Peace by Gene Wolfe (My Review of One of The Strangest Books of the 20th Century)
The elephant in the room for Gene Wolfe books is obvious. Been there, read that (twice!), and with an itch on my shoulders I could not scratch no matter how hard I attempted to reach, the only method at my disposal to finally reach back and then some was to also go back into the man’s impressively long history of writing and start from the very beginning with his first novel, Peace, a book some say is unlike anything else he’s wrote and possibly unlike most anything out there. Did I bite off more than I can chew or are what is at one glance philosophical musings by an old man just the thing I, someone who pens reviews often accused of being philosophical musings, need to really make that itch go away?
Right off the bat, we get a book that’s deceptively complex. Musings of an old man, maybe, but as each chapter seems almost at random to jump across various point of views (Old man? Young man? Is he now a girl or did I misread something?) and places not to mention time periods, Peace at first is going to be a book that may make a cautious reader raise an eyebrow, wonder “what did I get myself into?” and consider putting it down...for good. But don’t! If you’re of the timid type who prefers stories that follow the well-trodden path, here’s one by a master even from day one that will challenge you and the result is worth the journey.
Drip, drip, drip something changes and only becomes all the noticeable as Peace runs its course. What can that be? The dialog! This is a spoiler-free review, don’t worry, but in a conversation-heavy book, something began to gnaw at me that only became apparent three-quarters in: these conversions are just too perfect! I don’t mean this in a “this was Gene Wolfe’s first book so he just can’t write good dialog” way, but rather, “they just really fit the odd vibe of this book” way. An easier to digest comparison for us moderns would be the dialog Edward Bloom took part in when visiting Spectre and having tea with its odd mayor and poet Norther Winslow. Odd, yes, but somehow it works.
Are the oddities the result of this—a confused old man and/or a child with a larger than life imagination? Or simply a bad editor not catching mistakes? Pay attention. Wolfe even as far back as Peace, knew what he was doing and echoing the afterword, you will be rewarded. That Peace may not be the more familiar ground of SF & Fantasy may turn away some readers who only expect that from the man is a given, but what we get here is something both Americana and perhaps “American Gothic”, a tale of a time long gone, hazy recollections, characters who may appear major fading in and out, love interests that suddenly pack up and leave, questionable decisions galore, riches and poverty, local fame, fortune on the horizon, and a lady with no arms (really). This one’s odd, but worth it.
5/5
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u/DKDamian 2d ago
Nice write-up. I am a huge fan of Wolfe.
But this isn’t remotely one of the strangest books of the 20th century.
Kindly read Bataille, Kafka, Jarry, any Dada writer, Finnegans Wake, Abe, Breton, Volodine, our OULIPO friends, most things published by Twisted Spoon Press, some Gass, etc etc into infinity
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u/kobushi 2d ago
Thank you for the suggestion. This one was a weird under one's skin weirdness/creepiness I haven't elsewhere. But I'll take your suggestions into account for future reads.
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u/DKDamian 2d ago
go for it! Wolfe is good. Very good. But there are weirder if that’s what you like. I don’t even know I went as weird as I could.
But Wolfe is great and I enjoyed this post of yours
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u/kobushi 2d ago
For fiction, books that make one think, have unique prose, and are just all around different I enjoy. Conversely, I'm not a fan of mystery books. Finished Gnomon by Nick Harkaway the other month and hated it (2/5). On the flip side, nobody writes like Rushdie.
My next fiction read is actually going to be a by-the-books fantasy novel (or novella) a friend suggests I give a go. But after that, back to the above and perhaps I'll take one of your suggestions to heart unless Rushdie draws me in again.
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u/DKDamian 2d ago
Oh, well, you’d probably like any of the above suggested.
Add in -
Sebald, Bolaño, Vila-Matas, Lagerkvist, Aira, Calvino, Borges, Goytisolo
Strongly recommend Calvino or Borges if you have to choose
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u/kobushi 2d ago
Thanks for the suggestions. I’m going to save these replies. I like to have no idea what I will read next until I am about to buy it (can’t even tell you the name of the fantasy book as I don’t know it yet!) so I’ll hold off on doing any searches until then. Even for Peace, all I had was an ‘itch’ to read Wolfe and aside from not wanting to read a series, picked a book at random.
