The Sword and Laser discussion

I realise the month has already passed (I got the book late from the library) but did anyone else find this book really hard to read?

I think it might be the constant capitalisation that I find so distracting and off putting. It seems to be there to indicate all things off or about the house, and yet not, and I was hoping I would find out the significance of this, but so far, nothing, though in fairness, I’m less than a hundred pages in, so I guess there is time for this mystery to be revealed. I feel like it must have significance (I hope it does) since it’s so prevalent, but it makes it so hard for me to scan over the words - am I just a really bad reader, or have others felt the same?

I’m also finding this a little hard from a narrative point of view, because so far it is full of detail but there is a scarcity of story. It feels like one of those videos I’m fond of ‘watching’ on Youtube before bed, where there is a pretty picture and some interesting relaxing sounds, and maybe from time to time in the eight hour video, there will be a slight animation change just for fun. It’s all atmosphere, but not something you’d just sit down and watch attentively, which makes it rather a tricky prospect in book form.

I did just listen to the audio sample, which seems to be beautifully read by Chiwetel Ejiofor. That isn’t available at my local library, but I’ll see if I can get it from another, since I don’t really want to pay for a book I’m not currently loving. His voice might turn me around, and at least then I won’t have to put up with the weird capitals (though now it occurs to be that if their significance is explained, how would that work in audio??)

Actually, no, I found it easy and refreshingly different. We start off with a delicious take on museums and what can feel like endless corridors. Have you ever been in the Louvre? It just goes on and on and ON. Even the Uffizi Palace in Florence has a languorous long feel. The lobby, so much like many museum entrances.

Then, as we go on, it's a live action take on Platonic ideals. We have the perfect forms for many situations. It's like a trundle through the Collective Unconscious made real.

(slight to modest spoiler) (view spoiler)[Even more deliciously, at the end we see those ideals expressed in the real world. The endless corridors store the archetypes of humanity and eventually reflect them back. (hide spoiler)]

The Many Unneeded Capitals and the long repetition of the Year That The Bird Came By And Wow Was That Not The Biggest Thing Ever did get on my nerves a bit. I took it as part of the stylistic aspect of the world.

I too was initially put off by the style and found it difficult to get into. However, I was fully enraptured in just a few chapters. The weirdness has a point, and it makes sense once things unravel. It feels like there isn't a point to some of the things, but there is, and I really love how this book played out.

I’m glad some people enjoyed it, but I found it boring. I was disappointed, because I really liked Jonathan Strange. Maybe i would have enjoyed the audiobook more. But i found this so repetitive and tedious, I could hardly get through it.

The book also wasn't my jam. I also didn't like Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. I saw where it was going really early on and then I just got bored when there wasn't "more" in store.