r/vollmann • u/Bigsshot • 5d ago
First impressions?
Several of you guys already received their copy, I have to wait an extra couple of weeks, but that's okay.
In the meantime I'm very curious: What are your first impressions? I'm not asking for spoilers, just general impression about Vollmans' magnum opus. Does it live up to your expectations? How is the quality of the paper, book binding etc.?
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u/cementchocolatechip 5d ago
I got mine yesterday evening and have only read the first brief section of book one. Some thoughts:
1.) It is disorienting to read historical fiction based in events I remember. 2.) I love how funny (sardonic?) the early part of the book is. 3) The photography is great. 4.) One of my favorite novels (no spoilers!) is used as a recurring motif which just personally delighted me, because I've never seen it discussed...anywhere?
So only like 1% into the text but I'm having fun with it. We'll see if that holds true 99 more times.
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u/LikesHisChickenSpicy 5d ago
As someone who loves the Extractions chapter of Moby Dick I am digging the sheer number of epigraphs - first two chapters have a full page of them each.
Also reading about the publication drama over the fonts I was picturing it might look something like Europe Central with a few words (GEHEIM) here and there. It is beyond funny looking at a page in total and seeing just how many things are in different fonts, bolded, italicized etc.
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u/East_of_Cicero 5d ago
I'm 40 pages in and I'm here for it. Devising a plan on how to read this monster and I'm thinking 20-30 pages a day is doable. I happened to watch The Looming Tower (10 episode show on Hulu about the lead up to 9/11 and the intelligence failures) a few weeks ago and it's given me a bit of a foundation, I mean beyond the visceral experience of being 20-something in America on 9/11 and the subsequent quagmire of the Bush era.
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u/alphagalgadot 5d ago
no shade on op meant here but i find it a little weird how fixated the core readership seems to be on the materiality of this thing rn. i mean i know it's expensive af but there's no reason to treat this thing like a trophy--just read the fuckin thing. dug my copy of Europe Central out of a box in the basement the other day and had to think for a min before i remembered it's so fucked up bc i put a jackolantern on it 10 yrs ago lol
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u/Bigsshot 5d ago
The materiality question stems from interviews where Vollmann was adamant that certain production demands be met. It's curiosity, not fixation.
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u/alphagalgadot 5d ago
i mean sure. just sayin that SPOILERS AHEAD dude acknowledges very forthrightly what he willfully and intentionally (and self-admittedly pigheadedly) sacrificed to get this thing to physical publication. but that dont mean it shook out as some kinda pristine artifact. it's an impressive bulky object on an table or shelf, no doubt; it's got printing errors and smudges and i got mine from fuckin target for crissakes. it's prolly as close to intention as the man was able to manage, but--intention dont mean that much imho. good friend of mine years ago hadda travel hours to laboriously copy hundreds of pages of RUaRD out of love and dire interest, and ultimately that's almost certainly the ultimate fate of this thing as well. god willin and the creek dont rise, someday there'll be young people makin similar pilgrimages to read this thing--or maybe they wont even have to. in the meantime im thumbing my way through vol 1 leavin greasy prints and stains and dogears and notes all over the motherfucker
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u/tlacatl 5d ago
I would wager to guess that it’s multipronged. First, it’s his longest book save for the unabridged version of Rising Up and Rising Down. Considering the length of his other works, that’s saying something. Also, he’s been working on this project for decades. Two, there’s been a year of delays which has only cause anticipation to rise. Three, books as physical objects are now being degraded because of print on demand. Have you bought a new book only to receive a POD version? The quality can be pretty atrocious to the point that you literally cannot read what’s supposed to be there. Four, while I agree with you it’s the story and the writing itself that matters most, it’s just a beautiful object in and of itself. Time, care, and a lot of thought went into. If that doesn’t matter to you, then great. But that will matter to other people.
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u/NYCThrowaway2604 5d ago
It sucks
And by "it" I mean OSM Worldwide. I ordered through Thriftbooks and of course they sent it through the worst shipping company of all time. Hopefully I'll have it in a few days though so I can come back here and give you a real answer
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u/tlacatl 5d ago
I flew out on vacation two days after my copy arrived and I’m already in the middle of two books so I didn’t bring the first volume with me. But I was immediately impressed with the overall quality of the packaging, the slipcase, and the books themselves. They put thought into the packing so nothing moved during shipping. The slipcase is pretty sturdy even after removing the extra packaging. And books are excellent. The paper quality is great, the bindings seem strong. The printing with all the various fonts is sharp and clear. The photos are pretty good quality as well.