As with THE CIPHER, however, I felt as though I only understood some of it. Koja's language is beautiful and her imagination enviable. The audiobook performance, given by the estimable Matt Godfrey (whose performances I've written about before), is solid, as usual. I'm honestly not sure how I feel about this book. Like I said earlier, this deeply-literary novel is fascinating and difficult (and perhaps at times pretentious, or at least about pretentious, unsympathetic people). If that sounds pretentious, it might be, and this novel may not be for you.
My Thoughts/Reactions Koja writes artsy, complex, and complicated characters (who are not always sympathetic or likeable), and who often pursue experiences that either have experiences or seek to have experience that are transcendent and beyond the bounds of "reality." In a way, I think STRANGE ANGELS and THE CIPHER are both novels about what the Romantic poets called "the sublime," but in a post-modern form. I won't go into more detail for fear of spoiling the story. These drawings inspire something in Grant, and in spite of her objections and best efforts to keep him away from the patient, Grant seeks out the artist, a schizophrenic named Robin, and befriends him in the hopes that Robin will show Grant more of his drawings as a means of pursuing a different means of seeing and understanding the world around him.
Despite Johnna's efforts to keep her professional and personal lives separate, Grant sees a drawing that one of Johnna's patients had drawn during a therapy session. Brite's DRAWING BLOOD instead? Short Summary STRANGE ANGELS focuses on Grant, a down-and-out photographer whose still-life photos of fruit and other foods are uninspired and uninspiring, and whose loss of passion has driven him to quit his job and move in with his art-therapist girlfriend, Johnna. May I recommend David Peak's CORPSEPAINT or Poppy Z. However, if you're looking for the same kind of horror from THE CIPHER, you may want to try another book. Let me just say that the title for this book fits it perfectly. This is the second book of hers I've read the first is her horror classic THE CIPHER, which has a few similar themes to this one and is just as bizarre.
This was a fascinating, difficult book, as I have come to expect from Koja.
I received a free copy of this audiobook, so I am providing this honest review in return.