Never Again

by Doug Nufer

Doug Nufer writes fiction, poetry, and performance pieces that seem to be based on formal constraints even when they are not. Never Again, the most audacious example of his work to date, is a novel in which no word appears more than once. It is the story of a gambler who narrates how he set out to avoid the mistakes of his past by doing (and saying) nothing he ever did (or said) before.

Genres: Fiction

202 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Ben · Rating 2 out of 5]

An interesting attempt. I am a fan of constrained writing and did enjoy the first few pages. After that it quickly becomes cryptic, tedious and, ultimately, unreadable. Now I am aware that some unreadable texts can still be appreciated for their poetic beauty, but IMO this doesn't achieve that either.

[Ben]

Very cool concept, but almost as challenging to read as it must have been to write.

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book in which a word is never used more than once. With the opening sentence ("When the racetrack closed forever I had to get a new job") the words "a", "the" and "I" are already done. Some very creative, playful writing follows. It sometimes read like a string of tabloid headlines and sometimes like a beat poem.

This was a very challening read - I don't know if I've had to concentrate this hard on understanding a book before. Some pages went by quickly and easily, but some needed to be interpretted in order to to follow the story.

It was a fun read though. Lots of puns, alliteration and witty word play. Any made up words were immediately intelligible and humorous. Great for fans of words.

It is a gimmick, but I thought it was done well. The theme of not repeating one's mistakes was supported by the execution. It reminds me of George Perec's "A Void" in a way.

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nufer never uses the same word twice in a novel both readable and grammatical.