They were with us before Romeo Juliet. And long after too. Because they're forever around. Or so both claim, carolling gleefully "always sixteen."...
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reviews
Nov 08, 2009
Michelle
rated it: 
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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24 comments
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(18 people liked it)
Dec 17, 2009
Adam
rated it:
This book was like a cross between Da Vinci Code and something by Palahniuk. And I mean that in the most insulting way possible.
The summaries and reviews I read before getting the book had all focused on how it's the same story about two people told from each of their perspectives. Therefore, I hoped going in that it would have some interesting and thought-provoking juxtapositions.
There were no interesting juxtapositions. When reading one character's take on a situatio More...
The summaries and reviews I read before getting the book had all focused on how it's the same story about two people told from each of their perspectives. Therefore, I hoped going in that it would have some interesting and thought-provoking juxtapositions.
There were no interesting juxtapositions. When reading one character's take on a situatio More...
2 comments
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(14 people liked it)
Dec 16, 2009
Michael
rated it: 
I have learned that something can be structurally interesting and yet completely unappealing. I read about 24 pages each direction before I realised that reading more would be a chore and not worth my time.
11 comments
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(10 people liked it)
Feb 21, 2008
Matthew
rated it:
Oh, what a gimmick! Two stories, sharing the page, meeting at page 180, and continuing on to page 360 where the ending of each story is also the beginning of the next. If you follow the publisher's recommendation, you'll turn the book over every eight pages to weave the two stories together. There's different colored ink, puns and riffs that would make Joyce jealous, and a list of dates in the sidebar that serves as a kind of Cliff's Notes of American History. It's all very exciting and exhausti
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0 comments
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(7 people liked it)
May 17, 2011
heather
rated it: 
reread: may 14, 2011-
(1/1/07): the best book i've read in a while is now out in paperback and as an audio book and mzd has announced his fall tour. what better time to update my review of this gorgeous, personal, political work? plus, who doesn't love a book that so prominently features american cars and asks to be read like a steering wheel?
only revolutions succeeds at a nigh-impossible feat: it is a modern epic poem. it is a novel. a love story. a history. a myth. it is More...
(1/1/07): the best book i've read in a while is now out in paperback and as an audio book and mzd has announced his fall tour. what better time to update my review of this gorgeous, personal, political work? plus, who doesn't love a book that so prominently features american cars and asks to be read like a steering wheel?
only revolutions succeeds at a nigh-impossible feat: it is a modern epic poem. it is a novel. a love story. a history. a myth. it is More...
0 comments
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(6 people liked it)
Dec 16, 2009
M
rated it:
An epic poem, told from the point of view of two people, with lots of footnotes and other Danielewski tricks anyone who read the interesting, if flawed, 'House of Leaves' will be familiar with. When I read this book I felt like it would probably be good for me to finish it, like eating Cheerios or Wheaties, but that's not why I read books (as a general rule). It's also supposed to be read 10 pages at a time, from each protagonist's point of view, and that definitely got annoying after about pa
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2 comments
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(5 people liked it)
Sep 16, 2011
Sean
rated it:
Howdy there, O happy reader!
It is of the utmost
and most sincerest importance
that you understand
what kind of adventure
you will bestow upon your self
by undertaking and reaping
the novel that HOUSE OF LEAVES'
very own Mark Z. Danielewski has sown.
Sam and Hailey and Hailey and Sam
are two star-crossed lovers
driving across America and
through time as their love
blossoms and grows and yet
so do the country and times
More...
It is of the utmost
and most sincerest importance
that you understand
what kind of adventure
you will bestow upon your self
by undertaking and reaping
the novel that HOUSE OF LEAVES'
very own Mark Z. Danielewski has sown.
Sam and Hailey and Hailey and Sam
are two star-crossed lovers
driving across America and
through time as their love
blossoms and grows and yet
so do the country and times
More...
3 comments
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(9 people liked it)
Dec 16, 2009
Amber
rated it:
I really wanted to like this book as I LOVED House of Leaves, and furthermore, I wanted to be the elitist one that could espouse, "ohhhh, you didn't like it??? well, it was a difficult boooook..."
but
I just didn't like it. I mean, I get the concept. I get the format, I get the epic quality.... but I think the entire thing could have been done in half the length with twice the impact. After a while the "flip the book" gimmick because almost unbearab More...
but
I just didn't like it. I mean, I get the concept. I get the format, I get the epic quality.... but I think the entire thing could have been done in half the length with twice the impact. After a while the "flip the book" gimmick because almost unbearab More...
