Magnetic Field(s)
by Ron Loewinsohn
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Description
Organized around the idea that "you can't know what a magnetic field is like unless you're inside of it, " Ron Loewinsohn's first novel opens from the disturbing perspective of a burglar in the midst of a robbery and travels through the thoughts and experiences (both real and imaginary) of a group of characters whose lives are connected both coincidentally and intimately. All of the characters have a common desire to imagine and invent rather horrifying stories about the lives of people show more around them. As the novel develops, certain phrasings and images recur improbably, drawing the reader into a subtle linguistic game that calls into question the nature of authorship, the ways we inhabit and invade each other's lives, and the shape of fiction itself. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
This book starts off like a crime novel with a couple of brutal scenes and some really screwed up characters. Then it's not.
Being violated... being the violator...
If this book is like a house and you just walked through the front door you would expect to be in the foyer or living room. You know that the door to the right will be a kitchen but when you look inside it's a porch. What you thought would be the bathroom turns out to be the garage... this book kind of does that to you. Nothing is quite what you expect but it's exactly what you thought it would be. The story appears to shift directions but then you realize that it really didn't.
It's not a philosophical book but it does make you think about 'where' you are and 'who' you are show more (sorry for the apostrophes... and now the parenthesizes). Think a bit Calvino but not as meta. Loewinsohn uses repetition and coincidence beautifully. Walls and mirrors will never be the same... I think I might prefer a room in the deserts of the West where the horizon is out of reach and there are no surfaces to hang a Dick Tracy print. My house no longer feels right.
Kind of hard for me to articulate my feelings about this book. Just read it. It is good.
'Lots of beautiful things,' he went on, 'are filled with pain and darkness. This house, next door.' show less
Being violated... being the violator...
If this book is like a house and you just walked through the front door you would expect to be in the foyer or living room. You know that the door to the right will be a kitchen but when you look inside it's a porch. What you thought would be the bathroom turns out to be the garage... this book kind of does that to you. Nothing is quite what you expect but it's exactly what you thought it would be. The story appears to shift directions but then you realize that it really didn't.
It's not a philosophical book but it does make you think about 'where' you are and 'who' you are show more (sorry for the apostrophes... and now the parenthesizes). Think a bit Calvino but not as meta. Loewinsohn uses repetition and coincidence beautifully. Walls and mirrors will never be the same... I think I might prefer a room in the deserts of the West where the horizon is out of reach and there are no surfaces to hang a Dick Tracy print. My house no longer feels right.
Kind of hard for me to articulate my feelings about this book. Just read it. It is good.
'Lots of beautiful things,' he went on, 'are filled with pain and darkness. This house, next door.' show less
I was lucky enough to have Loewinsohn as a professor at Berkeley, and so tracked down this book, which really deserves to get more attention. It's a twisty combination of narratives whose atmosphere reminds me a bit of the best parts of "House of Leaves." Unsettling and fascinating.
Takonator: “fuck I need to go home I need to take a shit”
Magnetic Field: “Just 10 more pages”
10 pages later....
Takonator: “ok”
Takonator: “fuck man I need to take a shit”
Magnetic Field: “READ ME!!!”
Takonator: “look man I really need to go home, I’ve been here since 3:30 and is almost 9 and I need to take a shit”
Magnetic Field: “I COMMAND YOU TO READ ME!!!”
Takonator: “OMG please let me go there is no way I’m using a public bath room just to keep reading you!! Culo save me!!”
Takonator’s Culo: “listen man I need to go! If you don’t let the poor guy go and do his busyness there is going to an “accident” here and after that I’ma need to be clean and you the closest piece of show more paper that I can see…”
Magnetic Field: “wait man calm down there is no need to go crazy, go home but come back next week and READ ME”
Takonator: “aight”
Takonator’s Culo: “Deal” show less
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Author Information
13+ Works 179 Members
Some Editions
Awards and Honors
Awards
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Classifications
- Genres
- Fiction and Literature, General Fiction, Suspense & Thriller
- DDC/MDS
- 813.54 — Literature & rhetoric American literature in English American fiction in English 1900-1999 1945-1999
- LCC
- PS3523 .O32 .M3 — Language and Literature American literature American literature Individual authors 1900-1960
- BISAC
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- Members
- 118
- Popularity
- 275,400
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (3.72)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 3
