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The Peninsula
The Settlements
Set in a community where people live according to their creative drives, this “endlessly surprising novel” embodies the philosophy that life is not a narrative with a beginning, a middle and an end. Challenging, experimental, yet also human, funny and deeply moving, The Settlements is about finding worth in stories and lives cast off or considered of no use; a book about the possibility and randomness of human growth; and ultimately a (curious) love story for those who are misfits beyond the age when it is cool to be so—
“In my role as omissioner, I receive summonses from all over the settlements. My function is to offer an ear, a valve for the bleeding of grief or worry or simply unspent chat, and to do this well I must adapt myself to those who live in different settlements. Anyone can call me. It costs nothing, and I offer no advice: all an omissioner does is listen, finding worth in words that would otherwise remain unspoken or forgotten.”
“In my role as omissioner, I receive summonses from all over the settlements. My function is to offer an ear, a valve for the bleeding of grief or worry or simply unspent chat, and to do this well I must adapt myself to those who live in different settlements. Anyone can call me. It costs nothing, and I offer no advice: all an omissioner does is listen, finding worth in words that would otherwise remain unspoken or forgotten.”
236 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
December 29, 2021
full post here:
http://www.oddlyweirdfiction.com/2021...
Jamie Walsh has one of the most creative minds I've ever encountered, as shown not only in this book, but also in all of the other Broodcomb novels I've read to date. My favorite remains The Night of Turns but this one is (and once again forgive the much-overused description here) completely mindbending. Seriously mindbending.
The Settlements is set in an area known as "The Peninsula," which, according to Broodcomb's webpage, "abounds in strange tales." It is a place where "the settlers have found harmony," providing "tales both eerie and shocking" which also explore the "fantastic/everyday meaning of what it means to be human," and I can't begin to express how very happy I was to be back there again. One more thing: while the back-flap blurb notes that this book is "plotless and meandering," don't believe it.
The narrator of this book is an omissioner, whose function is to "offer an ear," to serve as "a valve for the bleeding of grief or worry," in short, to be available for anyone in the Settlements who needs to have someone to talk to. Each settlement is different, depending on the "world focus" its population espouses, and the omissioner must be able to adapt himself/herself to all of them. For example, the settlement of Emotion
"is a place of whiny indulgence, populated by the emotionally incontinent, the adolescent or the theatrical...The inhabitants are interested in how feelings live, how humans live within them and what emotions feel like to be inside"
while the settlement of Fear (one of two the omissioner dreads visiting), "focuses on visitors" and which on entering,
"the day darkens, which is less accident of mind or weather but achieved by light-inhibiting screens across which shapes can be projected to become shadows in the shape of raptors or devils when they touch the ground."
The narrator moves through the Settlements, going where needed and describing the places as well as the myriad issues faced by those who need him while also offering his observations on other matters both external and internal, including bits of "mind-chatter." That alone would make for great reading on its own, but of course, there's much, much more, with plot threads that appear and reappear, ultimately forming connections.
Plotless and meandering? No way. The Settlements is carefully and cleverly constructed, falling more on the surreal side than probably any of the Broodcomb novels that have come before, while taking a look at what it means to be human, to feel, and to make connections. And speaking of those books that have come before, anyone who's read them will quickly notice the intertextual connections made here, especially in the case of The Night of Turns, which, in reality, I'm actually glad I read before this one. Don't worry -- having knowledge of what happens in any of the other Broodcomb titles isn't a necessity for reading this one.
As was the case of Night of Turns, I found myself completely caught up in the strangeness and the lives of these people as well as the quirky happenings, and The Settlements also affected me on an emotional level. I was beyond sad when this book was over, a little choked up, and left in a sort of daze just going over it again in my head once away from it. Once again readers are warned that "This might not be for you," but by this point I know better.
Absolutely stunning and superb.
http://www.oddlyweirdfiction.com/2021...
Jamie Walsh has one of the most creative minds I've ever encountered, as shown not only in this book, but also in all of the other Broodcomb novels I've read to date. My favorite remains The Night of Turns but this one is (and once again forgive the much-overused description here) completely mindbending. Seriously mindbending.
The Settlements is set in an area known as "The Peninsula," which, according to Broodcomb's webpage, "abounds in strange tales." It is a place where "the settlers have found harmony," providing "tales both eerie and shocking" which also explore the "fantastic/everyday meaning of what it means to be human," and I can't begin to express how very happy I was to be back there again. One more thing: while the back-flap blurb notes that this book is "plotless and meandering," don't believe it.