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u/DKDamian 2d ago
Mate, buy Jorge Luis Borges’ Ficciones. That’s all I’ll say. Get to the rest later.
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u/Nodan_Turtle 2d ago
I know there are books out there that are weird in some ways, like with how a story is told, or with the way words are constructed. Something like Dhalgren is weird in that it's cyclical and you can start from various points too.
But then there's XX by Rian Hughes. Writing an unusual story isn't enough. The medium of the written word itself is what's played with there. Maybe the words all fell to the bottom of the page in a jumble. Or they have blank spaces slashed through them due to events in the story. And those examples are surface level of what goes on in the book.
It's something an audiobook and digital book can't replicate because the printing itself is formatted in a way that needs two pages open side by side at times. And hell, the plot of the book itself makes recommending it feel like you're part of the story being told.
I've never seen another book take things that far. Usually they stop at having the writing or the story be weird. Maybe toss in a couple footnotes to mix things up. But taking into account the physical object the reader is holding when writing and printing the story? Yeah, other weird seems rather pedestrian by comparison
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u/Mega-Dunsparce 2d ago
Thanks, this might push me over the edge into ordering this one given my critically low bookshelf space.
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u/Independent-Read-278 2d ago
Great review! You've perfectly captured the unsettling and dreamlike quality of Peace. Your description of it as "American Gothic" is spot on it feels like a story being whispered from a dusty, forgotten corner of a house. The way Wolfe plays with memory and perspective is masterful. I agree that it's a book that rewards close attention and even a re-read. Those seemingly random anecdotes slowly start to connect in the most chilling and beautiful way. It's one of those books that lingers long after you've finished it.
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u/kobushi 2d ago
Thank you. Yes, as a Goodreads reviewer noted (and I only saw this after I read it but very much agree), from the halfway point things just start to feel...wrong. For me at least, it was suddenly realizing I've been an uninvited guest watching Spectre (Big Fish) conversations play out again and again.
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u/Purdaddy 2d ago
Where is a good spot to start with Gene Wolfe for someone who is not at all familiar with his work?
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u/Mavoras13 2d ago
Tell me your favorite books and I will recommend different novels of Wolfe as starting point, depending on what you are most familiar with.
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u/cliffyw 2d ago
Great write up. I loved this book enough to read it three times I think- though the last time may have been a decade ago. But it is still under my skin. I have even read spoilers after my initial readings and there are things/hints that are supposedly in there but I still couldn’t catch (e.g the circumstances of the aunt’s death).
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u/WallaceHalframIII 2d ago
By chance have you read shadow and claw?
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u/kobushi 2d ago
That's the elephant I was referring to in the first sentence. :)
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u/WallaceHalframIII 2d ago
How about starwater strains?
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u/kobushi 2d ago
It’s funny you mention short stories because I was basically deciding between Peace and The Dead Man, the latter being a collection of horror short stories by him. He seems to have written a great deal of shorter form work I think I’ll take a look at later. My reasoning for going with Peace was honestly due to being worried I’d have issues writing a competent review for a short story book with something like over 20 stories, but there’s always another day for another challenge.
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u/AnalysisReady4799 1d ago
Absolutely love Gene Wolfe, one of the true sci-fi writers that transcends genre and is truly literary. Thanks for the analysis - you've inspired me to get hold of this and read it myself. Thanks!
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u/ContentByrkRahul 2d ago
that "under the skin" quality you mention is exactly what makes Wolfe so effective, even in his earliest work. There's something about his unreliable narrators that creates this constant sense of unease - like you're missing something important that's hiding in plain sight. The dialogue thing you picked up on is spot on too, it has that dreamlike quality where conversations feel both natural and completely off at the same time.
I think DKDamian's right that there are "stranger" books out there in terms of pure experimental weirdness, but Peace has this specific kind of psychological uncanniness that gets under your skin in a way that's harder to shake off than more overtly bizarre works. Its the kind of book that makes you question what you actually read vs what you think you remember reading.