3 comments
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(3 people liked it)
Jan 04, 2009
Zero stars. That's right. Zero of them. This is the worst book I've ever read. It was appallingly bad. Again, it was the worst book I have ever read.
Here's my longer review of it:
Writing by Numbers:
Mark Danielewski’s Only Revolutions
The age-old love-struck teenaged social pariah theme gets a new spin in Only Revolutions, Mark Z. Danielewski’s latest meretricious undertaking. Told by two sixteen-year-olds, Hailey and Sam, the book begins More...
Here's my longer review of it:
Writing by Numbers:
Mark Danielewski’s Only Revolutions
The age-old love-struck teenaged social pariah theme gets a new spin in Only Revolutions, Mark Z. Danielewski’s latest meretricious undertaking. Told by two sixteen-year-olds, Hailey and Sam, the book begins More...
2 comments
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(3 people liked it)
Feb 11, 2008
Alex
rated it:
I think a lot of people pick up Finnegan's Wake and fall in love with the perverse but precise architecture of that book and figure, "shit, I can do that."
Well, they can't.
I positively adore Danielewski's House of Leaves equally for its compelling structure and the stories stretched up on those frames, but this one is all stretcher and no canvas. It's a he-said she said, both stories glind through the book, upside down from each other. The letter O appears in g More...
Well, they can't.
I positively adore Danielewski's House of Leaves equally for its compelling structure and the stories stretched up on those frames, but this one is all stretcher and no canvas. It's a he-said she said, both stories glind through the book, upside down from each other. The letter O appears in g More...
0 comments
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(3 people liked it)
Aug 20, 2007
Rachel
rated it: 
This book is somewhat irksome...not for reasons pertaining to its "prosetry," rotating, double reading, etc; but because I really want to like this book, but can't quite bring myself to give it a sterling review. I liked the themes, and the concept -- tying together American history with flora and fauna with rebellion, youth, travelling cross country, sex, minorities, love, written to show how these things revolve around each other, work upon each other, and are even ingrained within n
More...
0 comments
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(2 people liked it)
Apr 25, 2008
Erin
rated it:
I’m on the bus for 2 hours a day. It’s where I do all of my reading. It’s like being in the bathroom and reading the back of shampoo bottles – Almost anything is better than just looking out the window – But not this book.
I really wanted to like Only Revolutions. I thought the idea was great. The same story told from the male and female perspective. You read 8 pages of the male side then flip the book over and read 8 pages of the female side.
But I thought I would be rea More...
I really wanted to like Only Revolutions. I thought the idea was great. The same story told from the male and female perspective. You read 8 pages of the male side then flip the book over and read 8 pages of the female side.
But I thought I would be rea More...
0 comments
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(4 people liked it)
Feb 11, 2010
Stevie
rated it:
I dont mind working to read a book. I loved "House of Leaves" and I dont mind being a bit 'lost' in a book - Umberto Eco's "Focault's Pendulum" was a truly difficult read that required work to read and research to fully comprehend. But this one... lost me WAY before it could hook me.
I don't mind the gimmick, really. "House of Leave" was gimmicky - but it had a great story, an interesting story, a story that sucked you in and kept you reading, and tu More...
I don't mind the gimmick, really. "House of Leave" was gimmicky - but it had a great story, an interesting story, a story that sucked you in and kept you reading, and tu More...
0 comments
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(2 people liked it)
Feb 08, 2009
Darrell
rated it:
After Danielewski's first novel House of Leaves, my expectations were high for Only Revolutions. Unfortunately, I was severely disappointed.
The book is about two young lovers, Sam and Hailey, who each tell their own side of the story (you flip the book upside down to switch between their viewpoints.) Their story takes the form of a poem, with arbitrary line breaks and indentation, puns, inconsistent rhyme, alliteration, intentionally misspelled words, made-up words, and so forth.
More...
The book is about two young lovers, Sam and Hailey, who each tell their own side of the story (you flip the book upside down to switch between their viewpoints.) Their story takes the form of a poem, with arbitrary line breaks and indentation, puns, inconsistent rhyme, alliteration, intentionally misspelled words, made-up words, and so forth.
More...
