Book Review: Counterweight

 

Image: the cover of the book has an ombre sky that fades from orange upwards to  a pinkish red. There are a few sparse white clouds. Across the center are 8 black butterflies flying across at different distances. In the center is a cable hanging down that holds an eyeball with a blue iris. Across the top in black bold letters is the title Counterweight. Below the eyeball on the left is "a novel, translated by anton hur," and to the right, "Djuna" in large black letters. There is a blue butterfly on the bottom right of the title.

Counterweight found its way into my life by catching my eye with its bizarre cover as I scrolled through my feed. The mysterious author, Djuna, is not someone I was familiar with before this. After reading this book though, I want more.

I have a great love for cyberpunk as a genre, no matter how close its futuristic predictions come to be mere descriptions of our dystopian present. People have claimed that the genre is dead for decades, yet people like me continue to find dismal enjoyment in a variety of mediums from books to games to music to fashion. That said, a lot of cyberpunk can be repetitive cloning of the exact same story or by slapping some neon on a misogynistic diatribe and calling it art. What I like about Counterweight was how it navigated pieces of the genre, complete with plenty of high tech, low life characters and plots points, in a way that felt fresh and classic simultaneously. The biotech-infused identity crises of an unlikable narrator and the noir saga woven throughout was complex and engaging.   

My biggest issue with this book is that it should be longer. I don't mind fast moving stories that require hardcore attention to follow, but I had to skip backwards and reread parts of this book more than usual. I can be a slow processor and reading does take me more time than average. But, I really would have enjoyed a bit more world building and drawing out of this grotesque and fascinating story.  

Counterweight requires intense attention, but it pays off and is an enjoyable read for cyberpunk and other scifi fans out there. I admit that the author's mysterious identity is a draw as well. I tend to read about every author online after finishing a book and could not find much at all about Djuna. A surreal biography for a surreal book. 

This was also posted to my Goodreads.