![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
2016 Book Review #4: The Backup
Title: The Backup
Author: Erica Kudisch
Genre: Urban fantasyish
Thingummies: 4.5
Synopsis: Unemployed musicologist reluctantly takes an assistant position for a dissolute rock star, who may or may not be the reincarnation of Dionysus but definitely is fucking with his head.
Thoughts: Disclaimer: The author is a good friend, and I read this in several drafts. That said, I'm usually pretty straightforward in my criticism and I genuinely think this was excellent.
Also, disturbing as all hell. The central relationship is entirely about power structures and mind games, and Kudisch has a lot to say about both. It's subtle and layered and completely engrossing. There are elements of horror here, although it's not a full-blown horror novel. I'm not going to spoil anything, but I'm not much of a nihilist and I was satisfied by the ending.
Mostly, I was just fascinated by the characters. Our protagonist is not a particularly likeable person, but I was fully drawn into his head. Anthony is a fascinatingly flawed human being, who doesn't deserve what he thinks he does, but also doesn't deserve to be stranded with Nik. Nik, on the other hand, is entirely inhuman but still intriguingly complex. The plot is engagingly twisty and the side characters suitably interesting, but really, this book is about the central relationship in all its messed-up glory. Also, fame and power and what it means to be an artist, and the teetering balance between Apollonian and Dionysian creation. But mostly about wanting, and what you're willing to do to assuage that wanting.
Also, you'll learn enough random factoids about music theory and history that you'll feel kinda smart at the end.
Author: Erica Kudisch
Genre: Urban fantasyish
Thingummies: 4.5
Synopsis: Unemployed musicologist reluctantly takes an assistant position for a dissolute rock star, who may or may not be the reincarnation of Dionysus but definitely is fucking with his head.
Thoughts: Disclaimer: The author is a good friend, and I read this in several drafts. That said, I'm usually pretty straightforward in my criticism and I genuinely think this was excellent.
Also, disturbing as all hell. The central relationship is entirely about power structures and mind games, and Kudisch has a lot to say about both. It's subtle and layered and completely engrossing. There are elements of horror here, although it's not a full-blown horror novel. I'm not going to spoil anything, but I'm not much of a nihilist and I was satisfied by the ending.
Mostly, I was just fascinated by the characters. Our protagonist is not a particularly likeable person, but I was fully drawn into his head. Anthony is a fascinatingly flawed human being, who doesn't deserve what he thinks he does, but also doesn't deserve to be stranded with Nik. Nik, on the other hand, is entirely inhuman but still intriguingly complex. The plot is engagingly twisty and the side characters suitably interesting, but really, this book is about the central relationship in all its messed-up glory. Also, fame and power and what it means to be an artist, and the teetering balance between Apollonian and Dionysian creation. But mostly about wanting, and what you're willing to do to assuage that wanting.
Also, you'll learn enough random factoids about music theory and history that you'll feel kinda smart at the end.