The Revisionaries

The Revisionaries is morality tale as tesseract, with vivid characters and a crazy-train plot driven by shadowy machinations, slippery identities, and supernatural forces. Moxon weaves together postmodern sensibilities and devices, Biblical themes, and traditions of American gothic horror to explore eternal questions of free will, good and evil, identity, revenge, and power unused and abused. Does our struggle allow for "pride of ownership," or are we just bodies down the chute of someone else's scheme? How far are you willing to go to find out? Who's writing this script, anyway? Why are there crimson-clad ninjas everywhere? Want a donut? With the rare exceptions of some unnecessarily refined dialogue (early on) and a somewhat wobbly exposition of quantum cosmology (the one spot where less would have been more), the prose (especially the internal monologue) is both lush and agile, a finely knotted magic carpet for an epic story arc that triangulates Genesis and Jonah, Melville and Machiavelli, Vonnegut, Stephen King and John Barth. Moxon's nuanced grasp of the human psyche is impressive, as is his capacity for metatextual acrobatics and narrative framing. Alongside much else, the book is a tour de force of imagination. The Revisionaries is a rolling broadside of a debut novel. Highly recommended.

The book has been (favorably) compared to everyone from Vonnegut to Pynchon to Atwood to VanderMeer to David Foster Wallace (footnotes rule!), but the obvious precursor is Tom Robbins (who gets a nifty hidden shoutout to his debut novel on p. 207) ... and whatever happened to him? Never fear, Moxon has arrived to fill a void you never even knew existed. There is so much right about this very, VERY unusual book, but there are also large chunks of it that feel like one is wading through pools of molasses, and despairing of ever getting out. In some ways this was inevitable, as the book is SO ambitious and tries to cram virtually everything under the sun into its long 600 pages, that there were bound to be some longueurs ... trudging through a dozen (albeit necessary) pages 'explaining' quantum physics being just one example. And while much of it is dazzling, sometimes there are leaps that don't QUITE work and often are abandoned almost as soon as they are proffered - e.g., at one point you learn that everything you have been reading up to that point is actually a version of a long running graphic novel in which all the characters are CATS - one page of which is charmingly rendered for the reader's delectation and amusement on p. 415. But then that conceit is largely dismissed, except for the occasional mention of a character being a 'cool cat' - but then again, that ties into the central conceit of the entire book, which is that everything is constantly being 'revised' by some unseen force (the author/s? God?). If a novel in which a major character suddenly becomes a dozen pair of leather sandals sounds off-putting, then this is definitely NOT the book for you. Or if you have no interest in a sci-fi/fantasy/adventure/horror/comic riff on the Book of Jonah - then steer clear. It is NOT an easy read by any measure - there are over a dozen semi-major characters, who often change both name and identity several times over the course of the work, seemingly willy-nilly, with several plot threads happening in different locales and time frames ... the book utilizes a half dozen different fonts to try to delineate between these, but it would take an Einstein to keep them all straight (hint - don't even attempt the audio version - a print copy would seem to be an absolute necessity! And reading it will count as exercise, while you carry around the hefty tome!) :-) If it seems I am trying to ward off potential readers, let me say that it is a unique reading experience that is often enthralling and head-spinning - but it may perhaps enrage and ultimately defeat as many people as it enchants - you know who you are. Call it the Infinite Jest for the 2020s. Up for the challenge?

The Revisionaries by A. R. Moxon is honestly not like any other book I've read, which also makes it difficult to review. I wavered between 4 and 5 stars, and may revisit my vote after the complex story has had a chance to sink in. With a viciously fluid plot and imagination cranked to 11, The Revisionaries reminds me of some of my favorite books, such as Vonnegut's Sirens of Titan, Neal Stephenson's Anathem, Christopher Moore's Lamb, and Rick Wayne's Fantasmagoria; yet Moxon's originality defies true comparison. Without a doubt, this book gets an A+ for effort, as an insane amount of work shines through every part of the story--event the font selections. This is a challenging read, with more moving parts than a Rube Goldberg machine and nearly every aspect of the story "subject to infinite change." The Revisionaries is an entertaining page-turner with memorable characters and exceptional prose. The vivid tale evokes a plethora of emotions, often brutally dark one moment and absurdly hilarious the next, occasionally both simultaneously. The one nagging issue that haunted me throughout was the thought that Moxon was writing an awful lot of checks that would need to be cashed by the end. Alas, by the grand finale, not every question was answered (or at least not spelled out plainly enough for this simple reader), thus my wavering from a true 5-star read. Certainly, The Revisionaries is a book I enjoyed and will never forget.

A well-written novel draws you in slowly at first. Momentum builds with plot and character. Before you know it, you are lost in fiction. Moxon's descriptive flow is comparable to me of Stephen King or John Irving. He carefully lays out the scenery in this reader's imagination with his wording which is esoteric but palatable. It fits the convoluted and labyrinthine plot he weaves around his equally convoluted characters. The depth of his characters caught me off balance because they reverberate in reality. Moxon does well making each character's foibles relatable to us. Each of is Morris or Gordy in our way. His plot twists are unconventional in my experience. He has a certain way of connecting his elements that I have not experienced. Everything meanders surreptitiously to a well-orchestrated point. A good read in my humble estimation.

This was unlike any other book I've read, and I loved it. There were so many plot twists, and little details that seem insignificant at first that turn out later to be important. I found myself going back to reread certain passages or searching for something I was sure I had seen. I just finished and I'm about to start reading it again right from the beginning. My favorite thing was Moxon's ability to develop each character with such depth and clarity. Father Julius was the main protagonist, and as expected we learn everything about who he is and how he perceives and reacts to the world around him. (It is Julius’s homily about hope that is by far my favorite passage.) But we also learn that about seemingly every other character in the novel. And we don't just learn who they are, we learn how it feels to be each of them. And all of those details are woven together with a rhythm that makes everything fit together just so at the end. Highly recommended.

Like no other story I’ve ever read, seriously. I’m reluctant to say much as to not give anything away. It’s an incredible story, a bit of circus whimsy (which I don’t typically seek out but appreciated in this case) grounded in relatable characters and themes that challenge the reader on ideas of power, abuse, religion, history, and culture. Also the author is probably my favorite Twitter account in existence. Thank you for this wonderful work!

This is the type of book that probably takes multiple readings to fully understand - multiple threads at once, twisting into itself. The last 180 pages or so actually jump from one timeline to another while still blending into one another, it's a truly masterful stroke from a first-time author. There are footnotes and even on one page, a cartoon. You will be dazzled by the writing, sometimes frustrated by the leaps, but in the end you will be changed. I'd say this will make a great movie one day but I'm not even sure how it could be done, it's so wrapped in on itself. I loved it but I'm not sure I understand it. I will be thinking about it for a long time to come.

This book is all over the place -- it starts out one way and then goes all over from there. You need some patience for this one, but I found it worthwhile.

I've never read anything like this before. It starts out as a fairly normal story, but then about a third of the way in it goes completely off the rails in the best possible way. I loved it.

A wonderful brilliantly written book that makes you forget the world around you! I love it! It’s a great read!

Marvellous, weird, brilliant book