Re: Vishnu at the Cat Circus

The beauty of Ian McDonald’s prose keeps making me want to like his work, but it never pays off. At least I got through “Vishnu at the Cat Circus” in one pass. We begin with lots of poetical cats. How can you lose with cats? Within the framework of this cat circus, Vishnu Nariman tells […]

Re: The Tear

Ian McDonald makes difficult reading. I had to machete my way through Brasyl and it took me three tries to read “The Tear.” It’s a dense story, filled interesting ideas and beautiful language on a grand scale. There’s so many peoples and places and worlds and universes, it’s just too much to take in at […]

Brasyl – Take Two

Finally! It took me two weeks, in fits and starts, to read Brasyl, and then another two weeks to digest it. I have to admit, for a while I wasn’t sure I was going to make it. But I couldn’t invoke the 150 page rule because I liked the first 150 pages. In fact, I […]

Brasyl – Take one

First, a confession: I’m only halfway through Brasyl, by Ian McDonald. It’s a dense, detailed, demanding story that’s impossible to read quickly, but I’m glad to spend the time for this book. After fighting my way through the Old Man’s War series, it’s such a relief to read something that’s consistently well-written. Though I don’t […]