The narrator of this book is an omissioner, whose function is to "offer an ear," to serve as "a valve for the bleeding of grief or worry," in short, to be available for anyone in the Settlements who needs to have someone to talk to. Each settlement is different, depending on the "world focus" its population espouses, and the omissioner must be able to adapt himself/herself to all of them. For example, the settlement of Emotion
"is a place of whiny indulgence, populated by the emotionally incontinent, the adolescent or the theatrical...The inhabitants are interested in how feelings live, how humans live within them and what emotions feel like to be inside"
while the settlement of Fear (one of two the omissioner dreads visiting), "focuses on visitors" and which on entering,
"the day darkens, which is less accident of mind or weather but achieved by light-inhibiting screens across which shapes can be projected to become shadows in the shape of raptors or devils when they touch the ground."
The narrator moves through the Settlements, going where needed and describing the places as well as the myriad issues faced by those who need him while also offering his observations on other matters both external and internal, including bits of "mind-chatter." That alone would make for great reading on its own, but of course, there's much, much more, with plot threads that appear and reappear, ultimately forming connections.
Plotless and meandering? No way. The Settlements is carefully and cleverly constructed, falling more on the surreal side than probably any of the Broodcomb novels that have come before, while taking a look at what it means to be human, to feel, and to make connections. And speaking of those books that have come before, anyone who's read them will quickly notice the intertextual connections made here, especially in the case of The Night of Turns, which, in reality, I'm actually glad I read before this one. Don't worry -- having knowledge of what happens in any of the other Broodcomb titles isn't a necessity for reading this one.
As was the case of Night of Turns, I found myself completely caught up in the strangeness and the lives of these people as well as the quirky happenings, and The Settlements also affected me on an emotional level. I was beyond sad when this book was over, a little choked up, and left in a sort of daze just going over it again in my head once away from it. Once again readers are warned that "This might not be for you," but by this point I know better.
Absolutely stunning and superb.
August 19, 2024
In my own opinion this book is destined to be a modern classic. It would be no surprise if one day we will see this book as a part of the Gollancz Fantasy Masterworks series. But The Settlements is not mere Fantasy or just Weird fiction. There are chapters or entries, as the book has the format of a journal, that are about loneliness, anxiety, death, companionship, love. About the human condition. And those entries are so beautiful and profound. There is also a murder mystery, instructions of weird but highly entertaining games, a forbidden land that lies beyond the boarder, a weird and very dangerous golf game, an immortal (?) fox boy, a love story. Nothing is resolved at the end but the ending is amazing and poignant. The best book that I read all year. I loved it and I can not wait to visit the peninsula again.
April 10, 2021
This is the fourth book from Broodcomb press I have read (and reviewed on this site) and it is as strange and entertaining as any of the others.
Another book from the strange world of ‘The Peninsula’ which seems to a be a territory that is part Scarfolk Council (google it!) and part folk-horror with a dash of surrealism thrown in.
Our nameless protagonist is an ‘Ommisioner’, a sort of spiritual councillor, or release valve for occupants of various settlements to talk about their problems. The settlements are named after various world foci, activities or bent such as the Settlement of the Feet (housing Athletes, dancers and fetishists), Settlement of the Mouth (gourmands and sword swallowers), Settlement of Emotion (some occupants belief emotions can be grown and cultivated, others arouse emotion via music) etc.
The book is advertised as ‘plotless and meandering’ but this is not quite the case. It reads more like a diary, our narrator visits various settlements and listens to the people there or uses the book to detail events ongoing or offer reflections on the world in general. As the book progresses themes emerge, there is a murder mystery (of sorts), there are the activities the sinister doctor Kreb who builds a ‘thought contractor’ from huge ice cairns arranged in a pentagram, and musings over what is happening to his friend Edita, one of a pair of twins (actually triplets- the other died at the age of seven and is kept in a large jar at their house) who has found a tunnel allows access to another territory. We have various tales that may or may not be 'true' (that is 'true' by the strange (il)logic/(sur)reality of the Peninsula, a supernatural/surreal game of golf (“For the Love and God and Scotland don’t cheat!”), and a strange ‘Fox Boy’.
