A
Literary Saloon
&
Site of Review.

Trying to meet all your book preview and review needs.

Contents:

Main

the Best

the Rest

Review Index

Links

to e-mail us:


support the site


buy us books !
Amazon wishlist

the complete review - fiction

Manituana

by
Wu Ming

[an overview of the reviews and critical reactions]

general information | review summaries | links | about the author

- Return to top of the page -

Why we haven't reviewed it yet:
Haven't quite worked our way up to it; seems like a lot to tackle


Chances that we will review it:
Decent -- eventually

- Return to top of the page -

  From the Reviews:

• "Manituana unspools mesmerisingly like an old Hollywood movie, ducking the common mishaps of the historical novel -- there is not a single longueur. (...) Wu have now out-Dickensed Dickens, and when you read this novel, you will become aware of a faint buzzing noise. That will be James Fenimore Cooper, spinning in his grave." - Todd McEwen, The Guardian
  
  
• "What saves the Wu Ming crew from romantic sentimentalism is a trademark sophistication about political ideas and their impact on both words and deeds. (...) Wu Ming do sometimes graft the preoccupations of today onto the events of yesterday. (...) Mostly, however, Manituana shuns anachronism as it sets about delivering a fast-flowing, densely peopled, richly decorated story of a precious way of life, and thought, on the brink of the modern abyss." - Boyd Tonkin, The Independent
  
  
• "The novel succeeds in its intention of entertaining the reader with a mass of scenes reconstructed from the shards of history. (...) A novel published in the age of Obama, Manituana provides interesting if piecemeal insights into the uneasy founding of modern, multi-ethnic America." - Madeline Clements, Times Literary Supplement

Please note that these ratings solely represent the complete review's biased interpretation and subjective opinion of the actual reviews and do not claim to accurately reflect or represent the views of the reviewers. Similarly the illustrative quotes chosen here are merely those the complete review subjectively believes represent the tenor and judgment of the review as a whole. We acknowledge (and remind and warn you) that they may, in fact, be entirely unrepresentative of the actual reviews by any other measure.

- Return to top of the page -

Links:

• Official site
• Verso publicity page
• Einaudi publicity page
• Profile in The Guardian

• Bookslut
• Dissident Voice
• The Guardian
• The Independent
• Metro

• Wu Ming - the official site

• [54]
• Q (writing as Luther Blissett)

• See Index of Italian literature

- Return to top of the page -

About the Author:

       'Wu Ming' is the pseudonym of an Italian author-collective; they have also published under the name 'Luther Blissett'.

- Return to top of the page -

© 2009-2022 the complete review

Main | the New | the Best | the Rest | Review Index | Links