Palimpsest, By Catherynne M. Valente

If this book where music it would be an Opera, one written for those who want to do more then just hear it, but rather wish to simply feel the music. For spoken words can not do justice to what is written. Each word scrolled onto the pages of this text are keys to ones imagination, as such no one person can describe what it conjures to another, for each has to experience the vivid scenes and characters from their own interpretation of the words given.

It is a story filled with metaphor, where the bizarre runs rampant  and the unique  is common.   The pages follow the stories of four distinctly different characters as they seek to find the understanding and the keys to the secret city of Palimpsest. A place where the unreal is normal, where canals can be filled with cream and trains run like wild herds of horses. To get to this place, this city there is but one gate and once you have walked through it, you are forever marked with a remnant map upon your flesh.

I dare not go into any more detail about this book, for to give away any more then what I have written would be to spoil the story for you. It is well written, switching between the views of the Narrator and the views of the characters in the story. Being heavily written with metaphor, it can be daunting to read at first, but once you get use to it the story reads easily. Possessing some very adult themes, including straight, gay, lesbian and bisexual sex, it is defiantly not a book for children or those who might be offended by sex that enhances the story or gay and lesbian themes.

Overall Palimpsest by Catherynne M. Valente is well worth reading if you enjoy the explorations of things truly different.

Watch the Trailer Below

Visit the Books Site

Visit the Authors Site

Buy the book from Amazon.com