LARB loves Antkind, A.V. Club does not

Two more Antkind reviews, both heavy on the spoilers. Anita Felicelli from the LA Review of Books loved it:

Like his films, Kaufman’s tremendous, bonkers first novel Antkind is an artistic consideration of consciousness, of whether our engagement in the world is truly just an engagement with our own minds, whether an escape from our own endlessly repeating preoccupations is possible.

[...] Antkind is Kaufman pushing himself to every formal and social limit, no holds barred, bleak and devastating, yet marvelous. (Source)

Felicelli also uses that review to draw connections between themes in each of Charlie's films, and in the novel.

Alex McLevy from A.V Club? Not a fan:

[...] And after giving it a good amount of thought, my strongest belief is that despite the book’s various likable qualities, Charlie Kaufman has disappeared up his own ass with this novel.

[...] Given free rein to dump the contents of his mind into prose, Kaufman crams into Antkind as many one-joke premises, surrealist curlicues, superficial lampoons, and Pynchon-esque reworkings of his premise. The result is bloated and frustrating—less an embarrassment of riches than a dearth of restraint. (Source)

 

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