Ceraphina
Reading this unfolds as if you're watching a documentary of one's mind. Already aware of the outcome, but each scene further you wait with bated breath for a different end.
I knew nothing of Guibert and his life prior to purchasing this. So the introduction and foreword (and the afterward) were paramount for me to get a solid footing on Guibert prior to starting this.
It's an autofiction account (though I believe more truth than not outside of name changes - someone can correct me on this) of Guibert writing during the time of finding out he has AIDS, and his friend Bill who works with someone currently developing an AIDS “vaccine” Melvil Mockney (a pseudonym for Jonas Salk), and how this friend ultimately let him down. While this title is apt in it's own right, his publisher agent had once remarked that the title on his manuscript was “Fuck you, Bill!” Both work as you get into this memoir.
Guibert is quite influential in France. Having published 20-ish plus novels prior to this one at the time it starts. Not to mention, a film writer and photographer, having well known actors and writers in his friend circle (yes, including Michel Foucault, I'll get to that in a moment). He was quite prolific even before his 30s, and remained so up until his death when he died at 36 (1991). I went on an absolute deep dive about him and was lucky enough to find a good portion of his film Modesty and Shame (the english title) where he documents himself in some of his last living moments. It was.... a lot. It brought up a weird memory from school where in textbooks we were shown emaciated bodies of people afflicted with the disease, and to see his round full face in photographs prior to that video of his gaunt body, and knowing he was at death's door was so horrifically sad and startling.
Reading this in 2024 also brought up a weird sensation considering just a few years ago, our whole world was finding out about COVID. Conversations and feelings Guibert writes in here about doctors not wanting to meet his eyes, or presuming it solely his fault and therefore needing to take responsibility for AIDS, the lack of information, all the MISinformation, having to navigate the health system, DRs disagreeing at any turn, the wanting to keep it a secret and to hide, the rumors of what's helpful to take, eat, or change in your habits just for it to be retracted, and the most scandalizing realization that if you're wealthy or in the right “social circles” of this world, the repercussions to a life ending disease or virus grants you a disturbing amount of privilege over the rest of the world.
While obviously vastly different, AIDS and COVID, it was just as easy to reflect on the parallels in experience of living in a time of uncertainty with an unknown contagion which added in a sense of uneasiness.
When doing my deep dive I was surprised by how much was focused on Michel Foucault in reviews and critics, who was Guiberts neighbor and them being very close friends. Foucault is documented for a decent portion in his memoir, Guibert muses and questions with anger and concern and tenderness on his friends illness and knowing that it was AIDS he was dying of and him likely to assume the same fate. But I didn't view this as Foucault only, like a biography of Foucault and his illness. I viewed it more as an encompassing part of the story over all, and what it must've been like for Guibert to reflect at that moment of his friend with him now having the same disease. I suppose Foucault was more of a selling point of the novel and reviews pushed that idea (esp considering Foucault's AIDS diagnoses was hidden to an extreme degree), but I digress. It felt if only a bit awkward that so much talked of him rather than Guibert and his work and life within this memoir.
For the book itself I don't think I've ever read such stark prose like Guibert. It was entirely engrossing, I never wanted to put it down. It's painful, and angering and Guibert is rightly self absorbed yet passionately talks on his friends and portrays them in a degree that I felt like I could reach out and touch them. There are passages that left me breathless. And some parts were so blatant and clear in sexuality and desire, it almost made me feel bashful like as if I walked in on Guibert myself. Every page with Bill was maddening, how he drags Guibert into thinking that he was going to be his hero, get access to this vaccine before his T4 cells dropped too low - Bill being the dictionary definition for empty words with no follow through.
I hope to see more people reading this in the future as many of his works are translated in English now.
Reading this unfolds as if you're watching a documentary of one's mind. Already aware of the outcome, but each scene further you wait with bated breath for a different end.
I knew nothing of Guibert and his life prior to purchasing this. So the introduction and foreword (and the afterward) were paramount for me to get a solid footing on Guibert prior to starting this.
It's an autofiction account (though I believe more truth than not outside of name changes - someone can correct me on this) of Guibert writing during the time of finding out he has AIDS, and his friend Bill who works with someone currently developing an AIDS “vaccine” Melvil Mockney (a pseudonym for Jonas Salk), and how this friend ultimately let him down. While this title is apt in it's own right, his publisher agent had once remarked that the title on his manuscript was “Fuck you, Bill!” Both work as you get into this memoir.
