Chaos Reading discussion

The lovely Karen has accepted the Scorch Atlas challenge! Keep us updated please... :)

Scorch Atlas, first impressions. First of all, I am reading the e-book so will not have the experience of the graphic design I have read so much about. Maybe this is good as it forces the book to stand only on it’s content. Second, this is reading more like horror than Sci Fi to me, Lovecraft and Bloch both come to mind. What I have read so far is deeply disturbing, not to be read during dinner and probably not right before bedtime either. Terrible, other worldly plagues attack the characters in the stories I read. These plagues are in fact, so other worldly that I am wondering if we are all in Hell, similar to the Hell created by C.L. Moore in her Jirel of Jorey stories where mindless creatures and horrific mutations wonder about crying in a never ending gloom. Heavy stuff. So that is where I am having finished the first two stories – ‘Water’ and ‘The Disappeared’.

Nice one. I'm glad you managed to grab a copy, and very impressed that you've started already! It is a shame about the missing graphic element though, but it probably doesn't make that much difference in the end. I was going to say, "Hope you enjoy it", but that's probably not an appropriate way to say it, given the subject matter!

BTW - You're right about it not being a dinner/bedtime book too!

Still reading this, what with the polling phone calls every thirty minutes, watching the news of Sandy and dealing with my own sick cat (deju vu Ruby, I have one coming out of surgery today for a bad UTI) I am not making the progress I would like to make here. So that said, I continue to feel like I have been transported to some alternate reality where horror, pain and grief are the daily aspects of a normal life and I am still wondering what exactly, I am reading. Is this an allegory or straight horror or the imagained ramblings of someone in a white jacket in a dark room. Not sure. I am sure that the writer is able to present all of this in beautifully formed prose and that is an irony in itself. I have found one story that reminds me of Tanith Lee's dark stuff. The story is The Gown From Mothers Stomach. So, still reading, still lost in the woods...

Karen, you are so making me want to read this book. Excellent updates!

Thanks Whitney. Reading and reporting as I read is a new experiance for me so I am glad to hear I am at least making sense.

Karen wrote: "Thanks Whitney. Reading and reporting as I read is a new experiance for me so I am glad to hear I am at least making sense."

Not only are you making sense, but it is absolutely de ja vu for me too! I was in a bad place too while I was reading this, so I sympathise wholeheartedly. I think I actually may have written a warning into a review not to read this if you're feeling a little down - take care of yourself! :)

"So that said, I continue to feel like I have been transported to some alternate reality where horror, pain and grief are the daily aspects of a normal life and I am still wondering what exactly, I am reading."
Your take on the book is pretty similar to mine. I think that's what I liked about it too - You really feel as if you're living through the day-to-day, hour-to-hour trauma of a slowly dying world. I know it can feel repetitive, but I can't help thinking that's adding to the sense of hopelessness and despair.

I do hope your cat's feeling better now too. :)

Ruby, cat is on the mend, getting spoiled rotten as he is in forced seclusion from the other cats. I have finished Scorch Atlas and below is my final comment which will also be my review.

All the time I have been reading this I have had a nagging feeling of recognition to my ongoing reaction, as if there were something rotten stuck in my mouth. I have finally pinned it down. Kafka’s Metamorphosis. Remember poor Gregor, wakes up one morning to discover he has turned into a cockroach? I remember reading that and trying to make sense of the surreal situations, trying to translate the gorgeous descriptions into something sane, trying to hold my revulsion in check and this is what happened to me with Scorch Atlas. Consider this excerpt: ‘Where in those last days I woke up choking on grasshoppers, the ceiling cracking. Water gushing from my ears. Snails in my breakfast. Sores in between my toes.’.
Does this book have a theme? I think it does and I think the theme is the resurrection of hope after the vilest tribulations imaginable. Thanks to Ruby for issuing this challenge. I never would have picked this up on my own and I would have missed a singular reading experience.

You're brilliant for agreeing to do the challenge Karen, and I love your review! I haven't read The Metamorphosis yet, but as I mentioned on another thread, that WAS one of the books I challenged myself to read this year. If it's got a similar vibe to Scorch Atlas, I'm definitely in!

I got halfway through reading The Beetle which has a similar plot, but I suspect the feel is rather different!

Now I really hope someone accepts your challenge, Karen.....!
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1...