an under known author. Ivyland takes that spot this year.
A sort of post apocalyptic, disjointed, phantasmagorical romp by way of multiple voices, it left me confused and reeling.
At least it is set in New Jersey, where I grew up, so I am familiar in a hazy way with Trenton and the Pine Barrens and the Jersey shore. The characters are mainly teens from b...more
2 likes · like · see review
I received this book through first reads.
I'm having a really hard time writing a review for this.
I enjoyed the book, but I didn't think it was dark humor at all.
As I read it, all I could think was "tragic". So many really tragic stories. I don't know, maybe I didn't read it right. :-)
I liked the chapter with the Cal/Aiden POV, it really showed the mindset versus what the characters thought of each other.
And I have to admit, Henri's favorite joke made me laugh for like ten minutes. The chapte...more
I'm having a really hard time writing a review for this.
I enjoyed the book, but I didn't think it was dark humor at all.
As I read it, all I could think was "tragic". So many really tragic stories. I don't know, maybe I didn't read it right. :-)
I liked the chapter with the Cal/Aiden POV, it really showed the mindset versus what the characters thought of each other.
And I have to admit, Henri's favorite joke made me laugh for like ten minutes. The chapte...more
The inherent risk in the dystopian farce, if you will, is that they can go either way. Sometimes you get The Road Warrior (or The Road), and sometimes you get Waterworld. Sometimes you get Infinite Jest (or The Road), and sometimes you get Ivyland, a haphazard mish mash of social apocalypse scenarios that have been put to better use elsewhere (Chronic City by Jonathan Lethem comes to mind).
The End of the World is the ultimate in vain fantasy, and perhaps the future will be as disjointed, decaye...more
The End of the World is the ultimate in vain fantasy, and perhaps the future will be as disjointed, decaye...more
omg. this book! it is SO weird and so freaky and so terrific! really, man. you won't believe it. This is one very inventive author. I can't wait to see what his next book is. He's another TheAwl.com connection -- it's a good group of authors, man. Perhaps our generation's Algonquin round table?
I'm lousy at descriptions, but it is set in the near future when things have gone all out of whack... sort of what could happen to the US if we don't get rid of Citizens United and the corporations' compl...more
I'm lousy at descriptions, but it is set in the near future when things have gone all out of whack... sort of what could happen to the US if we don't get rid of Citizens United and the corporations' compl...more
I had very high hopes for this book as I started. Each story seemed to add something to a grand vision of the future, but it never came together in a satisfying way. Some of the stories were good, but the meager threads that connected them were weak and hard to care much about. The dystopian elements were also weakly presented so that when they factored into climactic moments, they were much more confusing than compelling.
I'm usually very into ambitious debuts that fall short, but this is one ju...more
I'm usually very into ambitious debuts that fall short, but this is one ju...more
I picked this up since it was on the list for the Tournament of Books, although I had seen it mentioned in Publishers Weekly. This is a first novel by the author, and I wasn't familiar with his shorter fiction, although I've read almost everything by two of the four authors he lists as his influences - Michel Houellebecq and Nicholson Baker. Based on this book, I'm surprised not to see J.G. Ballard or Philip K. Dick on that list, because I could easily see this novel being influenced by either o...more
The second half of the book can't sustain the first's sheer rush of interest, even though it does a damn good job of still being smart and dark and a-little-too-close-to-home. If you are a twentysomething - an intelligent one - you will find something intriguing about this book. I'm not saying you'll like it - and I'm not saying that non-twentysomethings won't like it - but you will associate with it, in the way we all (whether we wanted to or not) associated with Garden State.
It's dark and evo...more
It's dark and evo...more
My reaction in a nutshell: the craft that went into making this book is so high-level and fascinating to me that I plan to take another pass at it in a few months just to look at the how of it all. But in my first read, I got so caught up in the characters and their stories and the world they live in that I forgot to focus on the craft. I find that combination really exciting in any artistic medium, especially those I've studied (lit and theater). When I'm reading or watching something that's te...more
OK clearly, dude can write his ass off. Good job Miles, *I get it.*
The world-building here (the part of a book I'm always most drawn to) is top-notch. A near future New Jersey where biopharma has taken over and basically become the new government. The kind of sci-fi that feels just contemporary enough to be super creepy but also hilariously terrifying.
The book has a complicated structure--loosely interwoven strands involving a number of different characters jumping wildly around a timeline. For...more
The world-building here (the part of a book I'm always most drawn to) is top-notch. A near future New Jersey where biopharma has taken over and basically become the new government. The kind of sci-fi that feels just contemporary enough to be super creepy but also hilariously terrifying.
