Subscribe to Read | $0.00
Join today and start reading your favorite books for Free!
Quick and Easy Sign Up!
It takes less then 1 minute to sign up, then you can enjoy Unlimited eBooks.
Join today and start reading your favorite books for Free!
Quick and Easy Sign Up!
It takes less then 1 minute to sign up, then you can enjoy Unlimited eBooks.
Read Anywhere and on Any Device!
Rate this book!
Write a review?
Starts out the story of a dancer and her abusive architect lover (both possess other talents) then goes into other worlds, including places that look as much inspired by extreme metal music imagery as they do the worlds of the Weird Tales circle of writers; and surreal flights into less familiar territory.Regular expressions of emotional and physical pain that go way beyond the involvement of the architect. Much of the book is dense with fleeting successions of impressions and observations that
Fantastic literary fiction in a dense style that will work your mind. Loved it.
***this review originally appeared on The Ginger Nuts of Horror website***“Men write songs about girls like me, and then they kill them."For all the vivid descriptions and poetic turns of phrase within Farah Rose Smith’s 2019 novel Anonyma—and they are legion—this line, appearing on the very first page, is chief among those that linger the longest. Why? Because of the simple, brutal truth of it.Reducing the meat of this particular book to a plot synopsis feels almost criminal. In any case, here
“I will take to reading later, provided my condition improves. I cannot take the darkness of these characters now.”
Man, this book. This one was a heavy, gorgeous, difficult, incredible read about abuse and abusiveness in so many ways that I can't quite figure out exactly what I think of it. I went to the book release a few weeks back, and hearing the author's process (which is a little more substantive than can belong here, and I couldn't do it justice even if I wanted to) only added to my experience with this. Absolutely a read that is going to stick with me for a while.
Farah Rose Smith’s Anonyma is both passionate and despairing, showcasing a distinct point of view and a powerful aptitude for the relationship between content and form. Smith’s writing evaluates the darkest possibilities of artistic narcissism and self-loathing, bolstered by bleak philosophical insight and gorgeously lyrical prose. Essential reading for admirers of dark literature.
An engaging narrative that flows like a bitter stream through themes of abuse, dysfunctional love and the dark nature of humanity. Compelling and disquieting, a highly recommended read from a very talented writer.
(NOTE: This review originally appeared on New York Journal of Books.)Farah Rose Smith's new novel, Anonyma, may be a short read, but its page count is deceptive, for it is a deep and expansive piece of uncanny storytelling. Languid, haunting, surreal, and utterly beautiful, this tale is in part a profound meditation on self-reflection and inner strength in the face, and in the painful grip, of abuse—and yet it is also so much more than that.Describing the plot is like trying to explain where to
Luxuriant prose and a pitch-black tone combine to weave a spell of decadence and debauchery in this haunting work. This is tale of tormented love devolving into mental and physical abuse set amongst the lofty peaks of New York’s gilded skyline and descending to the labyrinthine bowels of the underworld itself.
