Dhalgren

One of those rare books that I can never really recommend to anybody, but I'm (mostly) glad I read. It's an experience I'm glad I had; I will also be fine if I never have a similar experience again. Perhaps because other works have been influenced by Dhalgren, some of the meta-conceptual stuff seemed a bit one-note (words from the book being in the notebook Kid has, etc.). The tone of the book was frustrating and yet enjoyable. Nothing (at all) is pinned down in this book, and yet Delany touches on class, race, capitalism, sex, and the like–the result for me is a kind of disappointing non-commentary on all of the above.

Still, one set of chapters will stay with me and was worth the whole book: As Kidd helps a family move from one floor to another, so much about the power of psychological denial is so strongly portrayed that I may reread just that section at some point.
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I'm halfway through with this book–on my 4th time trying to read it, and I've made it further than ever before. I'm enjoying it. It is long, but enjoyably so this time around. I do wonder if it needs to be as long as it is; I suspect the meandering structure is part of the meaning of the book, so I'm going with it. I may have to take some breaks before finishing it though–1000 pages gets in the way of other books I want to read...

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