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Mar 06, 2009

Jen rated it:

This is urban fantasy where the main character is a "fantasy" city. You can't get to Palimpsest unless you've slept with someone who's been there. You can't get to any other parts of the city unless you sleep with someone else.

It's an intoxicating read. For the continuing presence of sex in the narrative, this is not a romance. It's mentioned, even described, but it's a vehicle by which the human characters are able to find their way around a city where they seem to be mean More...

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Dec 17, 2011

Jacquelynn rated it:

Intriguing idea and beautiful prose that borders poetry. Also fascinating concept. However, I don't get much mileage from Palimpsest-there's just not much re-readability in it.

Valente's style of writing is dreamlike, floating on its own wing of metaphors and elaborate description. This is enhanced by (or exacerbated by, depending on the style of writing you enjoy) the presentation of scenes, which cuts in and out of each character's life, rather than coherently connecting them until More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jun 22, 2011

Aubrey is currently reading it

Tor.com says about this book:

Palimpsest...in 60 Seconds
John Joseph Adams

Fantasy author Catherynne M. Valente told Tor.com that her new novel, Palimpsest, is an urban fantasy, but not in the way that term might imply; the eponymous Palimpsest is a sexually-transmitted city.

“It exists on the flesh of those who visit it, in a black mark that looks something like a streetmap,” Valente said in an interview. “When you sleep with someone bearing the mark, you c More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Oct 06, 2011

Norman rated it:

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0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 28, 2011

Michael rated it:

This book is REALLY interesting, and a lot smuttier than I expected. The sense of all these people with a collective obsession that pierces the normal bounds of sexual decorum, and the way that such a bond DOESN'T necessarily mean they treat each other with understanding or warmth or kindness--now THAT is an interesting set of ideas.

Separately, this first book of Valente's I've read has some fascinating language. I definitely see what people are saying when they put her in the " More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Apr 04, 2011

Ben rated it:

Books create whole other worlds, and nowhere is this phenomenon more explicit than in fantasy and science fiction. More than just telling a story, great books transport the reader to a new setting, one where the rules might be different. It takes impossibilities and makes them possible. The author, then, is more than a storyteller—he or she is an architect, a craftsman executing a careful and intricate design. This is what we often mean when we speak of worldbuilding.

Depending upon More...

0 comments like (9 people liked it)

Mar 22, 2009

Catherine rated it:

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0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Mar 15, 2009

Kim rated it:

This book is very, very strange, and very, very wonderful---but from Valente, how could we expect anything less? It's the sort of book that begs you not to pick up another one immediately, and I fully expect myself to stumble over things and walk into walls as I try to figure out what I just read. Palimpsest is a city of living trains, animal/human hybrids, and mechanical bees; those lucky enough to visit believe they have dreamt it, but wake with strange map-like markings somewhere on their f More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Dec 06, 2011

Terri rated it:

The underlying concept - a sexually transmitted city - is fascinating. Valente applies her sharp, rich prose to this most unusual premise and she delivers a truly unique reading experience. This is a strong book, and our main four characters are charmingly complex, desperate, real, flawed, and beautiful.

Some of the world-building aspects are similar in nature to the Orphan's Tales books; I haven't decided if I find that a strength to be so identifiable, or a weakness to have repetitiv More...

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Nov 24, 2011

Tara rated it:

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0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 19, 2011

Meg rated it:

To summarize:

Pros: Crocodile conga lines. Logophile’s dream. Rampant potential for “that’s what she said” jokes. Rampant potential for terrible puns. Barry Manilow. Euphemisms. So multicultural. Pirate frogs. Rum. Talking animals. Taking everything out of context.

Cons: Frog psychic wrapped in ragged fox fur - PETA cries, foxes die. Bugs. Gregor Samsa. Ear sex. No lols. Strange analogies. Train vagina visuals. Sexually Transmitted Tattoos. Elitism.

Usual More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Jul 07, 2011

Kathryn rated it:

I've always been more impressed with the IDEA of poetry than I have with poetry itself. Beautiful verses are described in so many of the books I've read, but a lot of times when I read an actual poem it just seems too much like...work. I'm sure I could think of some exceptions (and if I would take the trouble to READ more of it then I could probably find more), but I've always thought prose was better.

To me, Catherynne Valente's books are what I've always thought poetry was SUPPOSED to More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Jan 22, 2011

Anthony rated it:

Palimpsest is not a mindless beach read. It's not trope-filling SF, the kind of thing you can sort of let your attention wander and still know what's going on. Palimpsest the novel requires your attention the way Palimpsest the city requires the devotion of its inhabitants and visitors. You can choose, like one minor character in the book, to walk away if the work is too weird for you. Honestly, I almost did walk away. As much as I've enjoyed Ms. Valente's short stories, I was on vacation and d More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Dec 30, 2010

Karissa rated it:

Previous to this book I had read a short story of Valente's called "A Delicate Architecture" in the Anthology "A Troll's Eye View"; I loved that story and was eager to read a full length novel by Valente. This novel was absolutely wonderful. The imagery Valente creates is phenomenal, and the premise of the story is one of the most creative I have read in some time.

This is the story of four stangers. Oleg a locksmith that lives with his dead sister, November a beekee More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 28, 2010

Joseph rated it:

This is not my usual kind of reading book, as it is all about imagery, metaphor, word play and a deeper level of post modernism than I am drawn to.

But, the author is an acquaintance of mine from one of the social networks I am involved in, and find her an interesting person and her works are ones that my wife also enjoys.

