Thrust: A Novel

If I could make love to words, I would make love to the words of Lidia Yuknavitch. I've read all of her published novels and the least great page in her least greatest novel is still better than 99.9 percent of anything else ever written. Chronology of Water is still my favorite, but I think Thrust is now my second favorite. She blends linear storytelling with poetry with dreamlike trance-inducing experimental writing with a style that I can't define

This is a glorious fever dream of a book, with the narrative moving back and forth in time, the point of view jumping from character to character, with many fantastical elements and simply surreal occurrences. This sort of loose and meandering structure is hard to pull off, but when it works, it really works, and it boy, does it here. I found myself confused much of the time, especially in the early going, but I also found myself pulled along, both by the lovely writing and the empathetically-drawn characters, but also by a certain propulsiveness to the story-telling. This is definitely a book that could stand up to, and be improved by, a second or third reading. There's just so much going on, so many themes explored, so many sharp show more observations and distinctive quotes, so much inventiveness. I read this as an audiobook (and the cast of narrators is excellent), but I think consuming this as the written word would be even better, where I could more easily pause and savor every delightful turn of phrase or clever bit of writing. Highly recommended! show less

I feel sorry for the books I read immediately after [a:Tamsyn Muir|6876324|Tamsyn Muir|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1543423040p2/6876324.jpg]'s Locked Tomb novels, as they have so much to live up to. I read [b:Thrust|59089701|Thrust|Lidia Yuknavitch|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1637602298l/59089701._SY75_.jpg|93175111] either side of [b:Nona the Ninth|58662507|Nona the Ninth (The Locked Tomb, #3)|Tamsyn Muir|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1643298298l/58662507._SY75_.jpg|92285474], which made it feel more disjointed than it otherwise would have. As the narrative darts around in time quite mysteriously, it's already pretty disjointed. Yuknavitch knits show more it all together via material objects and kinky sex. The settings are striking: the Statue of Liberty under construction, future drowned Manhattan, a 19th century BDSM club, a 20th century juvenile detention centre, and a magical sea. As with another novel by Yuknavitch that I enjoyed, [b:The Book of Joan|30653706|The Book of Joan|Lidia Yuknavitch|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1469810728l/30653706._SY75_.jpg|51198707], [b:Thrust|59089701|Thrust|Lidia Yuknavitch|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1637602298l/59089701._SY75_.jpg|93175111] is preoccupied with embodiment and combines elements of sci-fi and fantasy. Both are probably best described as weird fiction.

I find Yuknavitch a distinctive and interesting writer. Her novels aren't very plot focused, sometimes to the point of incoherence, but I find her writing vivid and visceral and her ideas striking and original. She's good at exploring disability, sexuality, and resistance to exploitation via strange and fantastical concepts. [b:Thrust|59089701|Thrust|Lidia Yuknavitch|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1637602298l/59089701._SY75_.jpg|93175111] takes about sixty pages to get going and once it does the melange of characters and settings become compelling. While some elements work better than others, certain images and scenes are truly memorable. show less

I have just finished Lidia Yuknavitch's novel Thrust, and I think it's the best thing I read all year.1

I thought this would fit neatly into a climate fiction category, but it doesn't. There is a climate catastrophe, but that isn't the main theme of the book, it's just part of the environment, the background. I'd call it literary science fiction. I’m not sure how to describe the plot, so I won’t.

Who is the protagonist in this book? I think it's liberty, not any of the human characters. It's not Laisvė, though she is threaded throughout the book and we start out from her point of view. It isn't Aurora or Frédéric. And these three are the characters we see the most. Maybe it is time? The characters move through time (some of them show more differently than others.) Nah. Or history? No. History is interrogated. It's the fleeting nature of liberty but . . . no one attains it? It can't be attained, it's fluid, like water. So how does the structure get changed? In this novel, it doesn't. But some people are able to – not escape, but find interstices to live in, at least for a while.

1That may not be saying much, because as I browsed through the list of books I read this year, I thought that I didn't have any highlights. And while I was reading Thrust, I alternated between thinking she was getting at something important and thinking it was just really weird. I think this one will bear re-reading. And I want to read [The small backs of children] and her memoir [The chronology of water]. show less

That cover! Cover of the year? Maybe. I would say, the cover certainly catches the spirit of the words/plot/characters. I only wish the words inside were as amazing as that cover. It was a bit tough for me to see what the writer was trying to do here -- I think many nice ideas that didn't really tie together or make sense. Almost a fever dream... or many different fever dreams mixed together. It's also like a cli-fi book, but from what was here it was like the prologue of a cli-fi book. A hint of interesting world building that I would have liked to see more of. Maybe I'm just not understanding this one, and it's too smart for this reader to understand, but I wish I liked it more than I did. I will say I read this one especially show more scatterbrained, which probably didn't help. show less

The story of Laisvė, a motherless girl from the late 21st century who is learning her power as a carrier, a person who can harness the power of meaningful objects to carry her through time.
As an audible book-- I was confused. I read a review calling it "mindblowing", yes mind blown confusion. Some parts merged and grabbed my attention and others had me so so lost. Beautiful description but just not my cup of tea.

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/thrust-by-lidia-yuknavitch-brief-note/

Time-travelling meditation on the Statue of Liberty. More fantasy than sf, and more importantly it doesn’t quite stick the landing.