Guibert is quite influential in France. Having published 20-ish plus novels prior to this one at the time it starts. Not to mention, a film writer and photographer, having well known actors and writers in his friend circle (yes, including Michel Foucault, I'll get to that in a moment). He was quite prolific even before his 30s, and remained so up until his death when he died at 36 (1991). I went on an absolute deep dive about him and was lucky enough to find a good portion of his film Modesty and Shame (the english title) where he documents himself in some of his last living moments. It was.... a lot. It brought up a weird memory from school where in textbooks we were shown emaciated bodies of people afflicted with the disease, and to see his round full face in photographs prior to that video of his gaunt body, and knowing he was at death's door was so horrifically sad and startling.
Reading this in 2024 also brought up a weird sensation considering just a few years ago, our whole world was finding out about COVID. Conversations and feelings Guibert writes in here about doctors not wanting to meet his eyes, or presuming it solely his fault and therefore needing to take responsibility for AIDS, the lack of information, all the MISinformation, having to navigate the health system, DRs disagreeing at any turn, the wanting to keep it a secret and to hide, the rumors of what's helpful to take, eat, or change in your habits just for it to be retracted, and the most scandalizing realization that if you're wealthy or in the right “social circles” of this world, the repercussions to a life ending disease or virus grants you a disturbing amount of privilege over the rest of the world.
While obviously vastly different, AIDS and COVID, it was just as easy to reflect on the parallels in experience of living in a time of uncertainty with an unknown contagion which added in a sense of uneasiness.
When doing my deep dive I was surprised by how much was focused on Michel Foucault in reviews and critics, who was Guiberts neighbor and them being very close friends. Foucault is documented for a decent portion in his memoir, Guibert muses and questions with anger and concern and tenderness on his friends illness and knowing that it was AIDS he was dying of and him likely to assume the same fate. But I didn't view this as Foucault only, like a biography of Foucault and his illness. I viewed it more as an encompassing part of the story over all, and what it must've been like for Guibert to reflect at that moment of his friend with him now having the same disease. I suppose Foucault was more of a selling point of the novel and reviews pushed that idea (esp considering Foucault's AIDS diagnoses was hidden to an extreme degree), but I digress. It felt if only a bit awkward that so much talked of him rather than Guibert and his work and life within this memoir.
For the book itself I don't think I've ever read such stark prose like Guibert. It was entirely engrossing, I never wanted to put it down. It's painful, and angering and Guibert is rightly self absorbed yet passionately talks on his friends and portrays them in a degree that I felt like I could reach out and touch them. There are passages that left me breathless. And some parts were so blatant and clear in sexuality and desire, it almost made me feel bashful like as if I walked in on Guibert myself. Every page with Bill was maddening, how he drags Guibert into thinking that he was going to be his hero, get access to this vaccine before his T4 cells dropped too low - Bill being the dictionary definition for empty words with no follow through.
I hope to see more people reading this in the future as many of his works are translated in English now.
This is a Sci-Fi Horror “Greek Tragedy”, even if the mythology isn't even the overall story arc, and the story is NOT a myth retelling and it is beyond even claiming that, there's a fair and beautiful amount of foreshadowing and tying in to the plot within this if you read closely. You'd fair best if you understand Gods/Goddesses within Roman & Greek, if even loosely, is my preface before reading this and general biblical figures. Based off of earlier reviews I think this understanding of how mythology played largely in this story gave it a low avg. rating at the start of this books life.
But Alice Thompson is so brilliant, and takes the stories and characteristics of these Gods to create an original, and thought provoking unsettling sci fi and at times horror, space mission. Chimera being uniquely its own, I'd side mention if you liked Becky Chambers To Be Taught if Fortunate for it's slower pacing, more prophetic musings and questions surrounding life and the dynamics of characters on a spaceship for a lonely space mission, this would probably be a good read for you, as Chimera ties in similarly in that way.
The synopsis doesn't touch on anything that would make you think it's tying in themes of mythos and I'm unsure if that's the intent or not, so hence my prefaces so future readers hopefully feel satisfied of this genre blend. It's not a fast paced sci Fi thriller, it builds it's momentum to leave an absolutely insane ending.
At the surface: Artemis is a part of a space mission to get to a new moon to try and find a bacteria that could help consume the carbon in the air on Earth and re-stabilize the environment. Earth is a waste-land, completely ruled by technology. People are lost in their VR worlds, enjoying a fake view vs reality. We have AI Dryads, advanced androids who have human DNA. I imagined Earth in this novel like a Black Mirror esqu episode. Artemis, a Dream scientist researcher joins the mission as it's her duty to ensure the crew has “Dreamless” nights. The reasons being unfold over time, but the main points, it's how dreams and consciousness, desire, humanity all share the same root to Dreams.
