Even the epigraphs, from dependable literary stalwarts like Lady Gaga and Cypress Hill, seem thrown in for no discernible reason. Take away the typographical gimmicks, the frequently unfathomable dialogue, and the confusing storylines that pass for a plot, and you’re essentially left with nothing. But the problem with The Familiar isn’t that it’s difficult it’s that it’s unreadable. (Danielewski later name-checks the science fiction film, because of course he does.)Īuthors do not have a responsibility to write easy books. saysay mice dance to her finger snap and a pelesit.” Not long after, the reader is whisked away to Marfa, where the two scientists speak to each other in what sounds like dialogue from Matrix fan fiction. The reader is introduced to the first Singapore section with “they saysay she tutor demons, lah. Danielewski appears to be going for a Finnegans Wake vibe in much of the prose, which often reads like this: “How to get at the whole pluvial thing, another Anwar beaut, which Xanther remembered, pluvial, because it was like this … rainstorm going Plooey! to a town, a ville, a … Plooooooeyville!”īut Danielewski is no Joyce, and this book reads less like a novel than an art project put together by a college sophomore after his third joint. Then there’s the east Los Angeles street gang, and the criminal in Singapore, and the computer scientists in Marfa, all of which may or may not be related, but since the sections are so inscrutable, it probably doesn’t matter anyway. The sections with Xanther are by far the most interesting ones in the novel, largely because they are the only coherent ones, despite Danielewski’s insistence on punctuating them with (endless (nested (parentheses))). Her parents have planned to surprise her with a dog, but on the way to pick it up, she and her father encounter a small kitten, sick and stranded in the rain.

The heart of the story, such as it is, belongs to Xanther, a sweet but troubled 12-year-old girl living with epilepsy. There are also some scenes in Marfa, Texas, (in accordance, one supposes, with a law mandating the small town be mentioned in every hip novel, whether or not it makes any sense). “Happen” might be too strong a word, actually – although the story abruptly switches locations to Singapore and Mexico at various points, it’s impossible to tell what’s going on, or why.

Readers who dig deeper, though, will discover that there’s a little more to it: a Los Angeles girl finds a kitten, and then several other seemingly unrelated things happen.

The basic plot of The Familiar is this: a Los Angeles girl finds a kitten.

Danielewski mark