Review: A Naked Singularity

A Naked Singularity by Sergio de la Pava
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

That was one hell of a debut novel.

Not that I usually focus on that kind of a detail, but in this case it's noticeable. I came across this book by accident from this somewhat random reddit post 3 years ago, and it seems like it's only just started gathering attention in the last couple of years as it finally got reprinted. I can't say I've read anything like this before- well a lot of reviewers and the back cover will draw comparisons with the likes of David Foster Wallace or Pynchon, and it does happen to digress all over the place- but it's also more way more readable than Gravity's Rainbow or other so-called difficult novels of the same vein.

Rather, if you're the type of person whose mind tends to introspectively wander a lot between arbitrary intellectual to pseudo-intellectual topics on things like the nature of death and the true meaning of perfection on a regular basis to the point where it leaks into your everyday conversations, then this is the novel for you, because that's practically what makes up most of this book. Luckily the dialogue often turns out to be funny in a sarcastic and witty kind of way as well, so it's not like you're just reading someone's pointless half-crazed ramblings on life the way you might be turned off when talking to someone like this in real life. Honestly, I wish my daily conversations were always this detailed and amusing. But that said, this isn't for everyone, as some of the less favorable reviews out there would suggest.

For the record, there are also a bunch of actual ongoing narratives here. Some are obviously relevant- like the cases Casi takes on as a public defender (one of which was particularly heartbreaking) and their impact on his character, and the planning for the "perfect" heist; some provide a backdrop, like the news story about the kidnapping of baby Tula, and the antics of Casi's TV character-psychology-or-maybe-physics-obsessed neighbors; and others will just stretch your suspension of disbelief, like the detailed yet rather engrossing account of the boxing career of Wilfred Benitez (seriously, I've never found boxing this interesting before), or some bizarre time-space shenanigans on the level of the book's title that I still haven't made sense of, or maybe just the fact that every character in this book is probably either crazy or collectively tripping on some weird shit because they sure sound like it.

The scope of this book is really all over the place (befitting the mantle of "maximalism") to the point that for a while you don't really know where the plot is going, or if there even is a real plot because it feels like there isn't when there should be one, even though the often quotable musings of Casi and friends are entertaining in themselves. Eventually the plot does start to come together past the halfway point, but it's still slow and methodical overall bar for a few intense thriller moments, for reasons that will become obvious as they come into focus.

Given the nature of Casi's job (which he shares with the author) as a defense attorney, the book pays considerable attention to the state of the New York justice system itself and all of the frustrations experienced by the parties involved, especially as Casi's life starts to spiral further out of control in the midst of it. This is enhanced by De Pava's attention to detail in many areas, such as the legal jargon that an attorney of Casi's stature would be familiar with, the wide variety of cases and scenarios encountered in a short time span, and the convincing street lingo of Casi's clients, to an extent that reminds me of The Wire and even more recently the podcast Serial... only I'm pretty sure your average public defenders wouldn't be heavily debating metaphysics as part of their daily work routine. (But that does spice up the narrative a bit.)

To witness all of this in action, one just needs to read the stellar first chapter, a fascinating account of Casi's usual day at work. And it's all a wild ride from there.

Review: Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again

Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again by Frank Miller
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

So I didn't think it was as bad as it's been made out to be by most people, but it's definitely a step backwards from The Dark Knight Returns. The art here is pretty fugly for one thing; TDKR had enough structuring and subtle details to make it feel refined, whereas TDKSA features much larger, scattered, wilder and dare I say sloppier looking artwork. Also, the storyline overall seems to be less about Batman than it is about the rest of the DC universe superheroes left out from TDKR; the role Batman plays in this book is such that it feels more like a Justice League story (or remnants thereof) than anything else. It's really more of a sequel to Superman's story from the last work- that conflict of ideals between him and Batman- than it is to Batman's alone.

Gripes aside, the story itself is fairly entertaining so long as you don't take some of the writing too seriously (I think Frank Miller kinda went off the deep end sometime in the last decade) and look at it more as a what-if-dystopian-future-Justice-League-comeback piece than a pure Batman one. It's wacky, it's wild, and it's fun... and a bit epic in its own way. I wouldn't mind seeing an adapted version of this, although with better looking artwork preferably.

I suppose we couldn't have expected that much more from a sequel to a tale that didn't really need a sequel to begin with, but I can appreciate what we wound up with anyway (well, minus the Robin hate... I don't really understand what Miller has against Robin, poor guy. See All Star Batman and Robin The Boy Wonder also).