My many hints of mythos being in this under the surface to again, hopefully help others in reading this (Thompson at times almost clearly lays this out, specifically a chapter about how the crew base at the moon is designed, but I just didn't see anyone mentioning these things in their reviews!):
We have Jason whose her partner who funded this mission. Think, Jason and the Argonauts.
The Spaceship mission and crew is named Chimera. What do we know of the mythology of chimeras?
Ivan “the terrible”, is the crews biologist.
We have an advanced AI Dryad aboard the crew, named Troy. Cough, Trojan Horse, Cough.
The moon is called Oneiros: in mythology it's of a place that's the land of dreams
There's mentions of labyrinths and minotaurs, we have the failed prior space crew called SIREN: Sirens known as mythological woman with bird heads who sing luring men to death - there's even a mention of the Flannen Isles - known for the popular mystery of how three lightkeepers went missing, many theorizing about Sirens being their reason of disappearence.
Other characters that tie in to this grand mythos: Cressida, Luther, Myra, Daniel, Seth (think Set). Shadows relating to the God of Darkness. Mentions of Sound of The Temple Bells. It's expansive.
And even knowing all of these Gods and stories even at the level of “maybe I recall this from school???”, helps guide you through the story and yet doesn't Spoil any of it! Thompson is unique in her approach in how she weaves these themes and messaging in, giving it's significance at just the right moments, to leave you in awe of what she's mastered in this book.
The characters are individual, motivations varying amongst them. The intricacies of dreams and humanity, the intricacies of technology and how it conflicts with religion and beliefs, in the nest of it all in the AI Dryads and Virtual realities, the driving forces of life, ahhh I'm fangirling!
There's more I can say but I'll leave it at this, if you like the idea of a slow paced sci fi that builds towards deeply unsettling and horrfic conclusions that gets you thinking about life and hidden meanings, you just have to pick it up :)
This is a Sci-Fi Horror “Greek Tragedy”, even if the mythology isn't even the overall story arc, and the story is NOT a myth retelling and it is beyond even claiming that, there's a fair and beautiful amount of foreshadowing and tying in to the plot within this if you read closely. You'd fair best if you understand Gods/Goddesses within Roman & Greek, if even loosely, is my preface before reading this and general biblical figures. Based off of earlier reviews I think this understanding of how mythology played largely in this story gave it a low avg. rating at the start of this books life.
But Alice Thompson is so brilliant, and takes the stories and characteristics of these Gods to create an original, and thought provoking unsettling sci fi and at times horror, space mission. Chimera being uniquely its own, I'd side mention if you liked Becky Chambers To Be Taught if Fortunate for it's slower pacing, more prophetic musings and questions surrounding life and the dynamics of characters on a spaceship for a lonely space mission, this would probably be a good read for you, as Chimera ties in similarly in that way.
The synopsis doesn't touch on anything that would make you think it's tying in themes of mythos and I'm unsure if that's the intent or not, so hence my prefaces so future readers hopefully feel satisfied of this genre blend. It's not a fast paced sci Fi thriller, it builds it's momentum to leave an absolutely insane ending.
At the surface: Artemis is a part of a space mission to get to a new moon to try and find a bacteria that could help consume the carbon in the air on Earth and re-stabilize the environment. Earth is a waste-land, completely ruled by technology. People are lost in their VR worlds, enjoying a fake view vs reality. We have AI Dryads, advanced androids who have human DNA. I imagined Earth in this novel like a Black Mirror esqu episode. Artemis, a Dream scientist researcher joins the mission as it's her duty to ensure the crew has “Dreamless” nights. The reasons being unfold over time, but the main points, it's how dreams and consciousness, desire, humanity all share the same root to Dreams.
My many hints of mythos being in this under the surface to again, hopefully help others in reading this (Thompson at times almost clearly lays this out, specifically a chapter about how the crew base at the moon is designed, but I just didn't see anyone mentioning these things in their reviews!):
We have Jason whose her partner who funded this mission. Think, Jason and the Argonauts.
The Spaceship mission and crew is named Chimera. What do we know of the mythology of chimeras?
Ivan “the terrible”, is the crews biologist.
We have an advanced AI Dryad aboard the crew, named Troy. Cough, Trojan Horse, Cough.
