The Atlas
by William T. Vollmann
published
June 1st 1997
(first published 1996)
by Penguin (Non-Classics)
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binding
Paperback, 496 pages
isbn
0140254498
(isbn13: 9780140254495)
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 210)
Read in February, 1999
Heavy soaked loneliness travelin's about from every corner of the globe in Vollman's crystalline run-on prose. I've read this sucker a few times, one of my favorites.
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this collection of short tales that take place all over the world is enjoyable story to story, but check this out, vollmann writes in the intro:
'for those who require games and calculations in order to drowse, i should state that this collection is arranged palindromically: the motif in the first story is taken up again in the last; the second story finds its echo in the second to last, and so on.'
it's taking me a while to get through it because with each story i keep jumping to the correlat...more
'for those who require games and calculations in order to drowse, i should state that this collection is arranged palindromically: the motif in the first story is taken up again in the last; the second story finds its echo in the second to last, and so on.'
it's taking me a while to get through it because with each story i keep jumping to the correlat...more
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William Vollman's take on travel writing?...though the destinations are as much an Atlas of his worldview and experience than any sort of guide for bohemian backpackers...besides, Vollman relishes going where others would never want or dare to...perhaps not since Hunter Thompson have the lines between the worlds of novel writing and journalism been so blurred... vivid, surrealistic, sordid, sensational, and...in a word amazing....
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recommends it for:
anyone who lives raw-
this is just simply the ultimate book. although i find myself disagreeing with him so much of the time on principle (particularly on his views of helpless women), i'm totally drawn into his world. his descriptions are visceral and ultimately sincere. the fact that he lives his stories brings the rawness of his world and his truth to life in a unique way. i have never read an author like him.
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Read in February, 2008
i'm rereading this and am feeling like it is oddly and lazily pieced. . .i am also really struck (again as i always am when reading early vollman) with the dynamic of female prostitution and his seeming fascination with sex as deathly and irresistable. the procreative aspect/potential is virtually absent. and it's striking because you very seldom see this depiction.
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This book is a series of short stories, arranged as a pallindrome (ie the first story mirrors the last and so on) that illuminates the tiny web-like strings that tie the world together. It is fantastic, sad, beautiful and terrifying. I loved it.
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recommends it for:
ben, lucas, nini
amazing, a strong recommendation to anyone not familiar with vollmann's writing. his experiences, observations and prose are a treasury of world cultures. i have been reading and re-reading this for years!
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recommends it for:
chris
Vollmann is king when it comes to embedding himself with all types of people around the globe and then describing what lies deep inside their hearts and their minds.
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