I will say that who the narrator is of the tale is an interesting spin on things, and unexpected, within the story. The point of view splitting is a little More...

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Oct 17, 2010

Paul rated it:

Sex. Pain. Grotesqueries. Salvation. Escape.

Palimpsest, especially as an audiobook, is a rich, sensual, baroque and lush descent into the lives of four otherwise ordinary individuals who discover a gateway into selected fragments of the eponymous city.

A Hugo nominee, the audiobook version takes the prose and transforms it into an exquisite aural experience. I think that the audiobook is a natural form for a novel which is, to be frank, a little short on plot, and very l More...

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Sep 11, 2010

Kathleen rated it:

Palimpsest is the story of a fantastic city reached only in sleep, filled with human-animal hybrids, ghost trains and living buildings. Four travellers arrive together one night: November, a beekeeper from California; Oleg, a Russian locksmith living in Manhattan; Ludovico, an Italian bookbinder; and Sei, a Japanese girl who sells train tickets. In their waking lives they have lost loved ones and no longer belong, but in Palimpsest they are thrown bewildered into wild love affairs haunted by pai More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 31, 2010

God rated it:

Utterly wonderful and inutterably beautiful. One of the best books I have read. The language is rich, and gorgeous, and the ideas never stop. This is one I will return to again and again, for the beauty of the words and for the inspiration of the ideas. The story itself is tricky - it takes a while to get past character setup and development (including development of that essential character, the city itself) into plot, but I had no real problem with this as every sentence was worth reading for More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 29, 2010

Clay rated it:

And now for something completely different … Catherynne M. Valente has written a truly erotic fantasy. “Palimpsest” (Bantam, $14, 367 pages) is about a city that only be visited during dreams, and only if those dreams follow a sexual encounter with another person who is marked by a tattoo of part of the map of Palimpsest, the city in question.

Valente is a dreamy, poetic writer, and “Palimpsest” often veers in strange directions, with side trips that lead nowhere, but her love of langua More...

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May 21, 2009

Nick rated it:

I used "Urban fantasy" as a subject heading because in many ways, the city of Palimpsest is one of the characters in the story.
To me, Valente's writing was an odd blend of Ursula K. Leguin and Lord Dunsany. My first exposure to this novel was at a staged reading of excerpts, where she was accompanied by a musician and a dancer. Done that way, the text was so riveting that I had to pick up the book. The imagery is very rich, very dense, and so it's not an easy book to read quickly More...

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Nov 14, 2010

R.J. rated it:

"Palimpsest" creates an altered state of being in the reader wherein pleasure and pain dance across a city that dissolves the very idea of utopia and gives birth to a monstrously real and wonderful well of experiences. The very notion that a work can tear itself up into subtle and stark minutiae and, from that, form such intricately woven and rapturous stories, like the palimpsest process, is truly remarkable.

Valente's innovation: the city, tales, lives, waters, ink and war More...

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Dec 30, 2010

Chelton1977 rated it:

So 4 people have random sex with people they don't know. In doing so, each contracts an "STD", a piece of a map tattooed on their body of a city existing in some parallel universe. They each discover that through sex with other people with this same sexually contracted tattoo, they can visit (in their dreams) whatever parts of the city are tattooed on the other person's body.

it's never explicitly stated, but apparently only unprotected sex will lead to dreams that will ta More...

3 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jun 03, 2011

Nicole rated it:

A friend at one time, and again recently, suggested I give Palimpsest a try. So I did. Finally.

And I liked it. I really did, even though it’s in a style and genre which is often unimpressive to me. That is to say, the language is quite ornamented, and focuses a lot on decorative elements. I understand why one would want to write prose in such a way, especially for a story such as this one. It just usually doesn’t engage me. It’s also in the vein of urban fantasy and seemed a b More...

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Aug 23, 2010

Nancy rated it:

Palimpsest is a magical city that you can only access by coupling with those who have already been inside it's walls. Those who have visited are marked by a strange black tattoo that resembles part of a map. In the beginning of this novel, four characters make their first journey into this strange world. They are a young Japanese girl, a beekeeper, a locksmith, and a bookbinder. The four quickly become addicted to Palimpsest, and will do anything in their power to make themselves permanent resid More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 18, 2010

sage rated it:

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Aug 18, 2011

Patricia added it

This one seduced me on the first page. Stunning imagery, beautiful language, and totally creative and unexpected world. I hope the rest holds up to this stellar beginning.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 05, 2010

Eli rated it:

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Aug 11, 2009

Chris rated it:

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0 comments like (2 people liked it)

May 26, 2009

Onewooga rated it:

I picked this book up at random at a book store, and then got it at the library on a whim. I finished it this morning. I was so distracted actually forgot to bring a new book to start with me to work today. I actually put this book down once or twice just to make it last longer. If you know me and my voracious speed reading, these are momentous things. I was impressed by the quirky, and queer, dark and erotic twists and turns. It was a tad overblown in a few places, but so forgivable. She remind More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Oct 17, 2011

Cassandra rated it:

The best part: What initially intrigued me about this book was the concept of a sexually transmitted city, but what I love most about the book (and Valente’s work in general) is the language and imagery. She uses ornate and flowery language to impress the most stunning visuals into the reader’s head--the city is made nearly entirely of rare gems, precious metals, colorful flowers, and exotic foods and drinks.

The worst part: This is not a story filled with action and adventure and fal More...

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