Confusing but for a reason

Review originally posted on books.theunseen.city:

This book takes us back into the mind of the main character of her previous book No one is talking about this and draws upon themes from her first book Priestdaddy (which I haven't read). I think the main theme has to do with sudden severe mass illness, similar to what happened in the COVID-19 epidemic, and how it can lead to fragmentation of a person's subjective reality. In a lot of ways it's a difficult read, because in many of the chapters you don't know exactly what's going on, who some of the characters might be, and what it means. I think even people who have read all of her other work would find some tough spots the way I did. At the same time, it's entertaining because it throws in so many inventive and vivid elements into each chapter and really commits to them. It's like a virtuoso performance by an acrobat.

I think my favorite chapter might be the one which has written in the context of Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina. It's not your normal sort of naturalistic book chapter, but it might be true to life for a person who is obsessed with books and reading from an early age. Some of the more elusive motifs recur, such as the rock collection from the protagonist's childhood, so you can get a feel for what it might represent for her emotionally. There's are chapters which deal with a sudden horrifying medical condition the protagonist's husband suffers, which I don't really believe is supposed to portray any experience drawn from life. They may have more to say about how a life threatening illness can threaten a person's emotional state. The messiness of the husband's condition, the lack of answers coming from the medical professionals who are just as stumped as the rest of us, both feel very relatable. It doesn't matter that the word coronavirus never appears and that no one has ever depicted on a ventilator. The author is more committed to the underlying truth of the ordeal and not a naturalistic description. Afterwards, the main character goes on a book tour with hilarious incidents mixed with recurring unease: again, relatable. Maybe there are some people who gets the meaning of every page, but I'm not one of them and I'm okay with that.

From what I can tell, I wouldn't put it past the author to go in a completely different direction with her next project, thematically, stylistically, or both. Or I could see something that touches on the challenges of more recent life with the same kaleidoscopic barrage of oddness. This book and the previous one have a relentless energy that a reader is going to love or hate. and I'll admit that my next read is probably going to be something much more staid. But I'm going to give this book high marks for going where no book I know goes, in the pursuit of a new kind of writing.