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5 of 5 found the following review helpful:
Thought Provoking Oct 20, 2008
By love2read
The Author of Grid, Paul Taylor had been a Literature professor, and it shows in this book. The book is definitely an exercise in literary experimentation and it is ultimately up to the reader to determine whether that experiment was a success or not.
It is a challenging read. If you attempt to read it as a concerted whole, and are not an expert in obscure literary movements or experimentation you may end up confused. If you read it as a collection of short stories and essays (the Tolkien essay was actually very good, I referred back to my copy of the Silmarillion, and it (the essay) made even more sense), it is a much better and easier read. I enjoyed reading it as an anthology rather than as a single integrated work and many of the essays and short stories were very thought provoking.
If you are familiar with the works of JRR Tolkien, Star Trek and science fiction in general, or just enjoy literary contortions, you will probably enjoy this book. In many ways, Grid is a foray into what science fiction author Robert Heinlein referred to as "Pan-Theistic Solopsism", where the result of telling a story brings it into existence/creation somewhere or somewhen. (The Land of Oz really exists somewhere because L. Frank Baum wrote about it. See Heinlein's Number of the Beast)) In the book Grid, if I understood everything correctly, Tellers are the motivators of creation and Grid is the agent. In Tolkien-speak the Teller acts as Illuvitar (Ea!) and Grid the Music of the Ainur/Valar. This makes sense given the author's stated interest in the works of Tolkien.
I give this book 3 stars. The effort of literary creativity is very apparent and is acknowledged. However, the average reader may find this book to otherwise be an effort of Herculean proportions to read as a whole. If Mr. Taylor does read this review, I challenge him to try his hand at something even more challenging, such as writing a trashy romance.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
GRID Oct 17, 2008
By Off the Grid
"Off the Grid"
Grid is a modern offshoot of Vorticism, an early 20th century literary movement. Vorticism placed the writer at the center of a swirling tornado of literary images. It celebrated aggressive motion and machine-ordered futurism, and juxtaposed seemingly random pieces of text, which on second glance, turned out to be connected to the central thought. This central thought or vortex was "the point of maximum energy", and it was as calm as the eye of a hurricane. Vorticist literature required an incredible amount of work on the part of the reader, which partly - combined with the onset of World War I - explains why the movement lasted only three months. Summarizing texts is discouraged in book reviews, but because of the difficulty of this genre, in all fairness I can only say, WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD!!
In Grid, the image at the center of the storm is that of a minimalist Eden. Eden is a tiny village of 24 people, divided into six cooperating clans, each of which produce something unique, which is vital to the village. They live in peace, and have all they need; food, water, gentle work, community, warmth and stories. However, they have no written language, no metal or fire, and little technology. While people are born and die, they experience little or no pain. Two and only two children are born to each couple, so the population has remained static for untold generations. The village contains no living creatures except for the humans and the plants they use; it has no animals of any kind. No birds, fish, rodents, insects, grubs or worms live within eyeshot. No roads link this village with the outside world, and the villagers seemingly have no unfilled desires. Nevertheless, one of them walks outside the village to perform a rite which he hopes will bring forth a new "tree of life". The daughter of the Teller (of stories) tells this villager that he is not the first to do this. Hearing this, her mother, the Teller, abandons her young daughter and husband, and leaves the village in search of the story of how the village came to be. It is a search, if you will, for the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. She eventually discovers a story cave filled with all the tales of creation, and from it, learns how to read and write, and learns the story of how worlds come to be.
Chunked next to this tale of the primitive village and looking as out of place as Dorothy's farmhouse high in the Kansas sky, comes an apparently unrelated story of a young engineer's sapient computer program. This program aims to build the perfect, self-repairing road. Juxtaposed against THAT is a seemingly unrelated academic discussion of what it might take for a "Universe" computer to produce Tolkein's Middle Earth at some point in the future. At this point, the diligent reader realizes that the Edenic village at the center of the storm is like that theoretical Middle Earth, and has been created by the road building program. Next up, is a piece of Star Trek fan lit introducing the concept of split timelines, with the Teller from the village Eden arriving on the Enterprise via space pod! "I don't think we're in Kansas anymore, Toto." Next, the book offers an explanation of how the sentient road program combines with the Tolkein project to first revolutionize transportation and then eliminate it, taking over the world and creating the world of the Teller of stories. A lively message board conversation follows, which fits perfectly with the vorticist text, and which therefore is a part of the text, as it is a leaf on the Niggle's Tree of the Eden village's creation story. Some more vorticist leaves are found in Grid, and finally is a "new old story, in praise of new-born gods made of things past."
