I started this novel nearly two months ago on September 8th. Usually, if I enjoy a book, I can consume it within a couple of weeks. Even if I don’t enjoy a book I tend to give up on it within the same time frame and chalk it up to an ‘incompatible interest/style’. After nearly twelve months perusing raw and amateur fiction on authonomy.com, it does not take me long to conclude whether I will be able to finish the book.
That may seem dismissive but when reading takes up such a large amount of concentrated time, it seems a waste to spend it on a book that I won’t enjoy. A bad film is bad for a record time (for me) of whatever length Pearl Harbour was. Others loved the film but it wasn’t for me. A book, on the other hand, is bad for as long as you intend to sit and read it. And reading can take a long time if you are not enjoying it.
Difficult books are harder to gauge. They are easier to put down but more satisfying when they are finished. I still intend to finish Lord of the Rings but I can’t quite bring myself to start all over again when I got so far. Why do the names have to be so complicated? The more I delve into Fantasy and SF the more need I feel to explore the classics. All genres should have a grounding and a history, even if they are relatively new.
ChiZine Publications specialise in breaking these genre rules. See their “philosophy” page: http://chizinepub.com/about/philosophy.php their aim is to “find authors and manuscripts that are trying to move the genre forward”.
When I started reading The Pattern Scars the deviance of the novel was unclear. It started as any book would with the protagonist at some defining point in their youth. This point leading them to develop a fundamental characteristic that would shadow their every movement from this point forth. For Nola it was the manifestation of her gift. Her mother saw fit to sell Nola to a brothel. From this point on Nola seemed unable to find herself a safe place where she belonged. Some authoritarian figure always managed to put Nola into a further state of vulnerability.
There is plenty of scope in this novel to explore it fully with a psychoanalytic method but I won’t do that here. For me, the true power of the novel was the gore. Never have I read a book so bloody or graphic. At many points I squirmed as imagined corpses and general rotting filled my mind. The colours and intended beauty of the pattern seemed surreal against the backdrop of horrific images that tended to frame it. I struggled with this, feeling that the imagery of the Pattern conflicted with the suspense built up in the horrific images. It was difficult to follow the pace of the novel as it lurched and lulled hence my sporadic reading (not helped by the arduous process of moving out). Though it sounds like I am complaining, The Pattern Scars was very well written with a fascinating and original storyline.
