This Is Not a Novel (Paperback)

from kszym

What this is: a list of short (1-3 line) anecdotes about artists. How they died, where they died, ways they insulted people, with occasional bits from Writer, who seems preoccupied with getting older, as well as the failure of his last book. Despite being devoid of plot and characters, there's qu...

from Daedalus

Yeah, so the title doesn't lie. That's part of it's charm (insert modern literary theory commentary here). It's worth reading. It's fascinating. It's fun. Mostly it's fun and fascinating.

from headless

entertaining, clever, surprisingly touching, but ultimately thin.

from aliceunderskies

Following the title, I wasn't expecting this to be a novel, but I did hope for some sort of philosophical statement about art & mortality. I found none. Why on earth was this even published? It's just a grocery list of anecdotes. Dull & uninspired.

from JamesPaul977

I did read this mish-mosh of historical/literary details & interspersed commentary fairly quickly, in line with the description of it being a page-turner. However the book's inclination towards the random & obscure, beyond a focus on causes of death, is puzzling.