As the book progresses some elements begin to intertwine. Characters met earlier are reappear (or are implicated) in various situations, some resolved, others left open. What, for example, is the role of the book 'The History of Dice and Counter Games’, in the murder mystery? Whose (or whats thoughts) is Kreb picking up with his device? The games in the book are brilliant - surely this will emerge as a separate book.
If you have any of the other Broodcomb books you will notice intertextual references, the major one being that the fictional Edita Bikker in 'The Settlements' is seemingly a real-life(?) author of the Broodcomb novel ‘The Night of Turns’. Assuming Edita Bikker is a real person. Which Edita do we mean when we say 'real'? It appears to get complicated. You can also sample an obituary for Peter Asbaek, another Broodcomb title. It is not necessary to have read the other books- ‘The Settlements’ is its own entity.
I liked this book, its sinister, clever, weird and funny. I’m liking the whole Broodcomb Press/peninsula ‘thing’ (whatever that is!) as well. The book itself is in the same attractive format as the other recent books (p/b with French flaps). Recommended!
Another book from the strange world of ‘The Peninsula’ which seems to a be a territory that is part Scarfolk Council (google it!) and part folk-horror with a dash of surrealism thrown in.
Our nameless protagonist is an ‘Ommisioner’, a sort of spiritual councillor, or release valve for occupants of various settlements to talk about their problems. The settlements are named after various world foci, activities or bent such as the Settlement of the Feet (housing Athletes, dancers and fetishists), Settlement of the Mouth (gourmands and sword swallowers), Settlement of Emotion (some occupants belief emotions can be grown and cultivated, others arouse emotion via music) etc.
The book is advertised as ‘plotless and meandering’ but this is not quite the case. It reads more like a diary, our narrator visits various settlements and listens to the people there or uses the book to detail events ongoing or offer reflections on the world in general. As the book progresses themes emerge, there is a murder mystery (of sorts), there are the activities the sinister doctor Kreb who builds a ‘thought contractor’ from huge ice cairns arranged in a pentagram, and musings over what is happening to his friend Edita, one of a pair of twins (actually triplets- the other died at the age of seven and is kept in a large jar at their house) who has found a tunnel allows access to another territory. We have various tales that may or may not be 'true' (that is 'true' by the strange (il)logic/(sur)reality of the Peninsula, a supernatural/surreal game of golf (“For the Love and God and Scotland don’t cheat!”), and a strange ‘Fox Boy’.
As the book progresses some elements begin to intertwine. Characters met earlier are reappear (or are implicated) in various situations, some resolved, others left open. What, for example, is the role of the book 'The History of Dice and Counter Games’, in the murder mystery? Whose (or whats thoughts) is Kreb picking up with his device? The games in the book are brilliant - surely this will emerge as a separate book.
If you have any of the other Broodcomb books you will notice intertextual references, the major one being that the fictional Edita Bikker in 'The Settlements' is seemingly a real-life(?) author of the Broodcomb novel ‘The Night of Turns’. Assuming Edita Bikker is a real person. Which Edita do we mean when we say 'real'? It appears to get complicated. You can also sample an obituary for Peter Asbaek, another Broodcomb title. It is not necessary to have read the other books- ‘The Settlements’ is its own entity.
I liked this book, its sinister, clever, weird and funny. I’m liking the whole Broodcomb Press/peninsula ‘thing’ (whatever that is!) as well. The book itself is in the same attractive format as the other recent books (p/b with French flaps). Recommended!
Read
April 26, 2022It usually takes me a bit time to get into the rhythm of a book with very short chapters/stories. This was no different. However, I was hooked as soon as I noticed the fragments starting to gently coalesce. The book describes itself as 'plotless and meandering' and while it does meander, it's certainly not plotless. In fact, several plots come forward and then recede, all of them revealing a little more about the strange world of the peninsula and the settlements.
My favourite thing about this is how it expands the scope of what Jamie is doing with Broodcomb Press. Not only does the narrative world expand in unexpected directions, but it does so in an entirely different way from the R. Ostermeier stories that I'd read previously. What a treat it is to have Edita Bikker's The Night of Turns already on the shelf, after learning about her journey in this book.
My favourite thing about this is how it expands the scope of what Jamie is doing with Broodcomb Press. Not only does the narrative world expand in unexpected directions, but it does so in an entirely different way from the R. Ostermeier stories that I'd read previously. What a treat it is to have Edita Bikker's The Night of Turns already on the shelf, after learning about her journey in this book.
