There is No Year by Blake Butler

There is No Year by Blake Butler

Genre: Adult Experimental Fiction

I'm not sure what to say about Butler's There is No Year. There are no words. I am speechless. But, not in the way the 'praise quotes' on the front and back covers mean. This is not a good speechless. There are times when I wonder about the state of contemporary art and literature. This book elevates style way over substance. Perhaps, I could not penetrate the true depth of Butler's prose and critique of a cracking suburban family's lifestyle, but I just felt that he relied too much on gimmicks to complete this novel...if it could even be called as such. Wildly indented lines, gray backgrounds, pixellated "hipster" photos punctuating each 'chapter', gratuitous footnotes (David Foster Wallace, anyone?). Why, why, why? I still don't understand what the general point of the book was. Maybe, the point was that there is none...who knows?

Rating: A Book or a Paperweight?