Customer Reviews

Patchwork Girl

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Patchwork Girl is great hypertext and a great novel. It picks up the monstrous body/monstrous text idea from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and really explores monstrosity in all its various forms. Certainly one way that Patchwork Girl is monstrous has to do with technology (big surprise there)--it takes hours just to figure out how to read the novel. But that's deliberate--unlike a novel, Patchwork Girl isn't designed to be comfortable but to shock. It's not violent or pornographic, though, and it's intensely beautiful and subtly comic throughout. It's not at all readable in the normal sense--you just wander through it at your own pace, never knowing how much of it you've read, always getting more out of it. And the writing is beautiful--you might expect the gimmicky technology to take precedence, but it never does. And the bathroom scene--just keep meandering until you et to the bathroom scene, and you'll see why I'm so enthusiastic.

Michael Joyce and his "Afternoon" may get all the recognition for his work in hypertext literature, but there are many other important writers out there working in this new medium. One of them is Shelley Jackson, and her take on the Frankenstein myth is outstanding. For my money, Jackson has Joyce's novel beat in every way. Jackson does require that you have read Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, first, however, but beyond that, Jackson's book is very engaging and easy to follow. If you want to find out what this "hypertext literature" is all about, this is as good a place as any to start.

I used this hyperfiction for an essay to compare hyperfiction with printed fiction. I was suprised to find out how creative and enjoyable the story of the Patchwork is, despite my reservations about hyperfiction.

I could not run this CD-ROM on my Vista windows package and had to run on an older version of Windows so ensure you are able to run this CD-ROM before purchasing.

In this story of the monster Mary Shelley only wished she'd created, Jackson's voice is pitch-perfect and her illustrations are terrific. The hypertextual format is completely appropriate to the fiction's broader subject, but this sophistication is subtle and never overwhelms Jackson's good old-fashioned storytelling. Unlike the mega-selling fiction that's just self-help masquerading as art, PG is not a boring, consolatory fiction. Jackson's lovely monster may not change your life -- only you can do that, after all -- but you'll never regret the time you spent with her, either.

Ms. Jackson's work is poetic, but the storyspace hypertext format is more convoluted than helpful. By the time you've gotten to the second section of the book you begin wishing that it was something that could be read with ANY other browser. By the time you get to the third section...aw heck, I just gave up.
What a disappointment. I loved the ideas that inspired her, but the technology not only got in the way of the reading, but of her writing. I would only suggest someone buy this if they want to be turned off of e-books completely.

I had to read this for class. Regardless of the content, navigation through this interface will be maddening to anyone familiar with things like the "internet" and I bet if you're reading this you know all about surfing the web. It is hard just to get to the point where you feel like you are reading anything coherent at all. Then there is the text, typical pomo ruminations on fragmentation and identity with some wonderful feminist theory thrown in. Made me wish for an early death. Avoid at all costs.

I was pleased. I hate having to give comments. If I could review the review process, I would give it a 1.