Love Among the Particles

Love Among the Particles is virtuosic story telling, at once a poignant critique of our romance with technology and a love letter to language. In a whirlwind tour of space, time, and literary history, Lock creates worlds that veer wildly from the natural to the supernatural via the pre-modern, mechanical and digital ages. Hyde finally reveals his secrets to an ambitious journalist, unleashing unforeseen horrors. An ancient Egyptian mummy is revived in New York to consult on his Hollywood biopic.

A Brooklynite suddenly dematerializes and passes through the internet, in search of true love…. It is nothing less than a compendium of the marvelous. Early in his second decade of confinement, Hyde changed. He grew quiet, calm, composed, mild. He became pleasing in his demeanor so that his outward form seemed, almost, to copy an altered nature.

Almost, for the deformity—the most notable aspect of his appearance a misshapenness that had been thought the visible evidence of an inward corruption —persisted.

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The skull was too large, as if the fontanelles, which had closed in infancy, had been reopened by a gigantic subterranean strain. The backbone had been violently recast into the likeness of a heavy swag of iron chain, such as decorates a courthouse entrance. And yet, it was possible now for his jailers to look at Hyde without shuddering, because his soul no longer seemed to them repugnant. He was allowed to take daily exercise on the asylum grounds and given other privileges reserved for the reformed.

He would die at Broadmoor: He finds himself disconnected from time and space and the stories explore what it means to be "human", how to find love, and how to survive in a new world. I envied its disdain and the ease of its procession through space. Nothing stood in the way of its ends, which it attained single-mindedly.

Mar 02, Darin rated it really liked it. An ambitious collection of stories not fitting easily into any particular genre, Norman Lock's Love Among the Particles is the book small presses were made to publish. Lock seems to be a man living in the wrong century - the philosophical strolls he takes in his stories would fit right in with Voltaire or Rimbaud.

Oftentimes, plot takes a back seat, or never even gets in the car in the first place, while a stream of consciousness takes over and drives.

Unfortunately, the driver tends to grind th An ambitious collection of stories not fitting easily into any particular genre, Norman Lock's Love Among the Particles is the book small presses were made to publish. Unfortunately, the driver tends to grind the gears a little too often.

MORE BY NORMAN LOCK

Is anyone really there? It's human as pure metadata.

The collection is worth a read if you like challenging, though-provoking stories, provided you don't mind a few clunkers with a few pleasant finds. Jun 27, Jess rated it it was ok.

I didn't care for the style of writing. The couple of stories I read were very dissociative, seeming to try to create an aura of wonder when they only created confusion because the endings had no impact, just dissipated. I left this on the subway for someone else to find. Dec 10, Tobias rated it it was amazing Shelves: I am, admittedly, not entirely unobjective when it comes to this novel.

But it's an excellent look at what makes Lock's work terrific, from the metafictional to the confessional to the straight-up unsettling.

Apr 06, Nafiza rated it it was ok Shelves: I don't like it when the author is so strongly present in the story that the story cannot breathe. Dec 30, EditorialEyes marked it as did-not-finish.

Read about half of this. While the stories are interesting in premise, ultimately the author's voice wasn't enough to make me want to keep going. Somewhat pretentious and self-indulgent. Peter rated it really liked it Oct 20, Oct 11, Blogbaas Van 'tVliegend Eiland rated it really liked it. Bill Hsu rated it liked it Jul 11, Maria rated it liked it May 18, Kimber rated it really liked it Aug 10, Alex Gleason rated it it was ok Jan 14, W David Moore rated it really liked it Mar 01, Peter rated it really liked it Aug 01, Cindy Wong rated it liked it May 17, Jack Haringa rated it it was ok Nov 10, Allyce rated it liked it Jul 09, John Madera rated it it was amazing Mar 16, Andy rated it really liked it May 05, Coladangelo rated it liked it Jan 04, Sarah rated it it was ok Nov 09, Jeremy Garber rated it really liked it Jun 17, Michael Beeman rated it it was amazing Aug 29, David Gutowski rated it it was amazing May 15, Beth Freudenburg rated it really liked it Jan 12, James rated it really liked it Nov 14, Kristin rated it it was amazing May 22, There are no discussion topics on this book yet.

There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. Norman Lock has written novels, short fiction, and poetry as well as stage plays, dramas for German radio, a film for The American Film Institute, and scenarios for video-art installations. His plays have been produced in the U.

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