Advance Review of FAMILY BLOG #9

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The characters are either manipulative or nitpicking or hopelessly naïve. All attempts of emancipation are continually frustrated by ironic twists of fate, as if people had no control over their lives. Clary Antome is the kind of subversive writer that should best be avoided. Her fiction will not offer any answers to those of us who are trying to make this world a better place. Apparently, she has already thrown the battle.
I would strongly advise against a translation. Our country has enough problems as it is.

(Anne-Marie Avant, Le Petit Gauche, Paris)

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Advance Review of FAMILY BLOG #8

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The idea of writing a novel in blog-form is very cool, but Clary Antome ruined it. Not only did she not explore the possibilities of the web (paste some photos, include some links, make it all more colourful and dynamic!), but the blogs in her novel are… well, not really blogs, right? I mean, you can’t comment or anything! Plus, I think she could have created far cooler characters, with really exciting lives. I mean, there’s lots of things going on in the novel, like war and strip-clubs and cops and love-affairs and something about aliens, I think. It might look cool in a movie. But there aren’t any dialogues, which really makes reading so slow. Plus the more thoughtful and ironic bits were a bit of a bummer to follow.
I guess the book is supposed to have a message, but not something cool like a secret magic code or whatever. A more… philosophical message (pardon my French). That’s the whole problem, Clary Antome expects her readers to think!
I’ve got better things to do with my time.

(Missy T.’s blog Cool and Uncool Stuff, San Francisco)

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