The Readymade Thief
Brief Synopsis
Seventeen-year-old Lee Cuddy, after evading police officers, juvenile prison, and the psych ward, finds herself homeless and out of options. She stumbles across a group of lost teens who reside in the hidden Crystal Castle, an abandoned building held under the control of the Station Master. Lee’s problems arise after she accidentally takes the 20th century Marcel Duchamp’s figure With Hidden Noise from a group of men called the Bachelors, named after Duchamp’s The Bride Stripped Bare By Her Bachelors, Even. The Bachelors, headed by the Priest and the Stationmaster aim to extract details about immortality, and they believe Lee, a doppelganger for an earlier work by Duchamp, holds the secret to it all.
Review
This book, while fun and enjoyable to read, especially at the beginning, transcends into another realm of reading comprehension. The book employs tons of information not only on Marcel Duchamp’s life but also on how his paintings represent string theory, immortality, and desire. Augustus Rose is an incredibly talented author, but his book caters to people who already have an understanding of the artist Duchamp and his paintings. When I was reading the book, I got confused as to how the elements of the paintings applied to the pace of the novel, and in order to finish the novel, I had to read a summary of the book online to ease my confusion.
Although Rose’s prose and eloquence of this girl who is forced to make impromptu decisions to evade not only police but also the grip of a notorious organization are top-tier, his novel is very hard to follow because of his countless information about Duchamp. Therefore, I won’t be recommending this novel to anyone.
Great review!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the brief synopsis. It gave me enough, but not too much about the book. I particularly liked your use of realm in the review section. This gave a good mental image which I wouldn't have thought of.
Your summary of the book helped me understand the plot despite the fact that I know nothing about Marcel Duchamp. The plot appears to achieve a whole new level of complicated. This book would not be a great fit for me since I lack background knowledge, but I really enjoyed your review. Great Job!
ReplyDeleteGreat book review. They seems like a quite unique book. I don't know any thing about Marcel Duchamp but it seems like an interesting book. Overall this seems like an interesting book!
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like an intriguing plot, however, I agree that a novel that relies on extensive knowledge of a relatively obscure figure seems more trouble than it is worth. Good review!
ReplyDeleteGreat review Robert. I really enjoyed how you gave me a good idea about the book but only enough to understand without knowing the whole book. I think that incorporating science to a fiction book with real-world concepts such as string theory seems interesting but I would have a hard time understanding it.
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