0 comments
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(1 person liked it)
Mar 16, 2008
Michael
rated it:
I think I'm one of very few people actually set up to love this book. Obtuse pointless internal rhymes, a romp through history for some vague reason hanging on the Kennedy assassination as fulcrum, an obsessive parallelism as metaphor for love, a total overstuffing of reference as a way of talking about Americanness, and a bunch of Finnegans Wake references--yes, this is one of those things where taste is defined by what kinds of silliness you'll tolerate.
But for me, anyway, it's lik More...
But for me, anyway, it's lik More...
0 comments
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(3 people liked it)
Feb 20, 2008
Emily
rated it:
addicting to read in terms of its flow, its form, etc. mindbending in terms of its perfect execution of mirror-image layout. (even the page numbers, inscribed in circles, move around each other if you skim throught the pages like a flip-book.) 'an infernal machine,' one complimentary reviewer called it.
and yet. (and yet.)
despite all of this, i was lukewarm to it throughout, basically just heading to the end to see what it looked like. to be fair, the physicality/spiritual More...
and yet. (and yet.)
despite all of this, i was lukewarm to it throughout, basically just heading to the end to see what it looked like. to be fair, the physicality/spiritual More...
Jun 18, 2007
James
rated it:
An incredible reading experience that works more as a novelistic slam poem than a typical novel. Danielewski creates two timeless characters whose youth never dies as their love continues to grow. Written in perfect rhythm and pace, reading the book outloud adds to the experience. The movements of the words and the power of Danielewski's language could be dampened by just looking at the book and letting it work interiorly. However, by saying the words, the story is brought to life even more to l
More...
0 comments
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(2 people liked it)
Dec 27, 2007
Brendan
rated it: 
This read like a dream. It was confusing, then clear and then confusing again. The story seemed to inch, jut, and leap forward, and then with a flip of the book an instant replay revealed a different perspective.
I loved Danielewski's use of two voices to tell a story. His understanding of the two main characters and their insatiable need for each other showcased the madness of love in a remarkable form of suggestion, saturation and passion.
I was often confused and More...
I loved Danielewski's use of two voices to tell a story. His understanding of the two main characters and their insatiable need for each other showcased the madness of love in a remarkable form of suggestion, saturation and passion.
I was often confused and More...
Dec 19, 2010
Kerry
rated it:
5 stars for exploring the physical form of a "book" but only 1 star for plot, character, dialogue.
Physical form: The impressive layout and design drew me to give this book a try. Every physical element of this book has been designed - there is nothing arbitrary. Two front covers; no back cover. A gorgeous, detailed photograph on the cover underlying the dust jacket. Themed-color ribbon bookmarks. Shrinking typefaces as the story progresses, implying to me gathering speed. Sid More...
Physical form: The impressive layout and design drew me to give this book a try. Every physical element of this book has been designed - there is nothing arbitrary. Two front covers; no back cover. A gorgeous, detailed photograph on the cover underlying the dust jacket. Themed-color ribbon bookmarks. Shrinking typefaces as the story progresses, implying to me gathering speed. Sid More...
Apr 30, 2010
Colin
rated it:
Make no mistake about it--this book is *not* for everyone. Even those who managed to conquer Danielewski's House of Leaves (or at least finish it--conquering it is perhaps another matter altogether), may find themselves ultimately beaten or annoyed by Only Revolutions. Taking structural formalism to an extreme, Danielewski weaves the story of two seemingly immortal and un-aging sixteen year old kids, Hailey and Sam, as they trek across the United States on the run from the enigmatic character Th
More...
Aug 09, 2009
Susan
rated it:
Clever in concept; awful in execution. The characters are as thin as the gimmicks are thick. Revolvings devolve into revolting. Only Revolutions can't really make up its mind what it is -- bad fiction or bad poetry -- circling tediously from cartoon to pornography to B-movie dialogue to quest narrative (though what is sought is never made clear and I use "narrative" losely), to alternative and parallel worlds. The idea of a book that can be read in both directions has potential and the
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(1 person liked it)
Jul 12, 2010
Steve
rated it:
I read “Only Revolutions” by Mark Z. Danielewski a little at a time. It’s a book that needs to be digested.
The plot is an American classic: two teenagers find each other, fall in love (well, more like lust at first), hit the open road, get into hijinx, with things sometimes getting serious. Not so hard to grasp.
It’s the structure of the book that is so fascinating. The story is told from both protagonists’ perspectives – Sam’s and Hailey’s – from opposite ends of the More...
