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Neom
Group Reads Discussions 2023
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"Neom" First Impressions *No Spoilers*
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I read this earlier this year (continuing the trend this year that we choose group reads that I have already read!) and really liked it a lot. I’m interested in what the group and our members think of it.
I just read it a week or so ago. I ended up liking it a lot but at first I was unsure if all the crazy elements of the world were going anywhere or consistent with each other.
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Listening to the audio and am liking it very much so far.
Just read the first three chapters (~17%) and I'm really intrigued by the characters and the setting.
I finished it today and very much enjoyed it. Loved the world he creates. I didn’t realize until I finished it that there’s a kind of glossary at the end. For me, there is also a kind of cozy vibe to it.
I have no idea whether I'll like this or not but it was avl. at my library so I'll give it go. New Weird sounds too much like other stuff I've despised though. We'll see!Nadine, thanks for the heads up for the 'glossary.'
I've read the first couple of chapters and I like the writing. It's straightforward but evocative, and I easily became involved with the characters' emotions. I appreciate that there's a map in the front of the book, since I'm not very familiar with this part of the world, but looking on a RL map would probably work well enough.
I'm about halfway. I love the spare, approachable prose, and the slightly cozy/slighty weird feel. It feels like a world where anything could happen.
I finally got a copy of this and started it today. I'm a few chapters in, and I really like it so far for many of the reasons already shared here. Beth, I'm glad you mentioned the map because somehow I missed it. Seeing your message here made me go back to look for it. I guess I must have just opened directly to the first chapter and started reading. Also, thank you to Nadine for mentioning the glossary, which I would have missed - I never think to look for one and am always surprised when I get to the end of a book and find it.
I have never read anything by this author, and my book's cover says that this is from the world of Central Station. Has anyone here read that book, too? (If that is a better conversation for the spoiler thread, I can put my question there after I'm finished, too.)
Got it on an audible sale - I hope it’s a good one to listen to
I'll start about mid-month. I will be listening (Scribd) and reading (Hoopla).
Kaia wrote: "I'm glad you mentioned the map"I got a high-res map from the publisher if you want it. The one in the ebook version has some text that is unreadable.
The Central Station stories (part of a larger "future history" by the author) are set around the central bus station building in Tel Aviv, where in this future it's a spaceport.
Some of them are collected in the book titled Central Station, with some edits to link the stories together. Many of the stories are available to read online in various magazines, including a lot of newer stories that came out after Central Station's publication.
They are all standalone. There are recurring characters settings, technologies, etc. but they are not required reading.
I'll link a few of them.
These two open the Central Station book:
The Smell of Orange Groves https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/tidh...
Under the Eaves https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fi...
From later in the collection:
The Bookseller https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/tidh...
This one is set in China:
Yiwu https://www.tor.com/2018/05/23/yiwu-l...
These ones are set in the Neo-Neanderthal reservation near Haifa:
Rain Falling in the Pines https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/tidh...
Schlafstunde https://apex-magazine.com/short-ficti...
Tidhar says the “Central Station” stories were written with the novel in mind:[Q]”As I understand it, Central Station originally started as a series of short stories, which you then reconfigured into a novel….”
[A] “It’s not exactly correct, though I think it’s the prevailing impression people have. Central Station was purposely constructed to be an old-fashioned mosaic novel, in the sense that it would be made up of stand-alone episodes that could be published independently in magazines and anthologies first. It’s a form that used to be very popular in science fiction — think of Clifford D. Simak’s City as one example — and I wanted to replicate that feeling of it. So, yes, it was made up of short stories, but they were always a part of the greater whole.”
That quote is from this interview:
https://paulsemel.com/exclusive-inter...
Thanks so much, Ori and Stephen!Now I’m even more intrigued - I like it when an author creates a world with stories incorporating some recurring characters and places. I will definitely check out the stories you shared, Ori.
I appreciate your high-res map offer, too, but I don’t need one for this book - I ended up getting it as a paper book when I was traveling and had access to a bookstore with a better sci-fi selection than my hometown store. Maps in ebooks are the worst, though - they are so hard to read on a small screen, and I find that zooming options (at least on my e-reader app) are limited.