The moon is called Oneiros: in mythology it's of a place that's the land of dreams
There's mentions of labyrinths and minotaurs, we have the failed prior space crew called SIREN: Sirens known as mythological woman with bird heads who sing luring men to death - there's even a mention of the Flannen Isles - known for the popular mystery of how three lightkeepers went missing, many theorizing about Sirens being their reason of disappearence.
Other characters that tie in to this grand mythos: Cressida, Luther, Myra, Daniel, Seth (think Set). Shadows relating to the God of Darkness. Mentions of Sound of The Temple Bells. It's expansive.
And even knowing all of these Gods and stories even at the level of “maybe I recall this from school???”, helps guide you through the story and yet doesn't Spoil any of it! Thompson is unique in her approach in how she weaves these themes and messaging in, giving it's significance at just the right moments, to leave you in awe of what she's mastered in this book.
The characters are individual, motivations varying amongst them. The intricacies of dreams and humanity, the intricacies of technology and how it conflicts with religion and beliefs, in the nest of it all in the AI Dryads and Virtual realities, the driving forces of life, ahhh I'm fangirling!
There's more I can say but I'll leave it at this, if you like the idea of a slow paced sci fi that builds towards deeply unsettling and horrfic conclusions that gets you thinking about life and hidden meanings, you just have to pick it up :)
I'm so thankful I found this book at my local Powell's a few months ago. I wasn't expecting to be hooked into it right from page one, and certainly wasn't expecting to love it so much that I instantly re-read it. While reading this I took many notes and the best I could come up with in a way to describe it is: A mixture of the humor found in ‘I Think You Should Leave' skits with the brutal honesty of the world from ‘Adam Ruins Everything', but make it funnier, smarter, and a shit ton of Barbie. There were some parts that were so funny that I was clutching my stomach from laughing so much. It wasn't all funny of course, the moments of realizing the truth within these moments, and I think our author Stohlman was masterful in the way she blended in the surrealism and absurdity of what our world has turned into yet... hasn't turned into at all. I've never read anything like this, the closest I can think of is [b:Gutshot 22237153 Gutshot Amelia Gray https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1405015536l/22237153.SX50.jpg 41610669] ( a short story collection that I love but leans towards more of horror and strange). We get snippets of our nameless narrators life - talking about ‘Before the Rapture' and ‘After the Rapture' of our world collapsing and crumbling in. A dystopian in absurdity but yet, you can't help but see just how much of it could happen and how the world would handle a Rapture. Between our nameless narrator - we get infomercials, news articles and broadcasts / and Barbie FAQs. Some of my favorite parts were the “Barbie Blank” infomercials, where we hear of a new released Barbie and how she's handling the Rapture, and the “Karaoke Gang” news articles. The orgy being secretly a time-share selling meeting had me laughing so hard till tears. It's all brilliant. I love this very, very much.
I'm so thankful I found this book at my local Powell's a few months ago. I wasn't expecting to be hooked into it right from page one, and certainly wasn't expecting to love it so much that I instantly re-read it. While reading this I took many notes and the best I could come up with in a way to describe it is: A mixture of the humor found in ‘I Think You Should Leave' skits with the brutal honesty of the world from ‘Adam Ruins Everything', but make it funnier, smarter, and a shit ton of Barbie. There were some parts that were so funny that I was clutching my stomach from laughing so much. It wasn't all funny of course, the moments of realizing the truth within these moments, and I think our author Stohlman was masterful in the way she blended in the surrealism and absurdity of what our world has turned into yet... hasn't turned into at all. I've never read anything like this, the closest I can think of is [b:Gutshot 22237153 Gutshot Amelia Gray https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1405015536l/22237153.SX50.jpg 41610669] ( a short story collection that I love but leans towards more of horror and strange). We get snippets of our nameless narrators life - talking about ‘Before the Rapture' and ‘After the Rapture' of our world collapsing and crumbling in. A dystopian in absurdity but yet, you can't help but see just how much of it could happen and how the world would handle a Rapture. Between our nameless narrator - we get infomercials, news articles and broadcasts / and Barbie FAQs. Some of my favorite parts were the “Barbie Blank” infomercials, where we hear of a new released Barbie and how she's handling the Rapture, and the “Karaoke Gang” news articles. The orgy being secretly a time-share selling meeting had me laughing so hard till tears. It's all brilliant. I love this very, very much.
Added to listmy book loveswith 64 books.
Updated a reading goal:
Read 400 books by December 31, 2024
Progress so far: 29 / 400 7%