October 15, 2023
The Settlements of "the Peninsula" are elective communities devoted to a particular body part or sensation, governed from the Hub. Narrator is employed as an Omissioner, whose duty is to listen to settlement members air concerns or grievances. The book is divided into chapters of no more than two pages. In these chapters we learn of:
Ubny's Land, a mysterious domain separated from the Settlements by an energy field which can cause bodily distress and even death.
Experiments in surveillance of Ubny's Land, and eventually its history.
Obscure games with dire consequences.
A supernatural golf course in Scotland.
A murder mystery.
A mad doctor, a flamboyant bookseller, a ghost; a set of twins (or triplets) who live in house near the border.
An immortal being pursued by another seemingly ageless character (who nonetheless appears as a teenager in a story in a subsequent Broodcomb Press title, "A Trick of the Shadow" by R. Ostermeier).
Notes from the narrator's cases as Omissioner (usually "Summons in Ordinary").
Descriptions of the residents' works of art: a "mosaic obituary" (which I gather appears in full as the first book from Broodcomb Press), sculpture, puppetry, artistic defecation, and the peculiar pageantry of Ubny's Land.
The fate of the narrator's wife, and his path out of loneliness.
The narrator's random thoughts on life and art. (And although a first-person narrator should not be conflated with the author, such conflation seems valid here.)
It is all very strange, but also very humane. Quack science works (to an extent), physical laws are bent or transcended, the modern world as we know it is completely absent from the Peninsula. The strangeness invites comparison to Robert Aickman, though that comparison is more apt for the Broodcomb titles by "R. Ostermeier" (based on having read one of them so far). There is an elegant precision to Walsh's prose that reminds me of Mark Valentine (and a similar enthusiasm for antiquarianism), but peppered with occasional, delightful vulgarity of language or action. I actually laughed out loud several times while reading The Settlements--and not necessarily at a humorous bit, often just for sheer joy. In fact, I don't remember the last time I enjoyed reading a book this much. (And that is a blanket statement that applies to each of the three Broodcomb titles I've read.) I've got a stack of Broodcomb books still to read and I must balance the urge to binge-read against the desire to draw out the pleasure.
Ubny's Land, a mysterious domain separated from the Settlements by an energy field which can cause bodily distress and even death.
Experiments in surveillance of Ubny's Land, and eventually its history.
Obscure games with dire consequences.
A supernatural golf course in Scotland.
A murder mystery.
A mad doctor, a flamboyant bookseller, a ghost; a set of twins (or triplets) who live in house near the border.
An immortal being pursued by another seemingly ageless character (who nonetheless appears as a teenager in a story in a subsequent Broodcomb Press title, "A Trick of the Shadow" by R. Ostermeier).
Notes from the narrator's cases as Omissioner (usually "Summons in Ordinary").
Descriptions of the residents' works of art: a "mosaic obituary" (which I gather appears in full as the first book from Broodcomb Press), sculpture, puppetry, artistic defecation, and the peculiar pageantry of Ubny's Land.
The fate of the narrator's wife, and his path out of loneliness.
The narrator's random thoughts on life and art. (And although a first-person narrator should not be conflated with the author, such conflation seems valid here.)
It is all very strange, but also very humane. Quack science works (to an extent), physical laws are bent or transcended, the modern world as we know it is completely absent from the Peninsula. The strangeness invites comparison to Robert Aickman, though that comparison is more apt for the Broodcomb titles by "R. Ostermeier" (based on having read one of them so far). There is an elegant precision to Walsh's prose that reminds me of Mark Valentine (and a similar enthusiasm for antiquarianism), but peppered with occasional, delightful vulgarity of language or action. I actually laughed out loud several times while reading The Settlements--and not necessarily at a humorous bit, often just for sheer joy. In fact, I don't remember the last time I enjoyed reading a book this much. (And that is a blanket statement that applies to each of the three Broodcomb titles I've read.) I've got a stack of Broodcomb books still to read and I must balance the urge to binge-read against the desire to draw out the pleasure.
September 27, 2023
Over garden wall, behind the hedge, out beyond the moor lies the Settlements. Vignettes of people bound by curious interests: defectation patterns formed by eating select foods, an appreciation of grouping consonants, hiding from people to induce a sense of the uncanny. This is a scrapbook of mythologies and strange tales, as Walsh says:
Except, that's not really true.
To start with this does read like a well done writing exercise. Walsh even mentions at the end of the book that each section was begun and finished in one day, no section could be longer than two pages, and each must be somewhat related to the material (scrap, brochure, broadsheet) that it was written on.
