Blog: “Revolutions” in Reading

Upon picking up Mark Danielewski’s newest book “Only Revolutions,” I looked at its 360 pages, half the size of his previous success House of Leaves, and figured it would be a quick read. Six months later I finished the last confusing page of poetry. Though not for the poolside-teen-drama reader, the story is exciting, the format interesting, and the hidden details within the book form a sort of scavenger hunt, adding interest when the storyline wanes.

“Parting such
RILED & VIOLENT,
with the largesse of Empires.
Where there’s smile, there’s a wave.
Hailey, blushingly thankful, confused,
hands over the Moonies she can’t use.”

What?

This is why the book took six months. Every paragraph seems to take a day to dissect. The confusing poetry isn’t the only aspect that makes this book unique. The entire book is cyclical. Everything from page numbers to story lines forms a circle in a way.

The first evidence of this is the fact that the reader is required to read eight pages one way, flip the book over, and read eight pages the other way. The second is that all the “o”s within the story are a different color. Lastly, on the side of each page, every major event from the last few centuries are listed in chronological order, a sort of reminder that even though our lives make up one story, thousands more are occurring around us.

When read from front to back, the novel seems to be a road story set during the civil war centered upon an adolescent boy named Sam. Upon flipping the book over, the author “Hailey” writes about her experience in the civil rights movement. What you soon discover is, the stories mirror each other exactly, with subtle differences as one is told from a male’s point of view and the other a female’s. They seem so similar that you begin to become confused as to which side you are reading from.

The novel serves as an argument for literature as an art form. A page from this book could be hung next to the works of Andy Warhol in some museum. While I hate that the author turns to sensationalism (copious amounts of sex and drugs) to keep the readers interested, the book manages to make you feel important yet insignificant, frustrated with your own stupidity and convinced you’re an intellectual of high caliber. While certainly not a light read, anyone with an extra six months on their hands should move this book to the top of their to-do list.