Alarcon - The Age of Earthquakes

When attempting to read The Age of Earthquakes one must simply expect the unexpected.  The novel quickly shifts not only stylistically, from empty pages to pages so crammed with words that attempting to read it becomes an immense struggle, but it also shifts rapidly from topic to topic.  Some, like me, might deem this artistic approach as an abstract linguistic rendition of the human mind functioning in a 21st century society, whilst others might deem this unbearable chaos.  I, at least, could appreciate the interactivity of the text, how each paged revealed something new awaiting me in my fictitious inbox, and how sometimes turning the book upside down was necessary to read the text. Although to some this could feel tedious and a distraction, this method of creative writing was able for me to successfully manifest the dimensional capabilities of language, to not be used solely as a figurative representation of speech, but a visual tool to communicate with the audience of a new generation that is far more stimulated by visual cues than previous generations ever were.  From this unique approach to writing, it definitely drew my interest, though some of the linguistic repetitions, visuals, font usage, etc. did stir a rather uncomfortable feeling within me, perhaps distaste for the modern social norms being so bluntly put forward in this text,  yet I retained the urge to read one, driven by the curiosity of where this delusional abyss of human and technological thought would be leading.  The answer?  A dead battery. That is probably what frustrated me most about this text; the lack of conclusion following a massive chain sequence of random thought, but maybe that is what the authors wanted us to feel: frustrated.

Word Count: 286