I’m very picky about my sci-fi reads and this got my attention with the first story. Very excited to finish it and hear what the rest of the group has to say!
Thanks for the quote, Stephen!Kaia wrote: "I like it when an author creates a world with stories incorporating some recurring characters and places. I will definitely check out..."
This isn't the only time he's done that either. :) He has several different "worlds" that are explored in short stories novels, and some characters even cross between worlds. The poet Lior Tirosh is a recurring character, sometimes just as a mention. Unholy Land, which follows (a version of?) Tirosh, has several different futures of Israel intersecting with each other. One of them was the focus of an earlier story.
Here's a very eclectic author - even if you don't like Neom, you might enjoy his other works from different genres.
If New Wierd is where street culture meets ancient mythology we are in the right part of the world where some the oldest mythologies arose.Yet it does seem off to call it New Weird. I am reading The Alexiad where the writer Anna Comnena mixes in references to ancient mythology with what might be called street fighting in the 21st century. We call her writing "epic" and "Byzantine." She describes the political-military history of her family including during the time of the 1st Crusades when Roman Christians ranged through and scavenged in the streets of Constantinople the capital of the Greek Orthodox Christians.
Might just be a Human Thing.
I say that but don't really know New Weird.
Yeah, some of those labels, oy. I'd rather read the actual description of what makes the blurb writer choose that label. Google was no help to me in understanding what is 'New Weird' about this book. :shrug:
I’ve started the book yesterday and I like it very much. If this is ‘New Weird' I think I’m going to research more about the trend. I can feel some cozy vibes too. Love the details about life in Neom.
I didn't get in on the group read, but thanks for making me aware of this novel. I just checked it out and bought a Kindle version. Can't wait to read it.
Mike, it’s not a long book. If you start it now you will still be in “real time” to discuss it with the group this month.
DivaDiane wrote: "Mike, it’s not a long book. If you start it now you will still be in “real time” to discuss it with the group this month."Thanks.
Yeap, it was around 4h read from what I remember.
Yep. I stopped reading for a few days, so I have restarted tonight/this overnight. I am at Chapter 15 of 27. When I was young, I would have just read it through in a few hours. Four hours would be a good estimate of time.
I don’t have much time to read, before the school year ends (working with kids and teens) but I’m actually going to finish this one before VBC on Sunday.
About a quarter in I realized that I had no idea what I was listening to, so I have to start again. I don't know what this is, but it happened to me with two other books of the author as well.
Don't blame the author. I definitely cannot follow audio books at all. My mind wanders from the moment I try to listen. I have no problem reading books, I spend hours a day doing that. I just can't listen to them.
Mike wrote: "Don't blame the author. I definitely cannot follow audio books at all. My mind wanders from the moment I try to listen."I think that we can blame (or praise) the author. He made certain choices that led to the result. Some of us consume a large portion of our books in audio so that's not the problem for us.
Gabi the words are not easily recognizable to me. I listened, but I also read as necessary, keeping the ebook nearby. In that way, I could see the word and then scroll back to the glossary as needed. That usually works for me.
Nadine in California wrote: "I finished it today and very much enjoyed it. Loved the world he creates. I didn’t realize until I finished it that there’s a kind of glossary at the end. "Thank you for pointing out the glossary.
I'm through the first five chapters. Feels a bit melancholy? Wistful.
Desert/caravan/trader setting reminds me of The Carpet Makers, which we read a few years back.
What year is it here? Like hundreds, a thousand years in the future, more?
That “melancholy? Wistful” feel is an appealing aspect of the book, I thought.
SciFi and Fantasy Book Club
Books mentioned in this topic
The Carpet Makers (other topics)The Alexiad (other topics)
Unholy Land (other topics)
Central Station (other topics)
Neom (other topics)
Please save all discussion of particulars, details from the story, character choices, plot questions, etc. for the full spoiler thread.
Content warnings for those who want them: (view spoiler)[ violence (including eyes) (hide spoiler)] (More about CWs here.)