#79. DHALGREN By Samuel R Delany

Published : 1974
Pages : 801
Overall Mark : 6/10

In the crippled city of Bellona two moons appear; a huge, blood-red sun rises; landmarks shift; time contracts; and savage gangs roam the lawless streets.

When the Kid wanders in Bellona, he finds the few people still there struggling to do what they can to survive But the Kid is blessed with great strengths and a huge capacity for love...

Hugely controversial, Dhalgren is Delany's most ambitious and popular novel.

SAMUEL R. DELANY (1942-)
Born to a prominent black family in New York, Delany published his first novel, The Jewels Of Aptor, when he was only nineteen. Among his other novels are Babel 17, Triton and Stars In My Pocket Like Grains Of Sand. He has also written a number of autobiographical works, including The Motion Of Light In Water. He has won four Nebulas and two Hugos and was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2002.

VERDICT
This sounded promising when I started out to read it, but as it progressed it felt like it was just getting increasingly peculiar. There is no real story to speak of, what with the circular storytelling, and the concept that this book can be read as a loop and pretty much started at any point in the narrative sounds clever but just makes this book feel all the more laboured and unworthwhile.