This story concerns a stranger entering a small rural town. Both she and the townsfolk have no clear memory of themselves, and do not know who they are. She finds a temporary refuge with a family and the reader realizes that the stranger is the Teller; the family, her family; and the town, her Eden village changed by her absence. While the Teller tasted the fruit of knowledge of good and evil, she robbed the village of her stories. Her abandoned daughter, once quick and clever, speaks gibberish most of the time. The Teller is rejected by her husband, which devastates her, but she finds that her daughter - who would have become Teller herself had she been trained to the role - has also found the story cave. It is the Teller's daughter who has been telling this story all along, and by doing so, has woven the Teller into the story as a character. The Teller says that she will give the townsfolk the knowlege of good and evil by teaching them to read and write. They too will read the stories in the story cave, and will transform their world, becoming Tellers in their own right. "Either way, it will make a good story", agrees the daughter.
 exasperating delight Jan 07, 2009
By Robin McDermott
"Old Nokomis"
It isn't a book for just anyone. It isn't any easy read. It requires your attention and memory and imagination and willingness to be led down a path with odd markers. It does, however, reward you for your effort with visitations to places in your heart and mind that you thought you maybe only visited alone. There is a bridge to the connection of spirit and self examination and the long NOW that our lives so often push to the quiet and forgotten background starved for our attention. I recommend giving this infuriating book your attention.
 Sadness. Oct 21, 2008
By gridreader
"gridreader"
That is the overwhelming emotion that this reviewer felt after finishing this book. Sadness at the loss of potential. Obviously the writer of this book has an interested and diverse mind. However, in his attempts to be philosophical and interesting, he attempted too much with too little talent for the task at which he labored. Or perhaps, not too little talent, but too little time in which to finish it. Or perhaps, it is exactly as it was intended to be.
Occasional phrases do shine through with an unrecognized familiarity.
But often it takes one back to the memory of conversations held between inebriated friends discussing the meaning of the universe. The cave narrative reminds the reader of being with those friends, exchanging stories of what each one's eyes and ears can behold. However, once morning, and sobriety, returns, the extraordinary and profound stories are entirely forgotten along with their life-altering meaning.
Also, for such a precisely worded text, the words chosen sometimes disappoint in their broadness.
Individually, several of the chapters are enjoyable. However, taken as a whole, Star Trek, Tolkien, the Teller's village, and the self-perpetuating road lack cohesion.
Additionally, suddenly thrusting the reader into chapters 7 and 8 of every 101 textbook that freshmen must endure is especially unkind.
To be totally forthcoming, this reviewer hated The Old Man and the Sea entirely based on the self-indulgent wordiness that crashed over every page and drowned the reader in unceasing verbosity. Additionally, the Oliver Stone book, A Child's Night Dream, left this reviewer with a similar sense of confusion and irritation. If you enjoy aspects of those books, particularly their pointless habit of wandering around on the page, you may enjoy Grid.
It is nice that other reviewers were able to enjoy the writer's special set of obscure topics. This reviewer's obscurities run in a different direction and did not play well with the ones found here.
gold or pyrites Oct 21, 2008
By BellaAng2
Grid is not an easy read, nor did the author mean it to be easy. His narrator says, "It is nearly impossible for me to make a short declarative sentence." Then sets about proving the truthfullness of that statement. Mr. Taylor wants the reader to work hard in digging out meaning from this story. As an old prospecter once said," Ya got to dig through a lot of rock and hardpan before ya find any color. Then ya got to have it assayed before ya know if its gold or fools gold." While reading this book was difficult, I discovered real gold buried within its pages. I think. Time will tell. I am now searching for a series of small grids making up a larger grid which will define my life. I am not sure. The grid of my sojourn in this life is not finished yet. But, if that grid exists, I will always be searching for it.
If you like to be challenged by different ideas and concepts, this book is for you. CAUTION; your preconceived notions of how you and you surroundings fit together are in danger of changing.
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