These early pieces are breathtaking in their atmosphere. Numerous times I had to drop the book and try and sketch the images on the page, so cruel and vivid is Walsh's imagination. Some early staples being the castle goers with their ritual of wooden bees, the shadow-bird's harsh grip, the stone-beam and its effect.
But slowly and surely there are callbacks. Characters crop up, details added to their story. Strange themes about the land across the border and the mysterious Game of the Goose.
It truly feels like we go on a journey of discovery with Walsh, just as his characters slowly explore this peculiar section of the Cornish coast and try and make sense of the patterns they find, so too does the reader start to see narrative spilling out of the vignettes as a whole.
The Settlements are grouped together by body part, Feet, Tongue, but sometimes the more abstract like Death. Our sections come to us as the writings of an Omissioner, the "spiritual Lumpensamellar" per Walsh's fake quotation at the beginning [aside: because of his first quote being from MacDonald's Phantastes, I assumed the other quotes were also from real books, but now I'm looking for them, I don't see them!] who travels from settlement to settlement offering succour and recording the curiosities he encounters.
In the beginning half of the book many of the vignettes focus on a settlement or a character but a couple of people feature frequently, including Edita (1 of 3) who I see has published her own work in Broodcomb, and Dr Krab.
In the second half of the book some incidents start driving the narrative. The epic Keeper of the Greens, the ice cairns to explore the land beyond the stone beam, the strange murder of a bookseller. I won't spoil it for you..
There are so many wonderful themes and stories woven into this community. My favourite has to include the strange wood pigeon box that our narrator loses himself discovering and the mind-bending way he makes his way out. This isn't the most fantastical of the tales in the book but it so closely reminded me of my own childhood, making up rules to live by in the woods.
If you like new weird and experimental fiction you'll have a great time with this. It's not experimental enough that you have to be in the right mindset. The writing is crisp easy - which gives the ideas lots of space to fill up your head.
Super super excited for the rest of Walsh's offerings and Broodcomb Press in general. My one complaint is that this press isn't more widely know. Recommended.
A book from the peninsula, plotless
and meandering by design.
(This might not be for you.)
Except, that's not really true.
To start with this does read like a well done writing exercise. Walsh even mentions at the end of the book that each section was begun and finished in one day, no section could be longer than two pages, and each must be somewhat related to the material (scrap, brochure, broadsheet) that it was written on.
These early pieces are breathtaking in their atmosphere. Numerous times I had to drop the book and try and sketch the images on the page, so cruel and vivid is Walsh's imagination. Some early staples being the castle goers with their ritual of wooden bees, the shadow-bird's harsh grip, the stone-beam and its effect.
But slowly and surely there are callbacks. Characters crop up, details added to their story. Strange themes about the land across the border and the mysterious Game of the Goose.
It truly feels like we go on a journey of discovery with Walsh, just as his characters slowly explore this peculiar section of the Cornish coast and try and make sense of the patterns they find, so too does the reader start to see narrative spilling out of the vignettes as a whole.
The Settlements are grouped together by body part, Feet, Tongue, but sometimes the more abstract like Death. Our sections come to us as the writings of an Omissioner, the "spiritual Lumpensamellar" per Walsh's fake quotation at the beginning [aside: because of his first quote being from MacDonald's Phantastes, I assumed the other quotes were also from real books, but now I'm looking for them, I don't see them!] who travels from settlement to settlement offering succour and recording the curiosities he encounters.
In the beginning half of the book many of the vignettes focus on a settlement or a character but a couple of people feature frequently, including Edita (1 of 3) who I see has published her own work in Broodcomb, and Dr Krab.
In the second half of the book some incidents start driving the narrative. The epic Keeper of the Greens, the ice cairns to explore the land beyond the stone beam, the strange murder of a bookseller. I won't spoil it for you..
There are so many wonderful themes and stories woven into this community. My favourite has to include the strange wood pigeon box that our narrator loses himself discovering and the mind-bending way he makes his way out. This isn't the most fantastical of the tales in the book but it so closely reminded me of my own childhood, making up rules to live by in the woods.
If you like new weird and experimental fiction you'll have a great time with this. It's not experimental enough that you have to be in the right mindset. The writing is crisp easy - which gives the ideas lots of space to fill up your head.
Super super excited for the rest of Walsh's offerings and Broodcomb Press in general. My one complaint is that this press isn't more widely know. Recommended.
