Deal Me In, Week 42 ~ “The Fall of the House of Escher”
Hosted by Jay @ Bibliophilopolis
“The Fall of the House of Escher” by Greg Bear
Card picked: Nine of Hearts
From: David Copperfield’s Beyond Imagination
Review: I could not get through this story, despite its intriguing title. Maybe it was because I was reading it during my 17th straight hour of readathon-ing yesterday. Maybe it’s because I have trouble with allegories, which, with character names like Cant, Shant, and Musnt, this probably is. Or maybe I’ve been reading an anthology of speculative fiction stories that are so deftly written that this story felt very clumsy in comparison. If you’re going to allude to Poe and spend time describing architecture, man, you need to be lush in your language. This fell short.
I feel bad bailing on a story which is obviously challenging, but I’m also an adult who can put it aside for a day when I’m not actively annoyed by it. Some other time, “House of Escher.”
About the Author: Greg Bear is an SF writer that I’ve been aware of for years, but have never read.