The plot is an American classic: two teenagers find each other, fall in love (well, more like lust at first), hit the open road, get into hijinx, with things sometimes getting serious. Not so hard to grasp.
It’s the structure of the book that is so fascinating. The story is told from both protagonists’ perspectives – Sam’s and Hailey’s – from opposite ends of the More...
Sep 06, 2011
The last time I finished a book with my head spinning, wondering just what the flying fuck just happened was Gravity's Rainbow. I truly never believed that I would ever read another book as confusing, and with so much of its meaning completely buried that it left only snippets of surface meaning. To this day, I cannot even begin to attempt to tell you what Gravity's Rainbow was about, and although I could cop out and say that Only Revolutions is about Sam & Hailey, that's really about as much ab
More...
Feb 05, 2009
Critics heap praise on Only Revolutions, Mark Danielewski's second novel and a tour de force of writing that challenges readers' assumptions about storytelling. Reviewers similarly lauded the author's initial effort, House of Leaves (2000), which also questioned notions of traditional narrative. The author's fiction is mentioned in some pretty heady company__stylistically, formally, and as part of the long tradition of the Great American Road Narrative__including the work of e. e. cummings, Jame
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Jul 14, 2011
edward j
rated it:
Everyone lauds House of Leaves, as they should, but Only Revolutions seems to be always overlooked are castigated for its difficulty.
It is a difficult book and part of its difficulty is that one must learn to read it, which is no easy task as the only instructions are to start at both ends and work inward and on past to the opposite covers, alternatingly. I was ready to give up after about sixty pages, but, for some reason, didn't. Maybe it was the delight of the prose, fanciful and More...
It is a difficult book and part of its difficulty is that one must learn to read it, which is no easy task as the only instructions are to start at both ends and work inward and on past to the opposite covers, alternatingly. I was ready to give up after about sixty pages, but, for some reason, didn't. Maybe it was the delight of the prose, fanciful and More...
Mar 10, 2011
Miles
rated it:
There were parts of this book that i loved. There were parts that i hated. There were parts when i had no idea of what was going on.
This book is brilliant. I can see that, although it is not an easy read and at times i just wanted it to be over. But i can appreciate its beauty.
Can you classify it? What genre is it? Fiction? Romance? Poetry? Philosophy? ... i love that it doesnt fit into a category and challenges the way i read and perceive a "good" book. I think that this b More...
This book is brilliant. I can see that, although it is not an easy read and at times i just wanted it to be over. But i can appreciate its beauty.
Can you classify it? What genre is it? Fiction? Romance? Poetry? Philosophy? ... i love that it doesnt fit into a category and challenges the way i read and perceive a "good" book. I think that this b More...
Dec 27, 2007
Zach
rated it:
Amazing concept, fantastic presentation, but in the end it feels more like the sketch of a great idea. I think that Danielewski bit off more than he could chew here. What could have been a simple and exquisite love story tries to hard to become a metaphor for all of time and all of mankind.
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(2 people liked it)
Aug 15, 2011
Craig
rated it:
It's more poetry than novel, I think. And it's beautiful, and beautifully laid out and colored. Pretty much ingenious really. Two stories running side-by-side, two perspectives on the same story (but are they really the same story?), two kids in love with each other and in love with the World, allways sixteen and free.
Too bad there's not much of a story. Yes, Sam and Hailey crash and carom across the United States and across history, but nothing much actually seems to happen to the More...
Too bad there's not much of a story. Yes, Sam and Hailey crash and carom across the United States and across history, but nothing much actually seems to happen to the More...
Jul 17, 2010
Aaron
rated it:
This should have been a short story. As a 360 (har har) page novel, it was painfully redundant. Not just because it's essentially the same 180-page story told twice from two hardly-differing perspectives, but because both narratives keep cycling over the same thing. Sure, maybe that all works with the 'revolutions' gimmick that Danielewski goes hogwild with here, but unfortunately it doesn't make for a good book. And that's just the thing : the gimmick begins to wear thin after the first two 8-p
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Mar 14, 2011
Dylan
rated it:
I loved House of Leaves but I couldn't stand this book. The concept and idea were remarkable and uniquely written but the characters I just couldn't get into. They seemed totally pretentious, completely ridiculous, in a very bad way amplified by the way it was written and the process of reading it was a huge headache. You basically read 8 pages on one side then flip it over and read the nxt 8 pages from the back of the book,back and forth, back and forth, totally tedious. However I'm not a fan o
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