November 25, 2024
This is the first release by Broodcomb Press, and the first book to be set in the fictional "Peninsula" - a strange anachronistic place consisting of "settlements"; enclaves of people gathered according to particular beliefs, for instance, there is the settlement of 'Mouth' where fine-diners and sword-swallowers gather, or the settlement of 'Fear', where everyone's lives are focused around either being fearful or fearsome.
The narrator is an "omissioner" - a sort of silent priest, whose job is to simply listen, without response, to whatever ails the people of the settlements.
Thus the book is told as a sort of diary from this omissioner, his experiences, and descriptions of the settlements. But interspersed are the tales he is told, and thus several bits from other texts crop up here and there; descriptions of various games from a game book, monologues and poems, and the journal of a female author, Edita Bikker, with a particular harrowing story of a golf course taking center stage.
This book has a narrative of sorts. There is a kind of love story, a murder mystery, and another mystery of people being kidnapped into another land. But for me, this was not the pull of the book. You read this for the atmosphere, the incredible feat of imagination, for simply being in The Peninsula" - a unique place in literature.
Here people play flutes made out of hollowed-out human hands, they preserve long-dead siblings in liquids (siblings whose thoughts from when they were alive can be "contracted").
Here a sword-swallower is accused of having a demon in the belly, who helps navigate the sword around the vital organs, only for it to be discovered, when she is killed to prove it, that there was no demon, but a fox-human hybrid boy whose penis works as an "emotional weathervane".
Strange things indeed.
The language is great. There are tons of tiny moments of brilliance, to either make you laugh or blink your eyes in wonder at the sheer imaginative power of the author. The atmosphere is interesting, and I am intrigued to keep reading books from this universe (have bought the 2 next).
What keeps this from a 5 for me is a subjective thing. I did not fully invest in the narrative parts for whatever reason, and the parts of the book that went for something deeper - more meaningful - were often quite abstract, to the point where I could not really be bothered to figure out what was going on. I could see a re-read open up more of this though, so maybe in the future, I could bump this to a 5.
Recommended for sure for all lovers of *very* niche literary fantasy experiments.
The narrator is an "omissioner" - a sort of silent priest, whose job is to simply listen, without response, to whatever ails the people of the settlements.
Thus the book is told as a sort of diary from this omissioner, his experiences, and descriptions of the settlements. But interspersed are the tales he is told, and thus several bits from other texts crop up here and there; descriptions of various games from a game book, monologues and poems, and the journal of a female author, Edita Bikker, with a particular harrowing story of a golf course taking center stage.
This book has a narrative of sorts. There is a kind of love story, a murder mystery, and another mystery of people being kidnapped into another land. But for me, this was not the pull of the book. You read this for the atmosphere, the incredible feat of imagination, for simply being in The Peninsula" - a unique place in literature.
Here people play flutes made out of hollowed-out human hands, they preserve long-dead siblings in liquids (siblings whose thoughts from when they were alive can be "contracted").
Here a sword-swallower is accused of having a demon in the belly, who helps navigate the sword around the vital organs, only for it to be discovered, when she is killed to prove it, that there was no demon, but a fox-human hybrid boy whose penis works as an "emotional weathervane".
Strange things indeed.
The language is great. There are tons of tiny moments of brilliance, to either make you laugh or blink your eyes in wonder at the sheer imaginative power of the author. The atmosphere is interesting, and I am intrigued to keep reading books from this universe (have bought the 2 next).
What keeps this from a 5 for me is a subjective thing. I did not fully invest in the narrative parts for whatever reason, and the parts of the book that went for something deeper - more meaningful - were often quite abstract, to the point where I could not really be bothered to figure out what was going on. I could see a re-read open up more of this though, so maybe in the future, I could bump this to a 5.
Recommended for sure for all lovers of *very* niche literary fantasy experiments.
June 8, 2023
One of the oddest books I've ever read, but also one of the most intriguing. I kept putting it down after each two-page "story." Then would immediately pick it back up again. It was pretty addictive. O. Jamie Walsh is either a visionary, or belongs in an asylum. Probably both, and I mean that in the kindest way. Broodcomb Press books are all extremely unlike anything else you are quite likely to read, and, as they are quick to point out, "this might not be for you."
November 26, 2023
An intense and not unwelcome experience. A slippery, intricate masterpiece.
August 2, 2025
this is such a weird, beautiful book
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