The book has a complicated structure--loosely interwoven strands involving a number of different characters jumping wildly around a timeline. For...more
The might be something of a genre to the commercial dystopia novel. In this multi- voiced novel a pharmaceutical giant has taken possession of a new jersey town through the primacy of their anesthetic gas and trumped up medical procedures. The characters struggle with something of a cultural anesthesia as well, abusing drugs and each other in similar measures. The plot, to the extent it reveals itself, centers around a generation of young adults failing to find a stable place in the muted disast...more
There are aspects of this book that were five star for me and aspects that were closer to one or two. The pace, characters and writing was excellent. An line from Cal after he does something particularly violent: "Take the worst thing you've done, and the best. These are two people with nothing in common." The characters he created with lines and writing like this kept me engaged despite the structure and voice which jumped around a lot. For me the common threads were a bit too thin in places an...more
wish i hadn't read it on kindle/tablet... it was far too hard to follow without referring back, and when it's nearly impossible to flip back and check references, it starts to feel like the author did it on purpose to be edgy/modern. that said i felt some of the characters and stories were really appealing, and the language/thoughts/ideas/setup has stuck with me for at least a few days which to me is a good sign.
Am still catching up on my ToB.... So, I read this. It's futuristic dystopia - my NOT favorite - but I soldiered through, frankly, because the author was a good sport in the ToB comments. I will admit... I didn't hate it as much as I thought I would. Although I still didn't love it. Snaps to it for its portrayal of future NJ, but... but.... but... one problem I always have with books like this is that the vast majority of characters have no connection to me, and hence I have some trouble project...more
I haven't finished this book yet (and I will, so that at least my wasted time will have contributed towards my challenge stats), but I already hate it so much. Pretentious privileged bullshit, no redeeming qualities whatsoever. If it gets better by the end I'll consider increasing my rating to two stars, but no more.
I'm having a hard time rating this because I feel like I just didn't get it. There were multiple narrators but the voices all seemed the same and I couldn't tell characters apart. I got glimpses occasionally of how he was trying to weave the threads of the different stories, but overall I just felt confused. I may try it again.
A very intriguing debut with a very well-defined sense of place.
Some engaging vignettes, but for my tastes I think it sacrifices too much narrative for the sake of clever wordplay and experimental storytelling (which, granted, Klee does very well).
Feels more like a collection of interrelated short stories than a novel, but there's a place for that, too.
Some engaging vignettes, but for my tastes I think it sacrifices too much narrative for the sake of clever wordplay and experimental storytelling (which, granted, Klee does very well).
Feels more like a collection of interrelated short stories than a novel, but there's a place for that, too.
In a dark, dilapidated future Klee's prose glows like an ember. The narrative, a major highway through New Jersey with exits to the Twilight Zone, constricts the brain just long enough to enchant it with gob-smacking imagery. Angry tempests of white moths, killer parade floats, and criminal academics litter the blighted landscape of Klee's New Jersey like pockets of electricity in a network of dying synapses. Most post-apocalyptic stories beat me over the head with The Message before parading ou...more
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I love dystopian novels, and I love post-modern Pynchonesque reads. Ivyland, however, was not for me. It was too over-the-top; subtly is key for post-modern fiction. Not for me...
at first i thought it was a perfectly competent update of Vineland but then i got to the ending and holy crap.
Granted, it's hard to build a world. You don't want to spell everything out for the reader, but you don't want to leave them grasping at straws. Sadly, Klee does the latter. The clever moments aren't enough to assuage the frustration of trying to wrap your head around what is going on in Ivyland. Also, much of the elements are familiar. I almost put the book down during a chapter-long rehashing of a common street joke. I'm surprised I made it past the obligatory chapter from the POV of a gentle...more
There are moments in Ivyland where brilliant syntax and diction shine. Unfortunately, brilliant syntax and diction make a poor vehicle for plot and character. I was confused by the multiple shifts in perspective and never felt I grasped the plot's finer details. I hope that Klee writes another novel, perhaps employing only a few characters and only one perspective.
There were some good sentences, paragraphs, and entire chapters here but somehow this just didn't completely come together for me.
Ivyland is the modern-day, independent Brave New World, 1984, etc. with a tasteful blend of misanthropy and hope. Most striking to me was Klee's lyrical, clever prose and his gradual assembly of a story from such unlikely and seemingly disparate pieces. Highly recommended.
fuck you, clown!
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Miles Klee was born in Brooklyn and grew up in South Orange, New Jersey. He graduated from Williams College, where he studied with Jim Shepard, Andrea Barrett and Paul Park. His essays, satire and short stories have appeared in Vanity Fair, Lapham's Quarterly, Unstuck, Contrary, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, The Awl, The Huffington Post, The New York Observer, Salon, The Millions, and elsewhere....more
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