What are your thoughts on the 2020 novel "Antkind", written by Charlie Kaufman (acclaimed screenwriter of Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Adaptation, and Synecdoche NY)?My personal feelings are mixed. I find the comedy to be extremely effective, and it's one of the funniest books I've ever read. I love the premise, and what it opens up as far as the Kaufman classic themes go. I can't however say I particularly love the "Trump/Trunk" bits, the cave wars, etc. The execution shifts from "surreal" to honestly completely unintelligble and hard to follow. I found parts of the third act to be completely exhausting, and a slog to get through. Ultimately though, I did find the ending to be deeply satisfying. This novel touches on so many things, but above all else, I believe it is a criticism of criticism. I do believe portions of the novel get completely lost in postmodern psychobabble, but overall - it is something really special - definitely worth a read if you are at all a fan of Kaufman's films.
>Kaufman was born in New York City to a Jewish family[7][8][9][10]
>>23535909this book has quite possibly the most aggressive self-hating Jewishness ever put into words
dropped it halfway through, definitely worth a read if you want something where it feels like he ran out of ideas every chapter and is just contriving the most random shit as he goes alongone positive thing I will say is, while not exactly a wordsmith, he has a talent for introducing the reader to concepts and trivia they've most likely never heard before from diverse fields. I'd love to be recommended more books like that actually, but again, yeah, too much fat and filler in this book to be worth following through to the end. just pomo shlock for the most part.
I really don't get the point of this book. Not that I've read the entirety of it. But it felt like navel-gazing egotism to me. Vain nonsense.
>>23535906I love his brand of surrealism but I wish he took it to a less maximalist, more elegant direction like in many of the films he scripted. The latest film he directed, "I'm Thinking of Ending Things" suffers from similar maximalist excess. In fact, I think Kaufman's storytelling is at its best when he doesn't have complete creative control, like in his late 90s and early 2000s films, where his ideas were developed further by experienced directors.
>>23536122totally agree. Spike Jonze and Michel Gondry "contained" that Kaufman insanity and spun it into gold. Synecdoche is complete maximalist and excess, but it works because it's so genuis. everything else (anomalisa, ITOET) i don't like.
>>23535909
>>23537571probably the funniest part of the book, other than the "my bitch, Clown Laurie" and Tsai stuff.
>>23537571>>23538557It's like a cumtown sketch, lol
>>23535909Wow really? Charlie Kaufman is jewish? This is incredible news. Judaism never plays a role in his work at all. I never would have guessed. Next you will tell me the Coen brothers are jewish.
>>23535906It's very good, would be excellent as a film like synecdoche, but is still better than his other "solo" films.I wouldn't call Antkind "genius" but it's not gibberish
>>23538570>It's like a cumtown sketch, lol
i have not read this novel, but i do not care for late kaufman films, and reading the summary for the novel was annoying itself, so i cant imagine that reading the whole novel will be any less annoying
>>23538595I don't care if it's reddit, I find it funny. Chapo sucks tho
>>23538623It's good but annoying, specifically the protagonist, who is, intentionally, one of the most unlikeable characters in anything, on par with the protagonists of peep show in pathetic narcissism.It's enjoyable if you imagine him as an actual soijak saying these things, it makes it click
>>23538649Nick Mullen is funny but filled with that embarassing adolescent pseudo-cynicism that charactarises comedians clearly held back in self consciousness by his yuppy friends, the fat fuck is insufferable, the jew is kinda funny but not very interesting
>>23538570never really thought of the humor in antkind as being similar to cumtown. some parts of the book do seem that way, but Balaam doesn't really ever have anyone to "riff" with
>>23538649cumtown is like this Kaufman book. long and parts of it are fucking terrible, but some bits are incredibly funny and genius (almost profound). the fun of cumtown is sifting through and finding the gold nuggets
