I got roughly 30% through this 588 page behemoth before I had to call it quits. That page count might be justified for a sprawling work of fantasy or highly-structured, multi-century narrative (All The Light We Cannot See and Cloud Atlas come to mind), but I just cannot understand its use in this context. It was a slog just to get through the 30% that I managed.

There are flashes of brilliance - but these are mere moments of captivation amid broader dullness. It seems that Czyz went to the purple prose school of fiction, wherein a writer must not leave a single stone unturned in the quest to describe everything within frame. That leaves most of the book's runtime to describing a rock, or a cactus, or a sky, or the feeling a character has, or a building, or a drink, or an amorphous, abstract emotion, and on and on. See how that last sentence was a little long? That was every sentence. Every single sentence. As a bit of a game to pass the time, I often counted how many words were in each sentence. MANY were over 100 words in length. For context, this review (thus far) is a little less than twice that. In Sun Eye Moon Eye, this review would be two sentences long.

But those descriptions! I feel like I haven't said enough, if only because I had to sit through so many of them. I can't help but think that the author was told the only way to paint a proper picture was to use as much detail as possible. One scene in particular was comedic in its attempt at this. The main character (whose name I can't remember; that's how little he matters in the broader scope of flowery prose) has just been snorting coke in a bar with his buddy. In the span of two paragraphs, Czyz hilariously tries to find multiple ways to describe the rolled dollar bill they use for this. "Rolled up dollar bill", “hollowed greenery”, and “rolled up legal tender” were just three such examples I wrote down. What is the need for this? What value does this add to the story?

The flipping between narrative timelines and voices was also egregious! Maybe quick time changes are realistic for memory’s sake, but it doesn’t make for good reading. In the same page, we leapfrog from the hospital to Jimmy's place (who is Jimmy?) to Hugh’s stable (who is Hugh?) back to the hospital, with little explanation or perceivable purpose. But that is certainly more forgivable than the point of view rapidly changing. In one sentence, second person: "If youyou looked two stories down, Sonny winked up at you." In the very next, we return to third: "Logan watched his triceps tighten…". This happens many, many times.

My last gripe is that there are a ridiculous number of interrupts and asides and tangents — like this? What if I asked a question like this, constantly? Interrupting every sentence? In the few moments after every inch of the world has been detailed to death, and a point is in arm's reach, suddenly there is an innumerable quantity of meanderings and ramblings that add nothing.

I wish I had liked this book more. I think it's incredibly important that the publishing industry, readers, and literary communities give room and respect for Indigenous authors to share their stories, but I also believe it is important that these stories be well told.

2 ⭐

DNF at 13%. Reading this felt too much like a chore. The plot was slow, and jumped around a lot in time. Logan was a hard character to care for, because he seemed more like a character moved around by events and people around him than someone with any agency. The writing was dense and self-important. This was not a book for me.

Sun Eye Moon Eye is Vincent Czyz’s third novel now available from Spuyten Duyvil. Consistent is Czyz’s use of mythic space, most particularly that tread by Logan Blackfeather, a mixed Hopi man whose wanderings span coast to coast. He is at once an enfant terrible on an indie label, a street wizened knife fighter, an asylum inmate, and Hamlet haunted son of a man replaced by his uncle. Accenting his dividedness are the various geographies of his story. We may survey the Ghost Dancers from the lap of his grandfather, the sea-like fields of Kansas he came to, and the modern Canyonlands of the Manhattan skyline where Logan sees the Katsinas dance.

In complement to the complex characterization of Logan are the mix of genres from which Sun Eye Moon Eye derive. It could certainly be a developmental novel in Logan’s aim to find some sense of home and vocation. It might also be tagged as another life of the artist account. With two crimes woven into the story, Czyz’s novel might also be understood as Native American noir. Finally, and my personal favorite, it is the story Chief Bromden’s reticent, crafty Chief might have told in One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest (dir. Milos Forman, 1975) had he been prompted to do so. I sense Bromden prompted Czyz, who in turn prompts us all to find that most productive, affirming union of our ordering suns and intuitive moons.

Sun Eye Moon Eye is a masterpiece. I want to say it is reminiscent of Hunter S Thompson, but this book goes far, far beyond that (and that is a compliment I do not give lightly) In this sense, myths and dreams take the place of hallucinations, personal trauma is the catalyst, ancestry the anchor

Logan Blackfeather is mixed Hopi descent and he is on a journey to rebuild following a breakdown. However, it is the 80s and paths rarely run smoothly when you are not where you feel you should be and have no idea how to get there in the first place. A manslaughter, institutionalisation, trends and fashions, all follow Logan as he tries to navigate his way to some semblance of stability in Manhattan where he finds a job as a pianist and begins a relationship with an ad executive that is really not good for his state of mind

Vincent Czyz has a unique narrative and his lyrical descriptions are mesmerising. He is philosophising on a different level, experiencing a deeper understanding of what most see on the surface. Broadly descriptive, constructive, illustrative. A truly gifted writer

Thank you very much to Netgalley, BooksGoSocial and Vincent Czyz for this incredible ARC. My review is left voluntarily and all opinions are my own