Review: Dhalgren

Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I remember seeing this book in the sci fi section of the Waldenbooks at the mall when I spent hours there as a teen. But I never saw anyone reading this book. And I never heard of anyone talking about it. Ends up it's a bear of a book. The audio runs well over 34 hours at normal speed, almost a work week. What do you get for your work week? A book that is confusing, overwrought drama and beautifully written social analysis in turns. Other reviewers have pointed out the weaknesses, the boring action, the odd behavior, characters running around to accomplish little, the mundane conversations. It takes some effort to keep your interest up, even when listening to someone read it to you. What I liked about this was the world that the author built. Something has befallen this American city, so that time isn't experienced the same way for all people, there are occasional unexplained phenomena, like two moons for a night. And there are heavily armed department stores, odd poetry, and a city with declining population, no jobs, no trade, and groups of gangs that like to show off their electronically manipulated presence. Kinda similar to 2020 Portland. At times it reads like something Delillo wrote, but at other times it reads like a racy Harlequin. Not a fun read, but I'd read more by the author to see where he went.

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