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I continued on to this after reading Blindsight, because even though I didn't love it I had some enduring questions. An error on my part. There were more deliberate ambiguities than plot points in this book.

I won't provide a plot précis. This has some compelling concepts and big ideas, but was frankly a mess. Characters' motivations remain inexplicable even at the end of the book.

Amusingly this AMA with the author seems to boil down to "you're reading it wrong". Authors, please get over yourselves.

This deepened my appreciation of Woody and my understanding of his life and work. The inclusion of handwritten work, photos and ephemera was beautiful and makes the reader feel connected to him as a person in a way that sterile words on a page can't.

The ideas are compelling, and the inclusion of recreated vampires is a weird but interesting diversion. There's no emotional core though. In some ways that's by design - the primary narrative POV is of someone who's had significant, personality-destroying psychosurgery. I found myself asking why should I care about any of this throughout.

This is such a beautiful book, full of photos, handwritten notes, and ephemera from Woody's life that had been lovingly compiled by his daughter and Robert Santelli. It makes me sad that few of us will leave behind any remnants of our daily lives and work in this era. Fuck modernity, embrace tradition.